Jose Mourinho's resolute attitude lives on in Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp needs to be punished, Arsenal face a new problem

As the Anfield faithful grew increasingly restless, Chelsea started to show cracks in their defence and before they knew it, Liverpool had equalised. At this stage, no one would have been surprised in the slightest if the home side went on to score again, such is their attacking prowess when firing on all cylinders.

Yet it was Chelsea who rebounded, won a penalty – however easily Diego Costa flung himself to the floor after minimal contact with Dejan Lovren – and could have won the match had Simon Mignolet not saved the Chelsea striker’s penalty. As it was, luck was against Chelsea at that critical moment, but they still managed to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League with both Arsenal and Tottenham failing to win.

It’s this character and resolute desire to keep fighting that has lifted Chelsea to the summit of the league in not-too-dissimilar fashion to the way Mourinho handled matters at Stamford Bridge. Under the Portuguese, Chelsea would frustrate opponents who could either match them offensively of even surpass them. Conte may not set his side up like Mourinho did, parking the bus as it came to be known, but he has the same resolute character that helped Chelsea claim the Premier League title three times under Mourinho.

At a time when the treatment of matchday officials is of grave concern, is it right that Jürgen Klopp should escape punishment for bellowing in the face of Neil Swarbrick in the immediate aftermath of Diego Costa’s saved penalty.

Klopp was furious with referee Mark Clattenburg’s decision not to give Dejan Lovren a penalty in the build-up to the spotkick, and the theatrical fall to the turf by the Brazilian-born Spain international will not have helped the combustible German’s temper. So when Simon Mignolet palmed the ball away from Costa’s penalty effort, Klopp launched himself towards Swarbrick and bellowed in his face.

He apologised afterwards, and also revealed what was said, which provided a more comical reaction rather than a surprised one after screaming “nobody can beat us!” But what example does this give to managers, coaches and even parents across the country. Arsène Wenger was banned from the touchline for four games for twice pushing fourth official Anthony Taylor during Arsenal’s win over Burnley, but if all aggressive behaviour is not punished then the Football Association are failing their duty. With a strike among amateur referees planned in March, this type of behaviour needs to be stamped out of the game across all levels.

It feels like an eternity since Arsenal didn’t have a striker problem, or a weakness in defence, but Arsene Wenger now finds himself with a midfield desertion on his hands. Who’d have thought?

For years Arsenal have been blessed with some of the most gifted central midfielders in the Premier League, and while they have lacked the defensive bite needed in this day and age, Wenger has never struggled with his selection for a lack of options. But that’s what he’ll face this weekend when Arsenal take on Chelsea, and suddenly the Gunners risk having their title challenge exposed as a complete farce.

Granit Xhaka is suspended following his second red card of the season, Aaron Ramsey limped out of the 2-1 defeat by Watford with a calf injury and Santi Cazorla will be lucky to play again this season as he continues to struggle with an Achilles injury. With the out-of-form Francis Coquelin set to link up with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – a man who has spent the bulk of his Arsenal career on the wing, on the bench or in the physio room – Arsenal look incredibly weak in midfield, and Wenger may have to call on the untested Ainsley Maitland-Niles if Oxlade-Chamberlain fails to recover from a knock suffered against Watford.

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And all this after sending Jack Wilshere on loan to Bournemouth, where the talented midfielder has made 18 appearances after overcoming his injury problems. Oh to be Wenger right now.

Burnley have been one of the remarkable stories of the season so far, with Sean Dyche’s side recording their ninth home win in 13 matches at Turf Moor, a fantastic record that will keep them in the top flight. That their away record is a dismal one point from 10 matches will not matter this term, given that their home form will keep them afloat and allow them to bring in players in the summer that can make the difference on the road next season.

There’s something about the Clarets though that feels like they have taken the 2014/15 relegation on board and learnt where to invest in order to become a Premier League regular. On the other hand, the remarkable story of 2016 in Leicester now risk relegation, and while any fan will admit they would take accept relegation given the extraordinary highs last season, it’s almost unexplainable to pinpoint what has happened at the King Power Stadium this term.

Leicester failed to capitalise on their success, bought poorly in the transfer market and suffered badly from the losses of midfielder N’Golo Kante and chief scout Steve Walsh. With time running out to address these issues, the situation looks bleak at Leicester...

…which brings us to the manager, Claudio Ranieri. If football was fair, Ranieri would have the Leicester job for life, such is the success he helped bring to the club last season. But we all know the Premier League is a cut-throat career choice, and with the 1-0 loss to Burnley dropping the Foxes down to 16th place and just two points above the relegation zone, you fear Ranieri may not see out the season.

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There’s still four months left this term to negotiate, and their fixture list looks daunting with Premier League matches against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal scheduled within the next six weeks along with the Champions League last-16 clash with Leicester and the FA Cup sixth round. If Leicester continue on their downward spiral, the Srivaddhanaprabha family may start to consider Ranieri’s position.

With £215m spent by Premier League clubs in the January transfer window, the 20 top flight teams actually managed something they’ve never achieved before – to spend less in the market than they received. Premier League clubs received around £255m this month, and the lack of activity among the top six clubs made for a rather anticlimactic deadline day.

Yet that certainly wasn’t the case if you were a fan of Hull, Crystal Palace or any of the other bottom six, as those clubs fighting for survival went out and spent the same as the rest of the league put together – an even £112.5m split. Once broken down, each relegation candidate spent an average of just under £20m in an effort to remain in a league that pays £100m a year. As Sean Dyche stated after Burnley’s victory on Tuesday, sometimes the right players are there, you just have to spend the money to get them.

Every time the door opens for Tottenham to close the gap on Chelsea, it slams shut in their face, and there will soon come a point where Antonio Conte’s side lock it and throw away the key. After beating the Blues in one of their best performances of the season, Spurs went on to let draw with Manchester City and immediately gave up the advantage they had just fought tooth and nail for.

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The same happened on Tuesday, as while Chelsea were held 1-1 by Liverpool, Spurs somehow failed to trouble Sunderland and left the Stadium of Light with a 0-0 draw. Tottenham’s lack of alternatives to Harry Kane hasn’t been exposed too often this season, but they are clearly lacking that final piece of the jigsaw and it looks like it will cost them a shot at the title for the second season running.