Florian Wirtz finally off the mark in the Premier League, Jose Mourinho has another meltdown and Man Utd misfit Rasmus Hojlund continues to shine in Serie A: Winners and losers from the weekend's football

Florian Wirtz was never the reason why Liverpool's form fell off a cliff at the tail end of September and he's actually been playing quite well for some time now. However, as Arne Slot has conceded on a couple of occasions, attacking players are judged by their number of goal contributions these days and Wirtz was still stuck on zero in the run-up to Christmas - which, no matter what way you try to spin it, was nowhere near good enough for a £100 million player.

Wirtz, though, is finally up and running. After registering his first assist in the 2-1 win over Tottenham on December 20 with a clever through-ball for Alexander Isak, the Germany international opened his Liverpool account with a well-taken goal in Saturday's 2-1 win over Wolves. Both his joy and relief were obvious in his celebration.

"It was very nice the feeling on the pitch with the fans around," the versatile attacking midfielder told Sky Sports. "I was very happy and I still am. I was confident that I would score one day. I wanted to start earlier scoring and assisting but it was like this and I have to accept it. I just knew that it would come and now I'll try to keep going like this."

Certainly, with the monkey now off his back, the 22-year-old Wirtz should go on to score many more goals at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah was unquestionably out of order when he went public with his grievances with Arne Slot and unnamed figures that allegedly want him out of the club. Whether he had a point or not, the Egyptian came across as looking selfish and petulant by lashing out at such a tough time for the team.

However, some of the criticism that has followed has been outrageously over the top and surprisingly personal in its nature. It now feels as if several pundits and journalists have been waiting for precisely this kind of moment to sully Salah's stellar reputation, with some even going so far as to question his legendary legacy.

Salah, thus, deserves enormous credit for ignoring all of the noise and silencing the haters by producing two match-winning displays for Egypt in their Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

First, the prolific winger netted a 91st-minute winner in last week's 2-1 win over Zimbabwe and then, on Friday, he converted a penalty that he had won to secure the Pharaohs a spot in the last 16 with a 1-0 win over South Africa.

What this all means for Salah's future at Anfield is unclear but what's obvious is that reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. He remains one of the most decisive players in world football.

The mind games have already begun in the Serie A title race. After Napoli won at Cremonese on Sunday afternoon, Antonio Conte tried to make out that it was a three-way fight between Italy's three richest clubs: Inter, Juventus and AC Milan.

However, Nerazzurri CEO Beppe Marotta was having none of it, pointing out that not only were Napoli the reigning champions, they had significantly strengthened their squad during the summer, meaning the Partenopei were "the prime candidates to win the scudetto again."

The truth of the matter is, though, that there is a strong case to be made for every single contender. 

Leaders Inter have developed a nasty habit of losing big games under Christian Chivu but showed impressive grit to beat Atalanta in Bergamo on Sunday night thanks to a solitary strike from skipper Lautaro Martinez, and arguably still have the strongest starting XI in Serie A. City rivals Milan boast arguably the best player in Serie A right now (Christian Pulisic) and are unburdened by European football, which could be huge come the business end of the season. Napoli, meanwhile, have responded wonderfully well to Conte's post-Bologna meltdown, winning five of their last six Serie A games - as well as the Supercoppa Italiana. As for Juventus, Luciano Spalletti is slowly but surely working his magic in Turin, with the Bianconeri up to fourth now after three wins on the spin.

Roma shouldn't yet be discounted either, though. The Giallorossi are currently fifth in the table but if they beat Genoa at home on Monday night, they'll move back up into fourth, just three points behind table-topping Inter. 

All things considered, then, we're set for another sensational Serie A title race in 2026.

After Chelsea deservedly held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw on November 30 despite playing more than half the game with 10 men, the Blues were touted as genuine Premier League title contenders. Almost exactly a month on, though, the Blues face a real battle to finish in the top four after winning just one of their five fixtures in December so far.

Saturday's 2-1 loss at home to Aston Villa saw Chelsea slip to fifth in the standings, an embarrassing 13 points behind leaders Arsenal, meaning Enzo Maresca is once again under enormous pressure.

The Italian had already complained about a lack of support at the club after the win over Everton on December 13 and it really does feel now as we're entering Maresca's end game, especially as rumours of a strained relationship with star player Cole Palmer appeared to have been confirmed by the attacker's furious reaction to being substituted against Villa. 

Chelsea should return to winning ways against Bournemouth but it's worth noting that no team has dropped more points at home from winning positions than the Blues (11). Another setback on Tuesday night might make Maresca's position untenable - just six months after leading the Londoners to Club World Cup glory...

After playing a pivotal role in Napoli's Supercoppa Italiana triumph, Rasmus Hojlund posted a picture of himself with the trophy on Instagram accompanied by the words, "What a great decision looks like." It's impossible to disagree.

Leaving Manchester United for Napoli has proved the making of Hojlund, who followed up his heroics in Riyadh last week by netting twice in Sunday's 2-0 win at Cremonese. With his second brace in three Serie A games, Hojlund has now scored more league goals for Napoli this season (six) than he managed across the entire 2024-25 campaign for United (four).

Of course, as we wrote back in the summer, there was always an excellent chance that Antonio Conte would revitalise Hojlund (in much the same way he kickstarted Romelu Lukaku's career) and the truly encouraging thing is that the Partenopei coach believes that there is every more to come from the 22-year-old.

"Hojlund can improve a great deal," Conte told DAZN Italia. "Since he first joined us, he has already progressed to become a dominant player in that role, because he's starting to understand the right positions to take, how to defend the ball, when to come towards it or back off.

“He is really well connected with the team. In my style of football, the strikers have a very important and special role in the overall approach, and he has a huge margin for further improvement."

Eddie Howe was adamant that Newcastle had played well in Friday night's 1-0 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford. "I thought the performance was good," the Magpies boss told Match of the Day. "I am not stood here going, 'We were miles off it.' If we win everyone is saying, 'it's an outstanding performance.'"

The thing is, though, Newcastle never really looked like breaking United down. Despite having 67 percent of the possession at Old Trafford, the visitors created just one big chance.

Howe complained about the stop-start nature of the match and the ball not being in play very much at all - but that was deeply ironic, given arguably no other team in the Premier League is more responsible for breaking up games.

More importantly than anything else, though, Newcastle frustrating the life out of their fans away from home was by no means an isolated incident. The Magpies have won just one of their last 12 games on the road and the only ever-present Premier League side with a worse record during that spell is Wolves!

If Howe fails to arrest that rotten run at Turf Moor on Tuesday, 14th-placed Newcastle can kiss goodbye to whatever hope they had of qualifying for next season's Champions League.

Is there a more surprising scoring streak in football than Dominic Calvert-Lewin netting in six consecutive Premier League games for Leeds United? Not even the great Harry Kane achieved such a feat during his time in England's top flight!

Granted, Calvert-Lewin always had the makings of a top centre-forward but when he parted company with Everton in June, it really did feel like his best days were behind him.

He'd not represented England for four years and scored just three times in his final season on Merseyside.

However, Calvert-Lewin has caught fire over the past month, netting seven times in six appearances to help Leeds move seven points clear of the relegation zone, and when asked on Match of the Day after Sunday's equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Sunderland if he's now targeting an international recall, he admitted, "Of course, of course!

"I'm feeling good, feeling strong and I'm enjoying playing with the lads. [I've had] lots of ups and lots of downs. [It's been] a test of character but I've hung in there and kept going and kept pushing. I've backed myself and here I am now."

Third-placed Benfica desperately needed to win at Braga on Sunday evening to stay in the Liga Portugal title race and Jose Mourinho's side looked set to secure the victory they so badly needed when Samuel Dahl slotted home a low cross from Richard Rios to make it 3-2 to the visitors with just 16 minutes to go.

However, Rios was very, very harshly penalised for a perceived shoulder barge on Braga defender Vitor Carvalho. Consequently, Dahl's goal was disallowed and the game ended up finishing level - although not in Mourinho's eyes.

"We won 3-2!" the two-time Champions League winner told reporters in his post-match press conference. "I think it's a great victory for us. A great first half, in which we conceded two goals, with two mistakes of our own. In the second half we were very strong, we completely dominated the game, we scored three clean goals...

"You know I'm being ironic when I say we won 3-2; otherwise, I would be severely punished. But when the mistake that decided the game was made, it was witnessed by the gentleman who was in the VAR room.

"And so, these strange things happen, where there are clubs that win many games with mistakes and others that lose many points with mistakes. It's a long journey ahead, and I want to leave here with the joy and conviction of having turned the game around - even if they call me crazy."

Aston Villa are seemingly on a mission to kill the Expected Goals metric, with Saturday evening's 2-1 victory at Chelsea yet another case in point. Unai Emery's men didn't look remotely like title challengers during a feeble first-half display at Stamford Bridge in which they failed to create a single chance.

However, after more managerial genius from the Spaniard, Villa utterly bossed the second half and, thanks to a brace from substitute Ollie Watkins, claimed a fully-deserved win - even if the xG stats would tell you otherwise.

Emery continues to insist that his team is "not really" in the title race but the fact of the matter is that Villa are the form team in the Premier League, having won their last eight games in a row - and a club-record-equalling 11 in all competitions. What's more, if the former Arsenal boss were to mastermind another victory at the home of his former club on Tuesday evening, Villa would move level on points with the Gunners.

Of course, the numbers would suggest that this remarkable, seemingly logic-defying run will come to an end at the Emirates - but Emery and his players are clearly revelling in making a mockery of xG right now...

A rousing 5-1 rout of 10-man Udinese on December 21 provided Fiorentina with a glimmer of hope in their bid to avoid relegation from Serie A. However, the Viola looked doomed to the drop after Saturday's 1-0 loss to fellow strugglers Parma.

On the plus side, basement boys Fiorentina are still only five points from safety at the time of writing (17th-placed Genoa play on Monday night).

However, the problem is that the Stadio Artemio Franchi remains shrouded in uncertainty. Fabio Paratici is set to succeed the reviled Daniel Prade as sporting director next week but speculation is already rife that one of his first acts might be to dismiss Paolo Vanoli, who only replaced Stefano Pioli as coach in November but has only picked up five points since then.

There's even talk that Prade might even ask Pioli to return to Florence, given the former AC Milan coach is still under contract to the club. Worse still, star striker Moise Kean, who has misfired badly this term, is being linked with a January move away from Fiorentina.

The whole situation is a mess and the fans are furious, so unless Paratici has a master plan, one of the most famous sides in Italian football will be playing in Serie B next season.