Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s football action

1. Wharton does the business at Anfield 

Joachim Andersen was named Sky’s man of the match at Anfield and with good reason. But while the Danish centre-back won header after header and made clearance after clearance, and while the front three of Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise caused repeated problems on the break, there was one figure who stood out in midfield for his calmness: Adam Wharton, perhaps the brightest of the hugely promising generation brought through by Tony Mowbray at Blackburn. The 20-year-old moved to Palace in January for an initial fee of £18m and has played at least some part in every Crystal Palace game since. No other Palace player came close to his pass completion rate of 88% and, while they rode their luck to an extent in the second half, they’d have had to ride a lot more had it not been for his distribution, which helped prevent Liverpool building up a head of steam. Jonathan Wilson

2. Familiar sinking feeling for Arsenal 

A year ago, almost to the day, Arsenal gave up a 2-0 lead at Anfield, and though it didn’t settle the title, the feeling at full-time was that they’d missed their chance, just as it was following Villa’s ultimately comprehensive win at the Emirates. Dishing out blame on the strength of one game is harsh – Mikel Arteta’s men have played another excellent season – but when things got big on them, they shrunk. To deal with those on the pitch first, in defence Arsenal lacked discipline – both goals they conceded were eminently avoidable – while in attack, they still lack ruthlessness and a bit of imagination, unable to finish while on top and create when struggling. Their manager, meantime, opted to leave out Jorginho – presumably saving him for the midweek