Relying on penalties to see off lowly opposition from League One will do little for Fulham’s morale. Marco Silva’s team are in a sticky spot, four consecutive defeats dragging them towards the Premier League’s bottom three, and making a meal out of reaching the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup at Wycombe Wanderers’ expense was not exactly the required tonic before a vital home game against Wolves on Saturday.

The positives for Fulham did not extend far beyond Josh King scoring his first senior goal. The 18‑year‑old midfielder cancelled out Cauley Woodrow’s early opener against his old side and the favourites went through 5-4 on penalties. Benjamin Lecomte saved from Ewan Henderson, Fred Onyedinma and Donnell McNeilly before Issa Diop’s emphatic spot-kick killed off Wycombe in sudden death.

In different circumstances the boos when the full-time whistle arrived and Stamford Bridge digested another stumble from Chelsea on home soil would have been the story of the day. It would have been about Enzo Maresca’s shortcomings against a low block, the creative deficit caused by Cole Palmer’s absence and the inconsistencies preventing the youngest team in the Premier League from muscling their way into the title race.

Victory would have lifted Chelsea two points off top spot before Arsenal host Crystal Palace on Sunday. Victory, though, was never within their grasp. Sunderland, again showing why they are such a fine addition to the Premier League, never allowed the world champions to assume control.

It is a sad fact of modern life for Ajax that their name commands more respect than their football these days. They were once the team of the moment, pushing tactical boundaries they ruled the continent in the 1970s, and they even fielded the youngest starting lineup in the history of the European Cup when they won it for a fourth time in 1995.

Yet those days are long gone. Ajax are a shadow of their former selves, a pale imitation under the beleaguered John Heitinga, and do not have the means to keep up when richer clubs invest their vast resources into youth projects of their own.

• Chelsea are bottom of Premier League fair play table

• ‘I prefer to help them understand, and do the right things’

Enzo Maresca has admitted Chelsea’s disciplinary record must improve but the head coach is adamant he will never punish his players for getting red cards.

Chelsea, who will be without the suspended João Pedro when they host Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday night, were reduced to 10 men for the fourth time this season when Malo Gusto received a needless second yellow card during the closing stages of last Saturday’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest.

Perhaps it was inevitable that Brentford’s first away win of the season would come in the Premier League’s unhappiest and least intimidating ground.

The many West Ham fans who displayed their displeasure with the board by boycotting this fixture had the right idea. They could celebrate their decision not to subject themselves to an unspeakably abysmal performance from Nuno Espírito Santo’s muddled team. West Ham, who have started a league campaign with four successive defeats at home for the first time in their history, were shambolic. They created nothing, made bizarre substitutions, defended terribly and had accepted their fate long before Mathias Jensen, with Brentford’s 22nd shot of a horribly one-sided contest, made it 2-0 deep into added time.

This was a mechanical performance from Arsenal but it was enough. Enough to see off Fulham, enough to avoid a row over a questionable refereeing decision and enough for Mikel Arteta’s side to increase the pressure on Liverpool before the champions look to move past their slump when they host Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

It never came close to capturing the imagination. There was the inevitable corner to decide a drab contest, Leandro Trossard popping up with an opportunistic goal just before the hour, but there was nothing memorable from Arsenal in open play. They created few openings and for all his graft there was concern about another blunt outing for Viktor Gyökeres, who returned from a troubled international break with Sweden and saw his goalless streak for club and country run into a ninth game.

Brexit and PSR are contributing to a spike in the fees and wages offered by big clubs for teenagers, but is this stockpiling really raising standards?

The discussion during a meeting of Premier League sporting directors this year turned to academies and the amount of money spent on homegrown teenagers. The market for players as young as 14 has turned wild, according to industry figures.

“Some wages are astronomical,” one agent says. A sporting director at a top-flight club struggling to keep their best youngsters away from the richest teams in England says: “It’s a nightmare. We have to offer 14-year-olds scholarship contracts just to protect ourselves.”

More than half the 26 places appear to be locked down but big names are at risk with qualification secured and the tournament looming

Fresh from breaking Gordon Banks’s record for consecutive England clean sheets, Jordan Pickford remains the undisputed pick in goal. A miserly defensive record is a positive for Thomas Tuchel, even if the shutouts have come against poor sides. John Stones, such an elegant centre-back, is back in the team and will start at the World Cup if he stays fit. But who will partner him? Tuchel likes Ezri Konsa, whose versatility also makes him an option at right-back, and Marc Guéhi; big Dan Burn also looks established after making his international debut in March. It is more uncertain at left-back, but Reece James will play at right-back as long as his body does not let him down.

• ‘It’s British humour and I can take it,’ says England head coach

• Tuchel says his side have achieved something ‘special’

Thomas Tuchel laughed off the mockery from the fans and hailed his side for achieving something special after England qualified for the World Cup finals tournament with a 5‑0 win against Latvia in Riga.

The head coach was in good spirits after another fine display and he did not mind being the butt of the joke at a rain-sodden Daugava Stadium. England’s fans did not hesitate to express their displeasure with Tuchel’s critical comments about the atmosphere during the win against Wales at Wembley last week but the German admitted he was fair game and insisted he thought the chants aimed in his direction were funny.