The Premier League is back in full swing this weekend after the international break.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the key talking points heading into the forthcoming round of games.
Leaders City head to in-form Hammers
Manchester City have made a strong start to their title defence, taking a maximum 12 points from their opening four fixtures.
The treble-winners, and Erling Haaland, delivered their most potent display so far last time out with a 5-1 thrashing of Fulham which featured a hat-trick from the Norway star.
Next to try to thwart City, whose boss Pep Guardiola has returned to work after a back operation, are West Ham – and they may well fancy their chances.
David Moyes’ men welcome the champions to London Stadium on Saturday having won each of their last three games, to sit fourth in the fledgling table.
Spurs and Reds also on a roll
West Ham are among four teams with 10 points – also on that total, and three-match winning runs, are Tottenham and Liverpool.
Spurs will look to continue their impressive post-Harry Kane form under new boss Ange Postecoglou, the league’s manager of the month, when they host Sheffield United, shortly after Jurgen Klopp’s Reds play at Wolves in the early Saturday kick-off.
The other side with 10 points are 2022-23 runners-up Arsenal, visitors on Sunday to struggling Everton, who on Friday announced an agreement had been reached for the club to be taken over by American investment firm 777 Partners.
United in need of a boost
Manchester United have had a troubled start to their campaign, losing to both Tottenham and Arsenal in their first four outings.
The international break has then seen Antony given a leave of absence in order to address allegations made against him of violence towards women, while fellow forward Jadon Sancho is training away from the first-team squad due to a “discipline issue”.
The Red Devils will be eager for the positivity of a win on Saturday. But that will be no small task at home to Brighton, who are on nine points and have won each of the last three league meetings between the clubs.
Chelsea and Newcastle misfiring
Two further teams for whom a victory this weekend would certainly be welcome are Chelsea and Newcastle.
The Blues’ expensively-assembled squad has made an underwhelming start to life under Mauricio Pochettino and slumped to a 1-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest in their last game.
Newcastle, after securing Champions League football last season and opening this one with a 5-1 hammering of Aston Villa, have suffered three defeats on the bounce.
Eddie Howe’s side host Brentford in Saturday’s late game before Chelsea go to Bournemouth on Sunday.
Hatters look to hit back
Luton have found the Premier League fairly unforgiving, losing each of their first three games.
That left pundit Garth Crooks saying he could “see them down by Christmas” – and with boss Rob Edwards branding that remark “disrespectful”, the Hatters might be even more fired up when they take their search for a first point to Fulham on Saturday.
The other two sides that came up, Burnley and Sheffield United, also opened with three losses, with the latter’s 2-2 draw with Everton last time out the only point gained by one of them so far. The Clarets will attempt to get off the mark on Monday night at Forest.
Erik ten Hag seeking solution to Manchester United’s defensive dilemma
Erik ten Hag admits he is at a loss to explain Manchester United’s poor defensive performances.
The Red Devils have conceded 14 goals in their last five games and 10 in the last three, with three goals against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday not enough even to earn them a point.
United boss Ten Hag said: “We have shown that we can do it because last year we had the most clean sheets in the Premier League because of the team, because we defended very good as a team, so we have to get back to that standard.
“Of course I am pushing the team and demanding from the team, and from the start of the season, but they are human beings, not robots, so, why they are not doing it, I try to find out and I try to give the solutions and try to motivate the players to do the job.
“When you are in a period like we are in always as a manager you are asking yourself these questions. My job is to get them to do the job.”
On United’s tendency to concede goals soon after a restart, Ten Hag added: “(We’re) not concerned but we are aware of it. Of course you can’t close your eyes for things like this so we coach the players, we coach the team in that fact.”
Question marks have been raised about the attitude of United’s squad, with clips from the Bayern game apparently showing players not chasing back as hard as they might.
Ten Hag does not believe a lack of willingness was to blame, though, saying: “It’s always a concern when we didn’t run but I think against Bayern it was not the case.
“In certain situations yes so it’s also to recognise in which situation is it about they didn’t recognise it and didn’t make the right decisions or is it about willingness?
“Against Spurs, we didn’t run too much. But I think against Bayern we did our best from physical outputs but we didn’t always run in the right moment.
“If we bounced back like we did in Munich, you can’t say the spirit isn’t right. I think we have other problems than that.”
Ange Postecoglou points out the differences between himself and Mikel Arteta
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou is full of admiration for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, but fails to see many similarities between the pair.
Postecoglou’s youthful Spurs side face the biggest test of his early reign on Sunday when they make the short trip to the Emirates for the first north London derby of the season.
Second-placed Tottenham travel across the capital in high spirits but face an Arsenal team that are into a fifth season under Arteta, who also took over a club in the doldrums and has overseen a cultural change from top to bottom.
While Postecoglou is at the start of the same type of rebuilding job at Spurs, he poked fun at suggestions he is alike his 41-year-old opposite number.
He said: “I think Mikel has been outstanding, really strong right from the start by having a real vision for the football club and the club’s backed him, but I don’t think that’s unique.
“I think Liverpool did the same with Jurgen (Klopp). Most clubs that end up having a successful period do it on the back of having a really clear idea of what they’re trying to create.
“The only problem is that a lot of clubs jump at shadows at the first sign of things not progressing at the rate they were hoping to. Credit to Arsenal and credit to Mikel that they backed each other and they’re reaping the rewards of it but that’s not a blueprint for us to follow.
“We’ve got our own blueprint. You don’t have to follow anyone else’s timescale, you don’t have to follow anyone else’s processes. What you’ve got to do is have a clear idea about what you want and provided along the way you see progress, stick to it.
“In terms of similarities, I’m 58, he’s whatever (41). I’ve had 26 years, he’s five years into it. He’s managed in one country, I’ve managed in a few. I’m not sure how he’s got a great head of hair!
“He’s a lot fitter than I am. I don’t know, there’s not a lot of threads I can sort of join between us. I wouldn’t say we’re opposites.
“We’re different. Even in the way his team plays. Yes he does have a very attacking philosophy but it’s different from mine and that’s the beauty of the game. That’s what you love about it.
“It’s why you can’t copy. If you’re an artist and you see a Picasso, yeah you can copy it, but it’s not going to be a Picasso is it? It’s the same with football.
“You can see that somebody does something really well, but don’t bring your own personality into it. I have great admiration for the way he’s gone about things and how he’s stuck to his beliefs. It’s a credit to him.”
Postecoglou did not claim to have any type of personal relationship with Arteta, but he did reveal a time when he got to view the Spaniard up close.
The former Celtic boss watched Manchester City training not long after he was appointed manager at Yokohama, who are part-owned by the City Football Group.
“I spent a week at City when I first got the Yokohama job because they were part of the group and were generous enough to invite me in,” he revealed.
“I didn’t speak to anyone but I observed training and you could see then how passionate Mikel was about the game and that he was itching to get going and become a manager himself.
“He’s had a different journey but he’s made the impact.
“As I keep saying, there’s no real defined way to get here.”
Virgil van Dijk excited about Darwin Nunez potential after recent goal rush
Virgil van Dijk believes striker Darwin Nunez is starting to realise the potential which persuaded Liverpool to spend a possible club-record transfer fee on him.
The Uruguay international endured a testing start to life at Anfield and although he scored 16 goals, the feeling remained he had underperformed.
He has already played a significant part this season, scoring two late goals as a substitute to beat Newcastle, and with Mohamed Salah on the bench he took responsibility for equalising through a penalty in their eventual 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria.
Nunez has three goals and two assists this season but his all-round influence has been felt more than just from that contribution.
The Uruguayan, who had missed a couple of earlier chances but was denied a certain goal by a brilliant point-blank save by goalkeeper Tobias Lawal in the first half, also played a role in the second goal with his hold-up play on the halfway line.
Liverpool’s captain believes the 24-year-old is developing into the striker they hoped they were getting when they paid Benfica an initial £64million, which could rise to £85m, last summer.
“Everyone has a role to play whether you start or not. Everyone has now seen the potential and the quality he has.
“Against LASK Darwin was important with the goal. Long may it continue, and with the other boys as well.
“Up front, the competition is quite good. They all have to push each other and it’s good to see.”
One of those “other boys” – quite literally – was Ben Doak who became Liverpool’s fourth-youngest European player with his first start at the age of 17 years and 314 days.
The young Scot was given a run in Salah’s right-wing position and showed flashes of his talent despite being starved of opportunities in a poor first-half performance by the team.
“It was a big night for him,” added Van Dijk. “It was never going to be easy, it was a difficult pitch, but he could have set up at least two goals in the first half where he went past his man like no one was there but unfortunately nobody was on the end of it.
“I am pleased for him and I’m also very excited for him and the future that’s coming.
“You’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, if you watch closely it’s a fantastic group to be part of.
“We have a lot of quality, a lot of younger players, players who are getting new roles and they are enjoying that as well.
“But at the end of the day football is about results. Everybody wants to play their best football each and every game, but sometimes you have to find a way, like we did at Wolves (coming back from conceding first again to win 3-1).
“On Thursday it was after we conceded a set-piece, we showed that we stayed calm and found a way as well.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
