What Man United's ex-players tell me about stars 'p***ed off' with criticism, Wayne Rooney underwhelms on MOTD and when will Virgil van Dijk wilt as no-one else stands up? IAN LADYMAN on My Premier League Weekend

Though this may feel like something of a below-par season when it comes to standards at the top of the Premier League , leaders Arsenal are only three points shy of where eventual winners Liverpool were this time last year.

Nevertheless, if Arsenal don't win their first title in two decades this season it's tempting to wonder if they ever will.

Mikel Arteta 's team have a seven-point lead and that feels significant. Had it not been for two below-par performances against Nottingham Forest and Liverpool, they would have the title in their back pocket already.

Beneath them, there is only drift.

Manchester City were desperate against Manchester United on Saturday and have just taken three points from four league games. Aston Villa are coached superbly by Unai Emery but don't have depth while Liverpool have just failed to beat each of the three promoted clubs at home and seem intent on boring the nation to death until somebody takes their Premier League off them.

Arsenal are seemingly primed to hit the title race accelerator - they cannot fail from here

Surely Arsenal – with their first choice central defensive pairing safely back in harness and a substitutes' bench that any would envy – are now primed and ready to hit the accelerator?

With a handy lead already established and a list of subs at Nottingham Forest on Saturday that included Saka, Eze, Trossard, Havertz, Jesus, Merino and Lewis-Skelly, a failure to land this title from here would be almost negligent.

It feels like an all or nothing few months for Arteta and a career that is so far short on silverware.

The feud between Paul Scholes and Lisandro Martinez at United dates back to last season. Briefly there was talk of a meeting between the two of them to clear the air and the reasons why it never happened vary pretty wildly depending on who you talk to.

As detailed in Daily Mail Sport before, criticism from ex-players tends to land pretty heavily in the home dressing room at Old Trafford. 'It p****s them off,' a United source told me recently.

In terms of the Class of 92 and others such as Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, it is understood that they are comfortable with what they say.

Lisandro Martinez goaded Paul Scholes - but the ex-Man United star simply won't care

'I wouldn't expect these players to be happy about being criticised,' one of them told me recently.

'But what do they want us to do? Say they play well when they don't?'

Moving forward, the path ahead for the likes of United central defender Martinez would appear to be clear. Just play better.

The Argentine defender was magnificent on Saturday as United tore City to pieces with a throwback performance at Old Trafford but goading Scholes – who simply will not give a damn – was utterly self-defeating and only serves to fan the flames of an issue that new head coach Michael Carrick needs to die down as soon as possible.

Indeed if Martinez needs to find an example of how to deal with criticism, flak and indeed the occasional bout of unfair lampooning, he only needs to look at the bloke who was playing next to him on Saturday lunchtime.

Nobody at United has taken more stick – some deserved and some not – than Harry Maguire over the last two or three years. United tried to sell him to West Ham two summers ago and he has lost his place in the England squad.

But Maguire has not railed against the perceived unfairness of any of it. He has understood that it's simply part of life at a really big club and got on with it.

Maguire was equally fabulous on Saturday against City and probably woke up the next morning to find Erling Haaland in his back pocket.

If more at United had Maguire's attitude, there would arguably have been no need for Carrick to turn up in the first place.

Another player to have had issues with pundits this season is Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk who wasn't overly impressed when BBC's Rooney suggested he had been coasting after signing a new contract in the summer.

Rooney was wrong and has acknowledged that but it's hard to wonder whether Van Dijk will start to wilt under the physical and mental strain of trying to drag Liverpool forward this season at some point.

Not only is Van Dijk the captain and spokesperson – is any other Liverpool player capable of fronting up after a poor result? – he has played every single minute of Premier League and European action this season.

With his club having somehow failing to conclude the signing of Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace at the end of the summer window, manager Arne Slot has had little choice but to send Van Dijk and his central defensive partner Ibrahima Konate in to battle game after game.

Virgil van Dijk repeatedly fronts up for Liverpool and is ever-present for them of late

Konate does get the occasion rest but Van Dijk has played every minute of every game since being rested for the Carabao Cup defeat by Palace at the end of October. Not only does the 34-year-old start every game, he never ever gets taken off.

Whether that's because Liverpool are always in need of defensive security or are too often chasing late set piece goals is open to conjecture.

Rooney's Match of the Day contributions continue to underwhelm a little. The former England captain's comments about his former Derby assistant manager Liam Rosenior on Saturday's edition were rather light, even if his delivery is starting to improve.

His excellent BBC podcast continues to feel more like his natural home than in front of a camera and now that another of his friends, Michael Carrick, is back in the spotlight at United, Rooney should not be short of specialist subjects.

Wayne Rooney still has work to do on Match of the Day after his contributions underwhelmed

Rosenior himself survived an underwhelming first Premier League game as Chelsea manager to grab a win at home against Brentford.

The shot total in the game was 15–6 in Brentford's favour and Chelsea – with two on target – won the game. At Anfield the numbers were 32-7 as Liverpool faced Burnley and could only draw 1-1. Sometimes, that's the way football works.

It is to be hoped Rosenior can work on one of the characteristics of his predecessor Enzo Maresca's reign, meanwhile, as the tendency of Chelsea players to throw themselves to the ground continues to leave a sour taste in the mouth.

At the weekend it was familiar culprit Marc Cucurella who ran towards a situation that had nothing to do with him in the Brentford penalty area, ensured there was contact to his chest from Kevin Schade's arm and went down clutching his face.

Cucurella is a fine footballer as he showed in playing so well for Spain in the final of the 2024 Euros against England. But this side to his game is ridiculous and pathetic and, sadly at Chelsea, he is not alone.

Old habits continue to die hard at Tottenham, too, where their goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario handed West Ham a late winner in the desperation derby on the Seven Sisters Road.

The Italian is a more than capable shot stopper – as he showed in the last minute of Tottenham's Europa League final win against United last season – but is desperate under pressure in the air.

Vicario claimed he was fouled as Callum Wilson scored from a corner on Saturday but he wasn't. He needs to be stronger and simply never is.

Forget Thomas Frank for a moment, Tottenham need an upgrade on their goalkeeper in the summer.

Rosenior's old club Hull – he was sacked in 2024 after finishing seventh in the Championship – continue to threaten a first return to the Premier League since 2017 and their win at Southampton on Saturday means they have only lost once since early December. They sit fifth.

Sadly, Hull are one of the clubs affected by the dismal TV scheduling package put together ahead of round four of the FA Cup and it means Rosenior will bring Chelsea to Humberside on a Friday night for what should have been one of the showpiece ties of the road.

In a desperate bid to cash in on viewing figures guaranteed by the bigger clubs, Liverpool's home game with Brighton, Newcastle's clash with Aston Villa and Arsenal's meeting with Wigan at the Emirates have been allocated the showpiece times on Saturday and Sunday evenings with Hull have been pulled forwards to Friday night and Macclesfield's home game with Brentford has been shamefully shunted to Monday evening.

Non-league Macclesfield certainly deserved better than being pushed into a graveyard slot after their heroics against Crystal Palace in the last round.

How Liverpool reintegrate Mo Salah back in to their squad after the African Cup of Nations will be intriguing. There could yet be further challenges ahead for manager Slot.

But no club will be more relieved that the tournament is over than Sunderland.

Manager Regis le Bris lost six players to the tournament a month ago – the highest number of any club in a major European League – but his team has managed to come through the period relatively unscathed.

The six players called up to AFCON had played almost 4,500 Premier League minutes before they headed off to Morocco and of particular concern was the absence of defensive mainstays Noah Sadiki and left-back Reinildo.

But Sunderland lost just one of the seven games missed by their African players and – even though Saturday's win over Palace was their first in that time (they beat Everton in the FA Cup on penalties) their recent record has been enough to keep the momentum of the first half of the season going.

Regis le Bris lost six players to AFCON but Sunderland have remained steady

Palace manager Oliver Glasner gave one of the season's most explosive TV interviews on Saturday evening as he accused the club of 'abandoning' him and his players by preparing to sell Guehi to City.

It is easy to have sympathy with managers like Glasner and Aston Villa's Unai Emery who are attempting to drive their clubs forwards while at the same time working under the restrictions of the Premier League's spending rules. When Emery said after yesterday's home defeat by Everton that his team are 'not top five contenders', he was almost certainly alluding to his lack of squad depth at Villa Park.

Equally, it was clear when talking to Palace chairman Steve Parish in the interview area after last season's FA Cup Final that he had real doubts about whether his manager was going to sign a new contract.

To nobody's real surprise, it never happened. Which, as Glasner runs his own contract down, begs the question: 'Who is abandoning who?'

Everton's terrific win over Villa took them into the top half again and despite David Moyes' criticism of Jack Grealish last week, the former Villa player continues to show his worth.

Grealish's form may have dropped off a little recently and Moyes was unhappy about a recent red card but the 30-year-old's value is illustrated by the fact he is the most fouled footballer in the Premier League.

At City, Pep Guardiola used to encourage Grealish to draw fouls from the opposition and now does the same with Jeremy Doku.

With England manager Thomas Tuchel so keen to use set pieces at this summer's World Cup, he may rue Grealish's expected absence but can take heart from the name of the second player on the list – Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson.

The top five are: Grealish (58 fouls), Anderson (53), Bruno Guimaraes (46), Neco Williams (42), Patrick Dorgu (41).