A psychological danger for Arsenal's Mikel Arteta, what sources say about Tottenham needing a 'grown up' and the latest on Wayne Rooney's MOTD struggles: IAN LADYMAN on My Premier League Weekend

Strange things can happen in football and one of them did at the Emirates where Manchester United had three shots on target and they all went in to win them the game.

Anyone who watched will know that United deserved the second triumph of Michael Carrick 's 10 days in charge at Old Trafford. There was a control and structure to United's football that was absent under Ruben Amorim . It was a brilliant away performance that has left Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta facing perhaps the biggest question of his recent time at Arsenal.

Big teams can lose big games. It can happen. But Arsenal - packed full of attacking talent - looked impotent against United and that should worry their fans and their manager.

Arsenal's love for set pieces is legitimate. They are good at them and it would be negligent to ignore such a weapon. But currently Arteta's team look as though they have forgotten how to score from open play.

Indeed their XG (expected goals) when set pieces were excluded against United stood at a paltry 0.39. United's was higher - at 0.73 - and that was despite the visiting team having considerably less possession and only nine touches in the Arsenal penalty area all day.

The danger for Arteta now is that other teams and coaches find a way to play on a problem that could easily start to have a psychological impact on the league leaders.

One anomaly of Arsenal's league season is that no player has scored more than five goals so far. Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard have both reached that number while Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze all have four.

Viktor Gyokeres has scored five league goals for Arsenal - none of his team-mates have more

Alarmingly, no side has ever become Premier League champions without having a player in the top 10 goalscorers. Saka has drawn blank in his previous 13 matches across all competitions while Gyokeres has failed to find the net from open play in his last 11 league games while Gabriel Martinelli's last league goal was in September and Madueke hasn't scored a league goal this season.

Can a team really win the title in Europe's hardest league on the back of such paltry individual numbers?

Well, in 2020-21 Manchester City did it with Ikay Gundogan topping their charts with 13 league goals. Raheem Sterling scored 10 that season as Pep Guardiola played much of it without a real centre forward.

That was still 23 goals between two players though. Arsenal are currently some way from that and they really need one of their big names to step up and take responsibility.

They remain the most well equipped team in England and really should win the league title.

Arteta's management of players is first class but what stands before him now is a test of his coaching.

Over the coming weeks we must see something other than a high ball towards the near post from Declan Rice.

United's win was built on defensive resilience as much as two fabulous goals and key to that once again was Harry Maguire.

The United centre half is the most in form English defender at the moment and really should be a consideration for a late dash towards Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad.

The understanding is, however, that this won't happen. In Tuchel's head some decisions were made long ago - and that is one of them.

Harry Maguire has been a rock at the back in both victories under Michael Carrick

The journalist tasked by the club with writing a book about United's return to prominence under Sir Jim Ratcliffe will be thrilled by the team's recent upturn.

After all: United: The Journey from 15th to 8th doesn't really have a best-seller ring to it.

Wednesday's Champions League game in Frankfurt has a rather definitive feel about it for Tottenham manager Thomas Frank.

If Spurs can win they will progress to the last sixteen and that may give Frank some breathing space as he looks to turn around his team's Premier League form ahead of a tough run of games against both Manchester teams, Arsenal and Newcastle.

But if the atmosphere in the away end on Saturday at Burnley is anything to go by then Frank and some of his players are already out of road with the Tottenham faithful.

'I have never seen or heard such negativity before a game has even started,' revealed someone sitting behind the goal where Cristian Romero scored his last-minute equaliser.

It appears Tottenham fans have made their minds up about Thomas Frank, with Spurs sat 14th

'The Romero goal was great but half of them had gone by then. It's as if they have given up on the season already.'

In the Spurs dressing room, Frank retains some reasonable support from a playing group who recognise a decent man doing all he can.

In terms of the interest in Liverpool full-back Andy Robertson, the rationale is simple.

'That squad needs a grown-up voice,' said another source.

Tottenham full-back Djed Spence is as flamboyant off the field as he is on it and took some heat on social media for turning up at Burnley wearing a wide woollen headband and bright pink 'Croc' style shoes.

Spence certainly did stand out in the crowd on a cold Lancashire day at Turf Moor but the shoes he was wearing were actually given to him and the rest of the England squad by England kit supplier Nike at the last international meet-up in November.

The shoes are supposed to help players with their pre-match conditioning and even though it all sounds a bit gimmicky it's hard to blame a player for merely wearing what he's been advised to wear.

And it's certainly not Spence's fault that they were pink!

Djed Spence raised eyebrows with his unusual choice of attire as he arrived at Burnley

The aggro at a re-energised London Stadium was confined to the area behind the Sunderland dug out as West Ham came alive to win 3-1.

Footage of Sunderland substitute Granit Xhaka biting back after some choice words from a West Ham fan seated behind him quickly flooded the internet and briefly stopped the game.

And according to those who have been there, it’s not an unusual occurrence.

‘I have sat in those seats and the abuse is constant and pretty unacceptable,’ reveals a staffer at another Premier League club. ‘At some point someone was always going to have a go back.’

On the field West Ham wowed their fans with a first-half performance of pace and power.

Granit Xhaka responds to fans in the stands behind the dugout at the London Stadium

TV analysis focused on the excellent Mateus Fernandes and the Portuguese certainly had an impressive game.

But the reinvention of Tomas Soucek as a holding midfielder was also noticeable. Maybe subtle signs of Nuno Espirito Santo's coaching are starting to emerge as West Ham try to escape the mire at the bottom.

Manchester City remain in the title race by default as much as anything. Their win against Wolves - which featured an excellent debut for Marc Guehi - was their first in the Premier League since Christmas.

Not that it's hard to work out the reasons. Of the 13 players who featured as City beat Chelsea at the Etihad exactly a year ago, only four played against Wolves. That illustrates the churn at City as Pep Guardiola tries to fashion a new side capable of going toe to toe with Arsenal, and indeed Aston Villa, between now and the end of May.

None of that, of course, excuses Guardiola for his ridiculous comments about refereeing that followed the weekend's game.

The great Catalan has always struggled with getting his head round the physical nature of the Premier League - even if it's nowhere near as lawless as it once was.

Pep Guardiola confronts referee Farai Hallan (second right), who opted not to award Man City a penalty against Wolves after being asked to take a look again by VAR

I recall Guardiola sounding off about referees in his very first season in England a decade ago. He really should know better by now.

City have won endless trophies under Guardiola and history will recognise his greatness. But suggesting his team have done it all in spite of unhelpful officiating was classless. Frankly Guardiola should be setting a better example.

Liverpool's failure to sign Guehi from Crystal Palace at the end of the last summer transfer window seemed like a misstep at the time and continues to haunt them now.

While Guehi was taking positive first steps at City, Liverpool were collapsing on the south coast at Bournemouth.

That Arne Slot's team ended their 3-2 defeat with two midfielders playing in what can only loosely be described as a defence says everything for a lack of depth in that area.

But are we really surprised that captain Virgil van Dijk finally succumbed to the pressure of trying to hold it all together on his own?

Virgil van Dijk's sheer amount of game time must be contributing to his struggles

This column explained last week that Van Dijk has played every single minute in the league and the Champions League this season. At some stage, something was always going to give for a 34-year-old and on Saturday it did.

Slot said after the game that he had taken off left-back Milos Kerkez because he was 'in the red zone' in terms of minutes played.

If Kerkez is in the red zone then where does that leave his captain?

Radio commentary can often provide insights in to a game that even TV cannot and so it was on Saturday.

As Liverpool chased parity and then the game at the Vitality, the Radio 5 team of Alistair Bruce-Ball and Rob Green hardly had cause to mention Mo Salah's name at all. He was largely peripheral to the action.

Salah needs time to find his feet after his return from the AFCON tournament but there is a nagging feeling that a problem about playing time that blew up between Arne Slot and his star player before Christmas has not gone away...

Mo Salah failed to make an impact as Liverpool chased the game at Bournemouth

Staying with the BBC, there is a theory among some staffers as to why Wayne Rooney is taking so long to adjust to life as a Match of the Day pundit.

'He should have been eased in on radio commentary duty first,' observes one person who knows. 'Radio teaches you to use words carefully and to maximum effect. There is also less pressure as you aren't staring at a big camera under studio lights.'

Successful pundits who have transitioned from radio to TV studio include goalkeepers Paul Robinson and Joe Hart as well as Chris Sutton and Stephen Warnock.

Away from the Premier League, Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Barry Bannan played his 435th and final league game for the club he joined 11 years ago. He is expected to join Millwall.

Bannan, 36, was given an emotional send-off as his team lost at Bristol City and his loyalty during the club's recent difficulties has been exceptional.