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• Arteta: Saka and Rice injuries do not look good

  Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta did not have a positive outlook when questioned about Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice's respective injuries following their 1-1 draw at Chelsea on Sunday.

  Saka was taken off in the 81st minute, having earlier received treatment on a problem with his leg, while Rice left the pitch 10 minutes earlier having been playing with a broken toe.

  While their injuries represent a problem for Arteta, both Saka and Rice were included in the England squad to face Greece and the Republic of Ireland.

  It could be a blow for England interim manager Lee Carsley, with Arteta doubtful they will be able to contribute.

  "It doesn't look good because for two players of that importance to say they want to come off is unusual," Arteta told reporters after the match. "I don't expect them to be fit [for the international break] because if not, they don't come off."

  Saka has already missed two games for Arsenal this season, having picked up an injury during the previous international break. The Gunners have had to deal with numerous injuries to key players, including that of Martin Odegaard, who made his first start for the club since August on Sunday.

  "What I'm praying for is that after the international break, we have the team fully physically equipped, that they are available and that they are fit because it's been a nightmare for eight weeks," he added.

  "Doubt after doubt, issue after issue, not only with the ones that are not able to play but with the ones who are able to play."

• Premier League MD11: Lucky winners and unlucky losers

  The final international break of 2024 is here, and we can safely say the Premier League is starting to take shape.

  Opta's supercomputer now has Liverpool, who are five points clear at the top following their win over Aston Villa on Saturday, as the favourites to go on and win the title.

  Manchester City lost a fourth straight game in all competitions as they went down 2-1 at Brighton, while Chelsea and Arsenal are third and fourth respectively after sharing the points.

  When assessing the underlying metrics, it looks like Sunday's draw at Stamford Bridge was a fair result, but that was not the case across the board this weekend.

  Here, we pick out the lucky winners and unlucky losers from matchday 11.

  Lucky winners: Manchester United

  Manchester United are now under new management, with Ruben Amorim officially starting as head coach on Monday. But interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy ensured he went out with a high as the Red Devils beat Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday.

  However, it is fair to say United were rather fortunate to net three times at Old Trafford, with the data suggesting they did not even create chances worthy of one goal, never mind three.

  United's expected goals (xG) was 0.69, the third-lowest total in the league this weekend and behind Leicester's 0.77.

  Bruno Fernandes scored one and set up another on his 250th appearance for the club, either side of Victor Kristiansen's own goal, but from 13 shots, United, who had only 17 touches in Leicester's box, really did not create much in the way of quality opportunities.

  Indeed, their attacking quality instead told, with Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho finishing well. At the other end, Leicester failed to make their moments count, despite hitting the target with five of their six shots.

  Spare a thought for Erik ten Hag, given when he was in charge, United's attack was underperforming. Now Amorim just needs to pick up where Van Nistelrooy left off...

  Unlucky losers: Manchester City

  Man City are suddenly the crisis club, having lost four straight games for the first time since August 2006. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, has lost four games in a row in all competitions for the very first time in his managerial career.

  Erling Haaland also lost a Premier League match in which he scored a goal for the very first time, having put City ahead before Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley clinched the points for Brighton.

   

  Brighton finished with 2.29 xG, so they did deserve to score at least twice. However, City can still consider themselves unfortunate, given their 2.22 xG was the third-highest of any team across the weekend.

  Their post-shot expected goals on target (xGoT) also rose to 2.98, showing that Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was on fine form.

  City also created five big chances, missing four of them, and hit the woodwork once. That being said, they conceded eight big chances, with Brighton letting them off for six of those, so it was not a good day at the office for Guardiola.

  Unlucky losers: Bournemouth

  If Man City were unfortunate, then the team to have created the highest xG (2.61) this past weekend – Bournemouth – can consider themselves hard done by.

  Andoni Iraola claimed his team were worthy of the three points against Brentford, despite the Cherries losing 3-2, and the underlying metrics suggest the Spaniard was fair in his assessment.

   

  Only Tottenham (35 in their loss against Ipswich Town) had more touches in the opponent's box than Bournemouth's 34 at the Gtech Community Stadium, but Iraola's side were made to pay for some dismal finishing.

  Their xGoT dropped to 1.68, while Brentford's rose from 1.48 xG to 1.84 xGoT – essentially, the level of finishing from Brentford's players increased the likelihood they would score, while Bournemouth's finishing was below what would have been anticipated based on the quality of chances they had. That is further backed up by the fact the Cherries only got three of their 15 attempts on target.

• Arteta: Arsenal let their standards drop in Chelsea draw

  Mikel Arteta said Arsenal must not accept the standards they showed defensively for Chelsea's equaliser in Sunday's 1-1 draw.

  Pedro Neto slammed in from distance at Stamford Bridge, 10 minutes after Gabriel Martinelli had put the Gunners ahead.

  Arsenal squandered a golden chance late on, when Leandro Trossard nudged wide from William Saliba's cross, leaving Arteta rolling on the touchline in frustration.

  But Arteta, who believes Arsenal "dominated" Chelsea despite the Blues registering 17 shots and 1.28 expected goals (xG), singled out the defending for Neto's equaliser as particularly frustrating.

  Speaking to Sky Sports, Arteta said: "The disappointment of not getting three points is bigger [than being satisfied] and it will probably be bigger after watching it back.

  "I think we dominated them, we were the better team in many phases and situations in the game and after going ahead, very disappointed in the way we conceded.

  "It was so poor. It is not [at] our standards and we don't accept [it].

  "It is a second phase set piece and we were disorganised. We didn't reorganise quickly enough and you can't allow the pass that way. You need the quality of Neto to do it but our standards were not good enough."

  Arsenal have gone four consecutive Premier League games without a win for the first time since April 2023 (D2 L2); the Gunners had picked up all three points in 21 of their previous 25 league matches before this (D3 L1).

  This was the fourth time that Arsenal have faced 15+ shots in a Premier League game this season, already twice as many times as they did so across the whole of the 2023-24 campaign (twice).

  Arteta was at least buoyed by the return to fitness of Martin Odegaard, who assisted Martinelli on his first appearance since September. Declan Rice, who missed Wednesday's loss to Inter in the Champions League, also played despite injury concerns.

   

  "[He] has been out for six weeks and barely trained with the team," Arteta said of Odegaard, who played the entire match.

  "To be able to play at this level in the Premier League tells you how much he looks after himself and the leadership and character he has. Everything flows better with players like this. We clicked much better. You could see everything was flowing but again it is about winning.

  "What we have found is that every day we have had to change something big, because we've had problem after problem.

  "Normally the team goes down but this team has unbelievable energy and spirit to play."

  The draw left Arsenal in fourth, nine points back from Premier League leaders Liverpool heading into the final international break of 2024.