Benjamin Sesko scores double as Darren Fletcher takes Man Utd reins but top-four chance missed - Premier League hits and misses
The Sky Sports football writers analyse the Premier League's midweek action as Darren Fletcher's first game as Man Utd caretaker boss ends in a draw, Thomas Frank's Spurs descend into crisis, Chelsea show their ill-discipline yet again and more
Thursday 8 January 2026 00:21, UK
Man Utd blow top-four chance despite Sesko strikes
Had Shea Lacey's late strike found the net rather than the frame of the goal, it would have been one of those magical Manchester United moments. A young player who the supporters had wanted Ruben Amorim to trust with more minutes proving the hero.
That Lacey was on the pitch at all was a product of more than Darren Fletcher's desire to lean into United's youth legacy but an attacking switch that saw United finish the game with Burnley at Turf Moor with a midfield duo of Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount.
The away support appreciated it, chanting Fletcher's name as well as that of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick - two men touted with a return. But United need more than mere sentiment right now, they are chasing Champions League football.
Games against Wolves, Leeds and Burnley have not yielded a single victory. They have now contrived to drop points to all of the bottom seven teams in the table since November. Even five points from the last three games would have United in the top four.
It feels like an opportunity missed with games against Manchester City and Arsenal now to come. But if Fletcher can help change the mood and can get Benjamin Sesko firing, then the chance is still there for this to be a season of progress rather than a wasted one.
Adam Bate
Frank is better than this mess - but that won't save him
Thomas Frank's Tottenham are a mess. And what's worse, they're a boring mess.
Even a last-minute 3-2 loss at Bournemouth, one of their more assured performances of the season, was still far from a riveting watch despite the drama on display.
There is little for the Spurs fans to cling onto. So little that even fan favourite Micky van de Ven ended up in heated discussion with the away support at the Vitality Stadium. No surprise after watching one goal in open play from their last seven matches combined.
It creates a narrative that this is the kind of football Frank plays. And that is one he can barely argue, because it is what Spurs fans have been forced to endure week after week this season. But it was not always like this.
"I watched a lot of him at Brentford and thought he was a really good manager," said Sky Sports' Jamie Redknapp as Spurs fell to an eighth defeat of the season. "I always thought they were expansive. They had Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, Kevin Schade, Yoane Wissa, I thought they were an exciting side to watch.
"What he has to show and tell everybody now is that he's not just a set-piece coach. Because that's what he looks like right now."
Those nights at the Gtech playing through the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City and putting four past Manchester United feel a world away.
Brentford scored more goals in open play than Chelsea last season. They were the fifth-highest scorers overall and produced 1.5xG fewer than Arsenal across the course of the campaign.
But at a side with resources he could have only dreamt of 12 months ago, he has overseen relative drops in every single attacking metric.
His old Brentford side was crafted with Matthew Benham's superbly honed data-driven system with a hit rate for finding hidden gems to rival any Premier League scouting department.
He does not have that tailor-made side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but that does not mount anything like a sufficient excuse for the insipid football he has served up in his first six months.
With results and style so poor, it's inevitable the pressure is ramping up around Frank. He must find a way to change things and fast before it is taken out of his hands.
Ron Walker
Defensive issues? It's a lack of goals costing City
It's been a tough start to 2026 for Man City.
They are without a win so far this year and they've been hit with injuries to key players. Central defenders Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias and winger Savinho have sufferred significant injuries. John Stones is also on the sidelines too as City were forced to field an unfamiliar pair at the back in 21-year-old Abdukodir Khusanov and debutant Max Alleyne.
And while Brighton did spurn some really good early chances, it wasn't City's makeshift defence that cost them victory at the Etihad.
Pep Guardiola bemoaned the chances his side wasted, not only against Brighton, but also in the draws against Sunderland and Chelsea.
Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland, who ended a run of three games without a goal, and Rayan Cherki all spurned good opportunities in the second half as as City racked up a third straight draw to drop more points in the title race and leave Arsenal with the chance to go eight points clear when they face Liverpool, live on Sky Sports, on Thursday.
Guardiola said: "The result is the result. I'm not a person who believes what we have done isn't fair. One point for them, one point for us. That is what it is. I love a lot the way we played, we did many good things, but we don't score goals. There are too many clear chances. It is not just one or two players, it is all the players up front who create a lot. Unfortunately we couldn't score and scoring goals is part of the job. That is the reason why we could not win the games."
After the game, Guardiola refused to confirm City were on the brink of signing Antoine Semenyo, who is expected to undergo a medical on Thursday after City reportedly agreed to meet the Ghana international's £65m release clause, but maybe a third successive draw underlines Guardiola's need for the Bournemouth winger's creativity.
Oliver Yew
Newcastle and Leeds serve up a Premier League classic
Newcastle's meeting with Leeds might have gone down as a classic even without the 102nd-minute Harvey Barnes goal that tilted it the way of the hosts. With the Bruno Guimaraes penalty in the 91st minute, Newcastle had already come from behind three times for the first time in the league since 1996. It felt dramatic enough.
But with that swing of his right boot, surrounded by blue-shirted defenders, Barnes secured its place in history. He described it as a "blur" after the game and it was a similar experience for those watching. A breathless encounter throughout.
It was a heart-breaking outcome for Leeds, who took a deserved lead through Brenden Aaronson's superb first-half strike and kept putting their noses back in front. Their brave performance, at a ground were so many teams struggle, deserves acclaim.
For the neutral, the end-to-end action of the game was a tonic to some of the stop-start, set-piece-heavy offerings served up in the Premier League this season.
The number of goals could easily have been higher. The woodwork was struck three times. There were goalmouth scrambles, goalkeeper saves, last-ditch defensive interventions galore. It was an occasion to savour, albeit not for Leeds fans.
Nick Wright
Chelsea have a major discipline problem
Liam Rosenior will have seen first-hand a major issue for this Chelsea team: a lack of discipline.
Marc Cucurella's red card was as blatant as they come (whether the foul continued into the penalty area and should have been a spot-kick is another debate).
It was Chelsea's seventh red card across all competitions - that's four more than any other Premier League team. They're just one off their Premier League record of six with almost half a season to go.
Afterwards, caretaker boss Calum McFarlane argued the sending off was not an example of ill-discipline but admitted the flurry of yellow cards which followed it could be looked at.
But while Rosenior has spoken about his desire for intensity from his team, Chelsea have crossed the line too many times this season. And it's costing them. This is the third Premier League game Chelsea have lost after seeing a player sent off and that's before the impact of suspensions through reds and accumulated yellows is analysed.
Peter Smith
Wilson wows for Fulham once again
It's Harry Wilson's world and we're just living in it. "Right now everything that he touches becomes something magic," said his boss Marco Silva, after the Welshman hit Fulham's winner against 10-man Chelsea.
That's nine goal involvements in his past 10 games for Wilson. "The numbers are top, incredible," added the Fulham head coach.
Silva reckons this is Wilson's "best moment" of his career and it's hard to argue. Of course there have been other standout moments for him in a Fulham shirt but Silva noted how the pair had a conversation last season to help try to draw out these kind of consistently impactful performances.
"In terms of maturity, decision-making, more calm in some moments - you don't need 100 per cent speed in everything," Silva explained.
Wilson, Silva and Fulham are reaping the rewards now.
Peter Smith
Dyche the master of 'awkward games'
"Because of my career and the teams I've managed, I've been through a lot of these awkward games." And Sean Dyche tends to succeed in most of them.
Four consecutive defeats in a row set Nottingham Forest up to be dragged further into the relegation scrap by West Ham. After just 13 minutes, that was their reality.
But Forest kept their cool and crucially made the most of the two big moments that went their way. Dyche's side recognised the lucky escape they had when West Ham's second goal was ruled out for offside at the start of the second half and went on the attack.
Nicolas Dominguez's header soon brought them level before VAR intervened again and gave Morgan Gibbs-White the chance to complete the turnaround from the penalty spot.
Forest had more xG, more shots on target, more touches in the opposition box and more possession. And with Dyche they had more experience in how to grind out a crucial victory in a relegation six-pointer.
"It's not easy on anybody," he concluded. "The players, overall, have just about deserved it."
David Richardson
Brentford showing big boys how to make positive changes
Fans wondered who would fill the void left by Ivan Toney. Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa stepped up.
When those two left, it was left to Igor Thiago to step up. Having had his early Brentford career derailed with a serious injury, all the eggs were placed into his basket. And what a decision that was.
Five goals in his last two games including a double against Sunderland, has seen the Brazilian write himself into Premier League folklore. His 16 Premier League goals this season is more than any other player from the country has managed previously.
Bearing in mind that it is still the beginning of January, that is some feat for a player who must be thinking about earning a place at the table for the World Cup come the summer.
More importantly for Brentford fans, his goals may leave them sat at the table of European contenders next season, something they wouldn’t have even dreamed of when the inexperienced Keith Andrews replaced the beloved Thomas Frank. He certainly has stepped into the spotlight without a hitch.
All these changes for the Bees in the summer seemed to spell doom. But, football is a funny game, and it has ended up being another boom instead.
There's a time and a place for a Panenka
When it comes to Panenka penalties, there's a fine line between audacious brilliance and awful execution.
Which side of that line a player falls on ultimately depends on one thing - whether the ball ends up in the back of the net.
A missed penalty is bad, yet a curious rule of this beautiful game we love dictates that a missed Panenka is orders of magnitude worse.
In the case of Sunderland's Enzo Le Fee, not only did he miss a penalty, he compounded it with a Panenka, which happened to be one of the worst seen in the Premier League for some time.
There is a time and place for Panenka - and this wasn't it. Ideally, they should be taken from a position of strength and not, say, when your team is fighting for a second‑half equaliser after being outplayed in the first period.
Yet when tasked with cancelling out Igor Thiago's opener and hauling Sunderland level at the Gtech Community Stadium, Le Fee decided that was the opportune moment to whip it out.
The penalty barely served as catching practice for goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher, who nonchalantly gathered to halt Sunderland's second‑half momentum, before Thiago's second and Ehor Yarmoliuk's third extinguished their challenge.
Jack Wilkinson
Wolves' main Mane
"I'm not scared of anyone,"
That's what Mateus Mane said after he scored his second in as many games to rescue a point for Wolves at Everton.
At just 18, he's the light that Wolves have needed in what has been a dark campaign.
His maturity on the ball, whether in decision-making or looking after possession, is that of a forward well beyond his years. His composure was on full display as he took a deft touch to set himself and stroke home his side's leveller.
Liverpool, Old Trafford and now Everton's Hill Dickinson, the England youth international is building a portfolio of impressive displays.
Still just a teenager but it looks like whatever fate lies ahead of Wolves for the rest of this season, the next five months will be silver-lined by Mane.
William Bitibiri
Burnley finally catch a break
Burnley have spent most of this season searching for something, anything, to break their way. Against Manchester United, they finally found it.
This was not a performance built on dominance or territorial control. Far from it. Burnley lost the expected goals battle 0.24 to 2.25, were outshot 30 to seven and managed just nine touches in the Manchester United penalty box across the 90 minutes. Those numbers usually tell a blunt story. Usually they spell defeat.
Instead, they walked off with a 2-2 draw and a sense that maybe the season hasn't completely slipped through their fingers.
Burnley are now 12 matches without a win, a sequence that speaks volumes about the brutal learning curve of life back in the Premier League.
They were outplayed. They were outshot. They were out-chanced. And yet they survived. It is something to build on.
Lewis Jones
Glasner should bottle his Emery formula - Premier League managers would queue up
It was a tale of two halves on the pitch and a tale of two very different moods from the managers in the press conference.
Unai Emery, still seething VAR did not look at a late penalty claim for his side, insisted there were positives to take following the draw. But the frustration in his body language was clear to see.
Villa could have moved clear of Manchester City in second with a win, although it likely would have been undeserved.
Instead, they dropped points to Crystal Palace yet again. If Oliver Glasner could bottle up what he has over his counterpart when they face off against each other, managers across the Premier League would be queuing up.
In the red and blue corner, Glasner was bubbling in his press conference.
His side are in a tough period but despite injuries and absences due to AFCON, as well as transfer rumours surrounding captain Marc Guehi bubbling away, his side battled well and arguably should've come away with more.
Football is unpredictable at the best of times but Palace causing problems and frustration for Villa now seems inevitable.
Pat Rowe
