The latest Liverpool revival starts here. Those mighty Reds have pulled level on points with Fulham.

Still, you have to start somewhere, and Tottenham are usually ripe for the picking when Liverpool are in town, with Eric Dier this time taking it upon himself to roll out the red carpet and wave Mohamed Salah into the spotlight.

It's nine goals in eight games now for Salah, none of them penalties, and if Liverpool collectively are still far short of where Jurgen Klopp would want them, then at least the manager need not worry about his star forward.

A 2-1 win at Tottenham came as little surprise in many regards, since it means the north London side remain winless in their last 10 Premier League games against Liverpool, drawing three of those and losing seven.

Salah was on the scoresheet the last time Liverpool lost to Tottenham in the league, getting the consolation in a 4-1 humbling at Wembley – Spurs' then temporary home – in October 2017.

That was in the early stages of his first season with Liverpool, and Salah has barely stopped scoring since, though a shaky run of games early this season raised red flags about his form.

Fresh from signing a long-term deal in the close season, and recently turning 30, Liverpool are counting on Salah to remain lethal in front of goal.

Their success under Klopp, that Tottenham can only envy, has come thanks to a host of factors, but Salah's goals have been front and centre.

He was not sure in midweek that he had been awarded Liverpool's opening goal against Napoli, with Darwin Nunez's header having been close to crossing the line before it was nudged out to Salah.

But Salah was in the right place and was given that one, and there was no doubting his claims to Liverpool's two goals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where the visitors finally picked up a first away league win of the season.

The first was another from the Nunez-Salah collection, their partnership blossoming now, with the Uruguayan finding the Egyptian with a short, smart pass in the penalty area and the finish to the bottom-right corner was exemplary.

Desperate defending from Dier presented Salah with the chance to double Liverpool's lead, with the England international looking to nod Alisson's long kick back to Hugo Lloris but getting it all wrong.

Salah's footwork, running at pace onto the loose ball, was magnificent, and the chipped finish over the France goalkeeper was immaculate.

But what of Dier? Can he be trusted to avoid such blunders by Gareth Southgate at the World Cup? That is a third error leading to a shot committed by Dier in all competitions this season. Only one player from Europe's top leagues has had more: Liverpool's Joe Gomez (4).

Two of those mistakes from Dier have led to goals, and only one Premier League player has made as many errors already in 2022-23 that have proved quite so costly. The trouble for Spurs is that player is Lloris, also with two goal-costing errors.

This was the first time Tottenham had hosted Liverpool while above them in the table since that October 2017 win, and you have to wonder how long Spurs will stay ahead of Sunday's visitors.

They remain fourth for now, seven points adrift of a Liverpool side who have a game in hand on them, and they got what proved to be a classy consolation when Harry Kane rifled home a smart finish from substitute Dejan Kulusevski's pass in the 70th minute.

Kane spoke after the game of there being "tension" in the stands, and admitted Tottenham had been "punished" by Liverpool before building any momentum. The hosts hit the goal frame twice through Ivan Perisic, but Salah also had a glorious second-half chance, squandering the opportunity to seal a hat-trick when he fired straight at Lloris from a handy central position.

He has seven goals in 12 Premier League appearances against Spurs now, but it probably should have been eight.

Antonio Conte's Tottenham team selection had looked conservative, with injuries biting but attacking ambition seemingly in short supply. Kulusevski proved a threat on his return from injury, ripe to be used regularly in the coming weeks if there was not the inconvenience of a World Cup on the near horizon.

Kane's fine goal would have cheered Southgate, while Dier's clumsy error does him no favours ahead of the Qatar 2022 squad selection.

Kane became the first player to score in six consecutive home games for Spurs in the Premier League, but he was fighting a lone battle at times. Like Salah, Kane's class remains unquestionable.

Yet a Tottenham side who have lost three of their last four in the league are in need of a revival. Liverpool's wins over Napoli and now Spurs suggest Klopp's team might be in the early throes of one, but then you remember they lost to Leeds United at Anfield barely a week ago.

After the World Cup, these two sides must resolve their personality crises. More fits, starts and false dawns will mean the mid-table likes of Fulham might not be so easily shaken off.

The World Cup break may be just around the corner, but there remains plenty of life in the Premier League campaign, as another action-packed Sunday showed.

The day was book-ended by two heavyweight clashes, with Mikel Arteta's Arsenal moving back to the top of the table by beating Chelsea in a tense London derby in the early kick-off.

Later on, Liverpool finally clinched their first away win of the Premier League campaign as Mohamed Salah tormented Tottenham.

Elsewhere, Unai Emery made a memorable start to his Aston Villa reign and Newcastle United went third by tearing Southampton apart on the south coast.

Here, Stats Perform looks through the best facts of the day.

Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool: Salah ends Red's dismal away run

Liverpool had failed to win an away Premier League game this season (D2 L3), and needed a result as the prospect of slipping 13 points behind Spurs loomed.

Jurgen Klopp's side may have struggled, but Salah's recent form has been imperious, and he handed the visitors a strong start by drilling home an 11th-minute opener.

Salah then capitalised on Eric Dier's error to double Liverpool's lead, and he has now contributed to 19 goals in 20 games for Liverpool this season (14 goals, five assists). Only last season (28) has the Egyptian recorded more goal involvements in his first 20 appearances of a campaign for the Reds.

Meanwhile, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the 24th different away venue Salah has scored at for Liverpool in the Premier League – only Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen (both 25) have bettered that tally for the Reds.

Harry Kane ensured a nervy finish when he became the first Spurs player to score in six consecutive home Premier League appearances after the break, but Liverpool held firm to claim a huge win. 

Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal: Gabriel earns Gunners another statement win

Sunday's first game saw Arsenal return to the summit with a 1-0 victory against Chelsea, becoming the first team to win 10 away games against the Blues in the competition, and just the second to win on three successive trips to Stamford Bridge (after Blackburn Rovers from 1993-94 to 1995-96).

Gabriel Magalhaes got a touch on Bukayo Saka's corner to decide a hard-fought game – all nine of his league goals for Arsenal have come from corners, and no Premier League player has scored more goals from such situations since he arrived in the division in 2020.

Chelsea looked disjointed throughout, managing just five shots as they slipped to back-to-back Premier League defeats for the first time since December 2020 (under Frank Lampard).

Arsenal, however, look like the real deal. Having beaten Tottenham and Liverpool last month, the Gunners have won three consecutive league games against 'big six' opponents for the first time since April 2012. 

It was a miserable reunion with his former side for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who had just eight touches before being taken off by Graham Potter just after the hour.

Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United: Emery makes flying start

At Villa Park, all eyes were on Emery as the Spaniard made his Premier League return just under three years after being sacked by Arsenal, and he could hardly have wished for a better start.

Leon Bailey and Lucas Digne put Villa 2-0 up within 11 minutes – the earliest point at which United have trailed by two goals in a Premier League game since October 2018 against Newcastle (10th minute).

Jacob Ramsey's own goal dragged United back into contention before he atoned by making the points safe for Villa, ensuring Emery became just the fourth coach to win his first Premier League game in charge of a team when facing the Red Devils.

On an eventful day for Ramsey, he became the fourth player in Premier League history to record a goal, an assist and an own goal in the same game, after Kevin Davies, Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale.

United have now lost nine away league games in 2022 – their most in a calendar year since 1989 (12).

Southampton 1-4 Newcastle United: Miggy on the mark again as Magpies cruise

Eddie Howe's Newcastle have arguably been the story of the Premier League season to date, and they continued their stunning form by thrashing Southampton 4-1 at St Mary's.

Newcastle have now scored four or more goals four times in their last seven Premier League games, as often as they did in their previous 226 outings in the competition.

Miguel Almiron opened the scoring, becoming the eighth different player to net in four consecutive Premier League matches for Newcastle, and only the second non-Englishman to do so after Papiss Cisse.

Chris Wood and Joe Willock also got on the scoresheet before Bruno Guimaraes bent a 25-yard effort into the bottom-right corner, scoring his eighth goal in 28 league games for the Magpies, having netted just three times in 56 Ligue 1 outings for former club Lyon.

The result piled more pressure on Ralph Hasenhuttl, with Southampton now winless in their last 14 Premier League games against teams starting the day inside the top four (D5 L9).

Mikel Arteta said Arsenal would "focus on ourselves" ahead of kick-off at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, when asked how his team planned to handle Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Striker Aubameyang spent four years at Emirates Stadium, before his time at the club ended with him being shuffled off to Barcelona in February.

Having propelled Arsenal to FA Cup success in Arteta's first half-season at the helm in 2020, club captain Aubameyang was rewarded with a new contract. Yet the following campaign brought just 14 goals and, by December last year, Aubameyang was out of the picture having fallen out with, and out of the favour of, Arsenal's manager.

After his short-lived, but successful, spell at Barcelona, Aubameyang is back in the Premier League with Chelsea, and the focus ahead of Sunday's London derby was on how he would match up against his old club.

Sixty-four minutes, eight touches, five completed passes and just one shot, which was blocked, later, we had our answer – Aubameyang subbed off by Graham Potter, a minute after Arsenal had taken the lead thanks to Gabriel Magalhaes' goal, with the Gunners holding out to return to the Premier League's summit.

Auba's dismal reunion embodies toothless Chelsea display

Arsenal have found Stamford Bridge a happy hunting ground in recent seasons. They are unbeaten at Chelsea in the top flight since December 2018, and have won on their last three league trips to the home of their London rivals.

They triumphed 4-2 in the corresponding match last term, which was the last time Chelsea had lost on home turf, but the Blues were by far second-best on Sunday.

Chelsea, beaten 4-1 by Potter's former side Brighton and Hove Albion last week, managed just five attempts at goal, their fewest in a Premier League game at Stamford Bridge since September last year, in a loss to Manchester City.

Aubameyang scored 68 goals in 128 Premier League games for Arsenal, including one against the Blues in December 2019, but he never threatened to become just the second player to score for both sides in this fixture in the Premier League (excluding own goals), after Cesc Fabregas.

His performance summed up Chelsea's blunt attack, with Mason Mount managing only one attempt and creating just one chance, while Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling also struggled.

Arsenal, in contrast, had 14 shots, and while only two hit the target, they did what title contenders do and ground out a big result.

Jesus setting the tone

Gabriel Jesus was brought in to fill the void left by Aubameyang, and where Chelsea's 33-year-old centre forward floundered, the Brazil international excelled at the other end.

Jesus might not have scored in the league since the start of October, yet the 25-year-old's influence cannot be ignored.

He had three shots, as many as Chelsea's starting front four combined, and 62 touches. Only defenders Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva (71 and 69) had more on Chelsea's team.

Jesus' 26 duels led the match, with no player competing for more aerials (six). A combative display saw the Arsenal number nine concede a joint-game-high three fouls, but he also won four, more than any other player on the pitch, while only Bukayo Saka (three) created more chances than the ex-Manchester City striker.

Arsenal, the real deal after all?

Chelsea did not lose back-to-back Premier League games at all under Potter's predecessor Thomas Tuchel, but the Blues are now without a win in four top-flight matches.

While Chelsea are undoubtedly struggling to click into gear, take nothing away from Arsenal. This team are purring, and Blues owner Todd Boehly should look to the Gunners' example of sticking with a young coach, with a defined project, as to just what can happen with sustained support.

City's late winner against Fulham on Saturday could have dealt Arsenal's confidence a blow, but instead they made another statement of intent.

"From the start until the end, we deserved to win, we were the much, much better team," Granit Xhaka rightly said in his post-match interview with BT Sport.

"We are so happy, we are doing everything the coach is telling us. These are the results."

Arsenal have won three consecutive Premier League games against fellow 'big six' opposition for the first time since February-April 2012, while the Gunners – on 34 points from their 13 matches – are the first side to win 10 top-flight away games at Chelsea.

They remain the only side to have scored in every top-flight match this term, while no teams have kept more clean sheets than the Gunners (six).

There's one potential complication for Arsenal, of course. The World Cup break is looming, and who knows if this momentum will be here by the time the league resumes in late December.

For now, though, their fans, players and previously much-maligned manager – who marked his 150th game in charge in style – can bask in deserved adulation.

Such is the instantaneous nature of social media that one miss, one innocuous incident can see a player written off as a "fraud" or "finished".

It's up to every one of us how much importance we tie to those individual comments. Maybe they're jokes, maybe they're serious. But when you see thousands of likes or retweets on them, you get a picture of how widespread these quick judgements are, and in that sense it doesn't really matter if they were in jest or not.

This isn't to say we didn't use to be like this, the difference is now many of us have at our fingertips an outlet that reaches thousands of people within seconds.

Darwin Nunez came in for such treatment in pre-season. During a meaningless friendly against Manchester United, the Uruguayan missed a big chance and quickly became the target of ridicule on social media.

Granted, he had recently been signed for a lot of money, but the hysteria – given the game had nothing riding on it – was remarkable. For what it's worth, he scored four in one match nine days later.

Since then, a lot of column inches have been dedicated to Nunez, which is a bit fairer now the season's in full flow.

One thing many agree about is how the striker appears to be one of the most chaotic footballers in existence, but this shouldn't cloud what he's doing well. He's raw, but if you scrape away the surface, the signs for Nunez and Liverpool are very promising.

Untapped potential

Jurgen Klopp hit the nail on the head last week when talking about Nunez's potential. In his eyes, the 23-year-old potentially has an "incredible" ceiling, but he acknowledged there was still so much work for the striker to put in that it was unclear how good he'll eventually become.

"Nobody knows, he doesn't know. Nobody knows, there is a lot [of potential] and it is so exciting, but he has to stay fit, he has to be available all the time," Klopp said. "That's all important in the life of a professional football player. We have to work on all different areas. Then, the potential is incredible. It's not only speed, the attitude is really good, he is a real worker.

"Again, I tell you – and I know there are some people out there who think, 'Technically, not sure, first touch...' – it is incredible. That he doesn't bring it on the pitch all the time, the first touch might be here or there sometimes, is nothing to do with technique, it is just a bit too late, awareness, orientation and all these kind of things, but it is all possible to develop and to learn. That's where we are at, it's really exciting, but where it can go, I have no idea."

There was always going to be scrutiny for Nunez because of the transfer fee, but would there have been as much were it not for Erling Haaland's ridiculous start? Probably not, as they were brought in around the same time and both considered by many as the so-called final pieces of the puzzle for their respective teams.

As the past few months have shown, Haaland is a phenomenon, that's not up for debate. But Nunez taking a little more time to truly settle doesn't make him any less promising than he was deemed at Benfica.

In fact, you could argue his output has exceeded expectations at this point.

Darwin's evolution

"His numbers are incredible, to be absolutely honest," Klopp also said of Nunez last week. "If you speak about xGs [expected goals], I am pretty sure his xGs are pretty high as well. He had a few chances which he missed, but he scored as well. He is involved in a lot of finishing moments, a lot of things."

Klopp is correct here – the data firmly backs him up. While Nunez's tally of three Premier League goals doesn't sound much, we shouldn't forget he's already served a three-match ban for getting sent off against Crystal Palace. His record of 0.6 goals every 90 minutes is bettered by only seven players.

With that in mind, Nunez's 432 Premier League minutes is fairly low, but he's managed to pack a lot of action into that limited period – hence the "chaotic" appraisal earlier.

He ranks inside the top 10 for goal involvements per 90 minutes (0.8) and minutes per goal (144), but it's in the shooting metrics where Nunez's productivity really shines through.

No one is registering more attempts on a per-90-minute basis than Nunez (6.7), while only Haaland (2.6) is getting more shots on target than the Uruguay forward (2.5) each game.

But perhaps crucially, and back to Klopp's point, his non-penalty xG (per 90) is 0.76, only fractionally behind Haaland's league-best 0.81.

Of course, the issue here is Nunez isn't finishing as many chances as the average player would be expected to given the quality of the openings, while Haaland has been exceptionally ruthless with his opportunities.

But it would be more concerning if he wasn't getting chances at all.

Nunez's struggles could be explained by any number of factors such as confidence, adaptation, the roles he's being asked to play, maybe even a desperate need to impress, and that might explain some of his more erratic decision-making.

But the expectation is that with time and composure Nunez's figures will eventually level up with his xG. On the evidence of his attributes until now, when they do, Liverpool will have an exceptional striker on their hands.

Even the most ardent Arsenal supporter would struggle to convince you they could have envisaged their team making such a brilliant start to the season.

The idea of the Gunners being title challengers in the context of a disappointing end to the previous campaign, in which they were pipped for fourth by fierce rivals Tottenham having looked certainties for Champions League qualification, was pretty fanciful – even accounting for the shrewd signings of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from rivals Manchester City.

And yet, here we are – just two Premier League games to play before the top flight signs off for the World Cup break and Arsenal lead the way by two points from City having lost only once in 12 league outings.

Lovers of caveats will of course point out the blindingly obvious…we're still only in November. And indeed Arsenal do have questions to answer. Is their squad deep enough to take City all the way? Are they strong enough defensively to remain contenders?

But their success so far has been built on two longer term squad members, namely in the form of local favourite Bukayo Saka and the Brazilian flair of Gabriel Martinelli and they perhaps hold the key to sustaining their present position.

Their roles in this Arsenal team have been increasingly important with Arteta having to shuffle his pack following the exits of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette in January and June respectively.

The addition of Jesus has added significant star quality of course, but there is little doubt Saka and Martinelli have stepped up a gear so far this term.

Martinelli making his mark

In the North Bank at Emirates Stadium in August, Arsenal fans' chants were predominantly directed towards Hale End graduates Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.

But Smith Rowe's rise to first-team star has been tempered a little this term due to injuries, and Martinelli has grasped his opportunity at consistent playing time.

While the Brazilian made 29 Premier League appearances last season, he only completed 90 minutes on nine occasions and was subbed off in 11 of his 21 starts and received a red card against Wolves in February.

This season, Martinelli has started all 12 of Arsenal's league matches and has played the entirety of the game on eight occasions.

That has resulted in a significant improvement in front of goal, with Martinelli netting five times in 12 matches and sitting just one shy of the six-goal tally he achieved last term, adding two assists to boot.

Martinelli's involvement is up there with the best in the Premier League, standing eighth overall for the most involvements in attacking sequences (67) and ranking second in that regard for Arsenal, behind only Jesus (90).

Saka coming of age

On the opposing side, Arsenal continue to deploy Saka to expert effect, with the England international now in his fourth year as a regular fixture within the Gunners' ranks and showing real maturity at the age of 21.

While appearances have been plentiful, it has taken time for Saka to be integrated fully into his natural role after first making a breakthrough filling in at left-back, then featuring on the left-side of the attack.

Now in his favoured role on the right, Saka has shown his consistency with nine goal involvements in 12 matches (four goals, five assists). Only once in the past nine matches has Saka not registered a goal or an assist in the Premier League.

Managing Saka will be Arteta's biggest challenge given the amount of football he has played in the past four years and it is something that is clearly being considered, with Saka subbed off in seven of his 12 appearances this term.

Eyes will be cast towards the World Cup and Saka's important role for Gareth Southgate's side, which Arsenal fans may not find comfortable to watch given the injury risk to their star man – something that highlights the Gunners' need for depth beyond their first XI.

More to come

Settling into the side alongside Jesus, Arsenal's fluid front-three is one that is attracting envy across the Premier League and, worryingly for their opponents, the Gunners trio are still not at the peak of their powers.

For all their brilliance, neither Saka or Martinelli have quite managed to craft a deadly relationship with Jesus just yet – with Saka and Jesus yet to combine for an assist this season, while Jesus has laid on one for Martinelli.

In comparison, Martinelli has assisted Saka once, with two assists in the opposing direction. Last season, the pair did not combine for an assist.

The chances have been there, with Martinelli and Jesus combining for nine opportunities, while Saka and the Brazilian have combined for five. Improving those numbers will increase the chances of the assist tally also trending upwards.

The performances of Martin Odegaard, Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey have had a major influence on the attack, but if Saka and Martinelli can continue to improve their own output then Arsenal can continue to provide the role of unlikely challengers and, who knows, perhaps even end a wait for title glory that stretches back to 2004.

Massimiliano Allegri will expect Juventus to take the "anger" of their Champions League failure on Inter when they do battle in the Derby d'Italia on Sunday.

A 2-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday made it five defeats from six Group H games for Juve, but they will move into the Europa League after finishing in third place.

Allegri stated he expects his players to use the fury of falling short in the Champions League as fuel for the remainder of the season, and a victory at the Allianz Stadium would move them above Inter.

The sixth-placed Nerazzurri, who head into the weekend two points better off than Juve, had already qualified for the Champions League before they were beaten 2-0 at Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

Stats Perform picks out the standout Opta data to preview a showdown between two heavyweights of Italian football in Turin.

An upturn in Serie A fortunes for Juve

While Juve suffered another European loss in midweek, they have won three consecutive Serie A games without conceding a goal.

The last time they had four clean sheets in a row in the competition was in December 2018, when they won six matches in a row without conceding.

Allegri was also boosted by the return of long-term absentee Federico Chiesa from a knee injury as a substitute against PSG, a timely lift after it was revealed Paul Pogba will miss the World Cup. It remains to seen when Pogba will return.

Inter eyeing Derby d'Italia repeat

The Nerazzurri had won four consecutive games and gone seven without defeat before they came unstuck at Bayern.

Inter won three and drew one of four meetings between these two sides last season, beating the Bianconeri 1-0 away from home in Serie A in April.

They could win two Serie A meetings in a row against Juve for the first time since Alberto Zaccheroni was in charge in 2003-04, while the last time they won two such games in a single calendar year was back in 1987.

Juve building on strong foundations, youngsters doing their bit

While Juve have not started the season in the manner they would have liked, they have an excellent defensive record in Serie A.

In the top 10 European leagues this season, only Barcelona (four goals in 12 matches) and Benfica (five in 11) have conceded fewer goals than the seven Juve have shipped in 12 matches in the Italian top flight.

They also have the most players born since 2000 to be involved in at least one goal in Serie A this season with a total of five, with Dusan Vlahovic (seven), Moise Kean (one), Nicolo Fagioli (one), Fabio Miretti (one) and Samuel Iling-Junior (one) making their mark.

Inzaghi the scourge of Bianconeri

Inter's Simone Inzaghi has beaten Juventus seven times in 18 meetings in his coaching career, drawing twice. 

He has defeated the Bianconeri more times than any other coach since he took his first job in April 2016.

Inzaghi could become the second Inter coach to win two Serie A away matches against Juventus, after Helenio Herrera (three, between 1961 and 1965).

The 2022 trade deadline day proved a historic one for the NFL.

Teams struck 10 deals on Tuesday prior to the 16:00 EST deadline, with a total of 12 players traded, the most ever on deadline day.

None were of the level of the San Francisco 49ers' blockbuster trade for Christian McCaffrey on October 20.

However, there were still several deals that will have significant short and long-term impacts for some of the franchises involved.

So what can we glean from the hive of activity at the deadline? Stats Perform dug into the advanced data around the trades to answer that question.
 

Dolphins crank up pressure on opponents, and Tua

The Miami Dolphins made the headline move of trade deadline day, sending a package that included the 2023 first-round pick they acquired from the 49ers to the Denver Broncos for edge rusher Bradley Chubb.

It is a move aimed at improving the Dolphin defense's ability to better complement an offense that fired on all cylinders in their Week 8 win over the Detroit Lions.

Miami recovered from 14 points down to beat the lowly Lions 31-27, Tua Tagovailoa producing five passing plays of at least 20 yards in a single game for the third time this season.

Yet the Dolphins might not have needed such heroics from their quarterback had the defense been better equipped to keep the Lions at bay in the first two quarters.

The Dolphins are allowing successful plays on 47.7 per cent of passing downs, well above the league average of 41.1, and have tallied just 14 sacks for negative yardage this season, tied for 20th in the NFL.

Chubb's arrival brings the Dolphins a high-ceiling pass rusher who already has 5.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits, four tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in 2022.

His 32 pressures are more than every other Dolphins defender save for Jaelan Phillips, who has racked up 41, the fourth-most in the NFL, in a strong second season.

The hope will be that pairing Phillips and Chubb will greatly improve the defense's capacity to create negative plays and remove some of the onus from a high-powered offense.

That offense has a new name in the backfield for the second half of the season. The Dolphins traded running back Chase Edmonds to the Broncos, before sending a fifth-round pick to the 49ers for Jeff Wilson Jr, who reunites with former team-mate Raheem Mostert in Miami.

Wilson's departure was always a possibility after the 49ers struck their blockbuster trade for McCaffrey, but he should prove an excellent complement to Mostert.

He can excel at both zone and gap-scheme runs and has proven effective at picking up yards with less than ideal blocking. Among backs with at least 50 carries, Wilson is 11th with 3.37 yards per rush on runs where there is a disruption by a defender.

With a strengthened pass rush and an apparent upgrade in the backfield, Tagovailoa's support system looks to be improved following the trade deadline, but that will only heighten the scrutiny on him if he cannot turn a 5-3 start into a playoff berth.
 

Lions have long way to go

If their 1-6 record didn't already make it obvious, Detroit's decision to trade tight end T.J. Hockenson to NFC North rivals the Minnesota Vikings hammered home the point that the Lions still have a lot of rebuilding to do.

Detroit received a 2023 second-round pick and a 2024 third-rounder in exchange for Hockenson, a 2023 fourth-round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth-rounder.

It is a move that sees them part with a tight end that was a Pro Bowler as recently as 2020 and who has been an efficient receiver in 2022.

Hockenson is averaging 15.2 yards per reception, the most among tight ends, with Detroit's willingness to part with him reflective of how much they value acquiring draft capital for a team that appears further away from competing than many thought heading into the season.

While the struggles on the field may put them in position to land their quarterback of the future, the Lions are clearly in need of more resources to improve a defense that has allowed a play success rate of 46.1 per cent, the second worst in the NFL, and continues to struggle to create pressure or cover in the secondary.

The beneficiaries of the Lions' need to amass picks are the 6-1 Vikings, who can work in Hockenson as a replacement for Irv Smith Jr. after he was lost for eight to 10 weeks with an ankle injury.

It was not clear in which direction the Vikings were headed after a sea change in the front office and at head coach after missing the playoffs last season, but the Lions were thought to be on an upward trajectory following an impressive offseason.

That assessment has proven misguided, with these two teams' divergent paths enabling the Vikings to enjoy the advantages of having another offensive weapon as the Lions are left wondering how long it will take for them to be in a position to be buyers at the deadline.
 

Chicago has faith in Fields

The Chicago Bears were also a seller, sending linebacker Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday having also dealt pass rusher Robert Quinn to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Unlike the Lions, however, the Bears were in the business of adding to their roster, striking a deal that serves as an illustration of their belief in second-year quarterback Justin Fields.

After receiving a second and a fifth-round pick for Smith, the Bears parted with a second to acquire wide receiver Chase Claypool from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Claypool's worth was clearly not depreciated by a downturn in his production in terms of scoring from his rookie year. He scored 11 touchdowns (nine receiving, two rushing) in 2020 but has just three from scrimmage since.

Yet Claypool has excelled at winning his matchups with covering defenders this season, with his open percentage against man coverage of 42.42 prior well above the average for wide receivers of 36.32.

That points to the problem in recent years being the Steelers' offense, which has struggled to target him downfield amid its deficiencies at the quarterback position. Claypool's average depth of target of 9.8 yards this season is below the league average of 10.4.

But a partnership with Fields, who has been starved of receiving talent in Chicago, could be one that gets Claypool back on his previous trajectory.

Last week against the Dallas Cowboys, Fields was accurate on 90.9 per cent of his throws while averaging 9.5 air yards per attempt. His season-long average of 9.64 is fourth among quarterbacks with at least 100 passes this season.

If Fields sustains that downfield accuracy, it could see Claypool re-emerge as the deep ball-winner he was in his rookie season.

Though they have traded other assets for picks, the Bears feel Fields has shown enough to be worthy of their faith he can blossom into Chicago's franchise quarterback and are backing him to revitalise Claypool while inspiring further strides for an offense that has made definitive progress in recent games.

In the Premier League, only Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte could reasonably claim not to be envious of Unai Emery's CV.

Emery has coached in three of Europe's top five leagues and won one domestic league title and four of five major European finals.

As recently as May, Emery's Villarreal were going toe-to-toe with Klopp's Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals.

Yet Emery is returning to England with a side battling against relegation – as he might have done 12 months ago when he was Newcastle United's top target.

Although the Spaniard's two most recent Europa League successes came in finals against Liverpool and Manchester United, he is best recognised in the Premier League as an ultimately underwhelming Arsenal manager, far since surpassed by Mikel Arteta.

So rather than contenders who might realistically allow Emery to immediately add to his trophy haul, it was Aston Villa – only a point clear of the bottom three – who came calling as he makes his latest move with a point to prove.

This is a gamble, just as it would have been a year ago had Emery gone through with the switch to St James' Park.

But he is at least joining a club who, like Newcastle, intend to return to the level at which their new head coach is used to operating.

Former Villa boss Steven Gerrard spoke at the start of the season of the need to "reach for the stars" – an ambition that was not achieved as his side lost six of their 11 league matches before he was sacked.

Gerrard had fallen short of his aim of "continuous improvement", Villa chief executive Christian Purslow said, and it is to that standard that Emery will also be held.

Fourth-placed Newcastle's progress under Eddie Howe – their second-choice when the Emery deal fell through – perhaps provides the template.

Indeed, Howe's Newcastle kindly exposed last Saturday the scale of the task before Emery at Villa Park if he is to again display his almost unmatched expertise in continental competition.

A 4-0 thrashing on Tyneside brought Villa back down to Earth after the previous week's demolition of Brentford by the same scoreline. The defeat was more in keeping with the mood around this team.

Villa have earned a joint-low two away points in the Premier League this season, while they have only recovered two points from losing positions home or away. For all the talent in this squad, they are far too prone to collapse.

When Callum Wilson's penalty in first-half stoppage time broke Villa's resolve, they never looked like regaining any measure of control. Wilson had another goal disallowed before the half-time whistle sounded, teeing up a second period in which Newcastle were swiftly four up.

Despite Tyrone Mings' criticism of Villa's "naivety" in attacking while goals flew in at the other end, the visitors' final attempt of the match came in the 29th minute.

Emery does not have a great deal of time to drill his methods into the team if they are to quickly kick clear of danger before the World Cup.

After his first few days on the training pitch, the first task is Manchester United at home, followed by the same team again at Old Trafford in the EFL Cup.

Meetings with United might remind Emery of Europa League glory; for Villa fans, there will be fears of further punishment.

Meanwhile, Emery will enjoy no Emirates Stadium return in the Premier League this season, with Villa having already lost at Arsenal in August, although Arteta's men are to visit Villa Park in mid-February.

Results on Saturday could see Villa in the bottom three before Emery takes charge, as Arsenal aim to protect their place at the top of the table against Chelsea.

By the time Emery meets his former employers and successor Arteta in league action, he and Villa need that picture to have altered considerably.

Do you want to head into the World Cup break top of your fantasy league? Well, you're running out of time!

This weekend will be the penultimate round of games before a Premier League hiatus for Qatar 2022, with real-life teams aiming to get themselves in as strong a position as possible ahead of the Boxing Day resumption.

On the fantasy football front, given how tricky and unpredictable everything is likely to be after the World Cup, this is arguably a vital couple of weeks.

That's where Stats Perform hopes to help. They have delved into the Opta numbers to identify four players who appear smart choices beyond your obvious picks such as Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.

Danny Ward (Everton v Leicester City)

This might sound like a rogue choice given he conceded 22 goals in Leicester's first seven league games this term, but the Foxes have improved defensively of late.

That's highlighted by the fact Ward has kept clean sheets in four of his past six appearances in the Premier League, with no one matching that figure since the start of October.

In his first seven games, Ward let in 4.7 goals more than he should have according to Opta, but his goals prevented since stands at 1.0 – he's certainly turned his form around.

Kieran Trippier (Southampton v Newcastle United)

Obviously, the trick to picking defenders in fantasy football is choosing those who are likely to keep clean sheets and also able to offer a threat going forward – Trippier is marking himself out as the ideal candidate.

Since his first Newcastle game in the Premier League, he is one of just five defenders to reach five goal involvements and contribute to at least seven clean sheets. Trippier's also played the fewest minutes of those players.

Six of those clean sheets have been kept this season, with Newcastle's defensive solidity impressing pundits, while his 31 chances created is a Premier League-high for defenders, highlighting his attacking threat.

Leandro Trossard (Wolves v Brighton and Hove Albion)

It's been a peculiar season in general for Brighton, though Trossard's form has been one of few constants.

The Seagulls will hope that last weekend's battering of their former manager Graham Potter's Chelsea side will bring momentum, and that could see Trossard – arguably in the former of his Premier League career – become even livelier.

After all, only four players have more goals (seven) than the Belgian this term, with his record of a goal involvement every 126 minutes roughly twice as good as his previous best over a full campaign (one every 255 minutes).

Callum Wilson (Southampton v Newcastle United)

Eddie Howe has attracted a lot of praise for making Newcastle sound defensively, but they also continue to possess a potent attacking unit and Wilson is central to that.

Not only does he have eight goal involvements to his name this term (six scored, one assisted), Wilson's record of one goal every 117 minutes in the Premier League in 2022 (936 minutes) is his second-best return over a calendar year in the top flight after 2015, when he only played 543 minutes.

He travels to Southampton with huge confidence, having had a hand in three goals against Aston Villa last time out, the first time he's managed that in over two years.

Liverpool's confusing season continues. Beating Napoli 2-0 looks a dazzling result when set in a certain context, yet utterly meaningless in another.

Did they deliver for Jurgen Klopp? If so, why didn't they deliver for Klopp against Nottingham Forest and Leeds United on the past two Premier League weekends?

Two tap-ins ended Napoli's unbeaten run that stretched back to April, but Liverpool needed to win by four goals to pip their visitors to top spot in Champions League Group A after a shocking September night in Naples.

So Napoli advance to the last 16 as group winners, Liverpool joining them as runners-up, and that was more or less what everyone expected from the first minute of this tussle.

But just for a moment, Mohamed Salah's match-winning strike meant the world, and Darwin Nunez's last-gasp second goal of the game put a red cherry on the cake.

Liverpool were not English football's down-and-outs before this game, but some would have had them heading that way after those rotten league defeats plunged them firmly into the mid-table mud.

And this was most certainly not the old Liverpool. That team has gone for now, but Klopp commanded his charges to never "lose sight of our own qualities and our own potential", insisting they "can turn things around" and describing it as their "responsibility" to do so.

He urged the players to "change the perception that exists" of them, to summon their "bravest face" for the rest of Europe to witness, and on this night they just about obliged.

The last time Napoli visited Anfield, on November 27, 2019, it was a meeting of soaraway league leaders and a team in crisis. Liverpool led the Premier League by eight points from their nearest rivals, who at that point in the season were Leicester City.

Napoli, meanwhile, were in disarray after first-team players rebelled en masse and quit a training retreat just days before the Anfield visit. That getaway was ordered by club president Aurelio De Laurentiis and there were reports of heavy fines for those that fled.

On the pitch back on that occasion, Napoli were without a win in six matches in all competitions as they arrived in Liverpool. Carlo Ancelotti was a fortnight away from the sack, while in the present day it is Klopp's position that appears at its most endangered in years.

The game finished 1-1 three years ago, Liverpool coming from behind in what one press box colleague that night described to me as the Reds' "worst performance of the season".

Liverpool went on to win the Premier League, their first domestic league title triumph since 1989-90.

Napoli are presently chasing their first Serie A crown since... 1989-90. A day after Halloween, such parallels were almost spooky, these teams seemingly heading in opposite directions.

So what did Tuesday's rematch bring? Well, firstly, a meeting of soaraway league leaders and a team in crisis.

As Liverpool's form goes from bad to worse in the Premier League, Napoli are racing away in Serie A, five points clear of second-placed Atalanta, whom they face on Saturday. They were on a 13-game winning streak ahead of this tussle, including a 4-1 mauling of Klopp's men back at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Ahead of kick-off, Klopp's agent dismissed a theory the German manager could resign, pointing to a contract that has almost four years to run. This was Klopp's 100th Champions League game, across his time with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, making him the first German boss to reach that landmark, but it arrived at a dark hour in his Reds reign.

What could he, and what could we, hope to learn? What was needed from Liverpool was a performance, something to carry into the Premier League games against Tottenham and Southampton that come before the World Cup break.

Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, at 24 years and 25 days, became the youngest player in the club's history to tot up 50 Champions League appearances.

In his landmark outing, Alexander-Arnold was confronted by a defender's worst nightmare in Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the young Georgian winger who is taking Europe by storm this season and shone in the first half here before fading.

Leo Ostigard thought he had headed Napoli ahead when he powered in a free-kick from Kvaratskhelia in the 53rd minute. In the 57th minute, the goal was disallowed for offside, with VAR seemingly operating at traction engine pace.

Napoli had never won away from home against an English side in European competition, drawing three times and losing on eight of their previous visits. It was looking like this might be the night they ended their wait.

And then, with five minutes plus VAR timing remaining, Salah prodded in from a foot out after Nunez's header from a corner was saved on the line.

Anfield roared, Luciano Spalletti frowned, and Jurgen Klopp allowed himself a smile before hugging the substituted Curtis Jones. Nunez tucked in from even closer range deep into stoppage time, and suddenly it was songs and good times again at the famous old ground.

Napoli should be fine and keep winning in Serie A. They impressed again, but perhaps slackened off once it became clear Liverpool would not be hitting four past them.

Quite what happens next for Liverpool is anybody's guess. They could yet head into the World Cup break in the Premier League's bottom half, or this might be a turning point.

This result and performance was "a really good reaction", according to Klopp. "I'm really happy," he told BT Sport.

His team have won five Champions League games in a row, so why wouldn't he be happy? Ah yes, the Premier League.

The only Champions League group with qualifying places still to play for on Tuesday is Group D, with all four teams in with a reasonable chance of progression.

Marseille host leaders Tottenham while Sporting CP take on Eintracht Frankfurt, with each team knowing a win will see them through and defeat will mean third our fourth spot.

It has been a sensational start to the season for Napoli, and they can complete a perfect Champions League group stage on Tuesday.

Luciano Spalletti's men travel to Liverpool looking for a sixth win in six Group A games, and will top the group as long as they avoid defeat by four or more at Anfield.

As the Champions League group stage prepares to draw to a close, Stats Perform takes a look at the Opta numbers behind these and the rest of Tuesday's clashes.

Marseille v Tottenham

Having lost six home matches in a row in the Champions League between March 2012 and November 2020, Marseille have since won two of their last three such matches (L1), including last time out against Sporting. They have not won consecutive home games in the competition since the 2010-11 campaign when they beat MSK Zilina and Chelsea.

Despite currently sitting bottom of Group D, Marseille can still top the standings if results go their way. Only once in 10 previous campaigns have the Ligue 1 side finished top of their Champions League group, which was in 1992-93 when they went on to lift the trophy.

Spurs have failed to win any of their last four away matches in the Champions League. Should they fail to win here, it will be their longest run of games without a win away from home in the competition.

Antonio Conte will be concerned that Tottenham have failed to score in any of their last three away matches in the Champions League; the last English side to go on a longer run without a goal away from home in the competition was Manchester United between October 2004 and November 2005 (five games – a record for an English club).

Sporting CP v Eintracht Frankfurt

In what is their first ever Champions League campaign, Eintracht Frankfurt can still win their group if results go their way. The only German club to win their first group participation in the competition was Kaiserslautern in 1998-99, while the last Bundesliga side to progress to the knockout rounds at the first attempt was Stuttgart in 2003-04.

Sporting are looking to progress to the knockout stages in consecutive Champions League campaigns, having been eliminated during the group stage in seven of their previous eight participations (progressing in 2008-09).

Eintracht's Mario Gotze has recorded an assist in each of his past two appearances in the Champions League; only once before has he set up a goal in three consecutive games in the competition – between November 2012 and March 2013 for Borussia Dortmund.

Sporting have been shown three red cards so far this season in the Champions League – the last team to have more players sent off in a single group stage was Anderlecht in 2013-14 (four).

Liverpool v Napoli

This will be the eighth meeting between Liverpool and Napoli in European competition, with the Italian side (three) edging the Reds (two) in terms of victories so far (two draws). After their 4-1 win in this season's reverse fixture, Napoli could beat Liverpool in consecutive games for the first time.

The Italian side have travelled to face the Reds on three previous occasions in European competition, but are yet to win at Anfield (D1 L2) – losing 3-1 in the Europa League in November 2010 and 1-0 in the Champions League in December 2018, before a 1-1 draw in November 2019, also in the Champions League.

This will be Jurgen Klopp's 100th match as a manager in the Champions League, across spells with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool. He will become the first German coach to take charge of a century of games in the competition.

Napoli have scored more goals than any other team through the first five matchdays in this season's group stage (20). The only team to score more during a single group stage in the previous four campaigns has been Bayern Munich (twice, 24 in 2019-20 and 22 in 2021-22).

Bayern Munich v Inter

Speaking of which, Bayern and Inter have met on eight previous occasions in European competition, with the German side winning half of those meetings (W4 D1 L3). Indeed, they are unbeaten in the three matches in the Champions League that have taken place in the group stage (W2 D1).

Inter are themselves unbeaten in their previous three away games at Bayern (W2 D1). This makes them the team to have faced the Bavarians away from home on the most occasions without ever losing in European competition.

Bayern have won each of their last 12 group-stage matches in the Champions League, and are looking to become the first side in history to win all six group games in consecutive campaigns. They would also become the first side to do so on three separate occasions, having also achieved perfection in 2019-20.

Inter are unbeaten in three away games in the Champions League, and could go four games without defeat away from home in the competition for the first time since December 2003 to February 2005 (five games).

Bayern have scored in 42 of their last 43 home matches in the Champions League, netting 136 goals across this spell at an average of 3.2 per game. They have scored in each of their last 21 in a row since being held by Sevilla in April 2018.

Other fixtures:

Viktoria Plzen v Barcelona

3 - Viktoria Plzen have lost all three of their previous games against Barcelona in the Champions League, scoring just one goal and conceding 11 times in return.

3 - Barcelona have lost each of their last three away matches in the Champions League, and could lose four in a row for the first time since a run between November 1994 and October 1997. 

Rangers v Ajax

5 - Rangers have lost all five of their games in the Champions League this season. No Scottish side have ever been beaten six times within a single campaign in the European Cup/Champions League.

4 - Ajax have lost each of their previous four games in the Champions League; they have not lost five in a row in the competition since September 2004 under Ronald Koeman.

Bayer Leverkusen v Club Brugge

18 - Leverkusen forward Patrik Schick has played 18 times in the Champions League without scoring a goal. His three goals in major European competition have all been scored in the Europa League, where he averages a goal every 138 minutes.

1 - Club Brugge have already qualified for the knockout stage, and could finish top of their group for the very first time in a single edition of the tournament.

Porto v Atletico Madrid

3 - Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa has saved three of the four penalties he has faced in the Champions League this season. This is already the most ever by a goalkeeper in a single season on record in the competition (since 2003-04). 

4 - Atletico are winless in their last four Champions League games (D2 L2). They last had a longer run without a victory in the competition between December 2008 and December 2009, when they went nine games without one prior to head coach Diego Simeone's arrival.

It's fair to say LaLiga's reputation took a battering last week as three of its four representatives were eliminated from the Champions League with a match still to be played in the group stage.

What made this scenario even uglier for Spanish football is that none of it was even that surprising.

Barcelona's elimination before they'd even played was the headline-grabber, but Atletico Madrid and Sevilla both had their fates sealed as well, albeit in rather different circumstances.

Sevilla won 3-0 at home to Copenhagen, though the score flattered them greatly, while Atletico drew 2-2 with Bayer Leverkusen, Yannick Carrasco seeing a last-gasp penalty saved before Saul Niguez headed the rebound against the crossbar and a follow-up effort was blocked on the line by Carrasco.

Last week's woes mean that for the first time since the Champions League expanded to 32 teams in 1999, there will only be one Spanish side in the knockout stages – Real Madrid.

But given LaLiga's decline, that might become the norm before long.

Dark days

Barcelona and Sevilla can at least point to having particularly difficult groups.

Most would still have expected Barca to at least get in the top two, but Bayern Munich and Inter were always likely to be problematic, and so it proved. As for Sevilla, realistically the best they could've hoped for was second behind Manchester City, but Borussia Dortmund's starting XI simply boasts far more quality than the Andalusians'.

And then there's Atletico. Alongside Club Brugge, Porto and Bayer Leverkusen, Diego Simeone's side would've been most people's favourites, and yet they head into matchday four with the possibility of finishing bottom.

They also go into Tuesday's trip to Porto winless in their past four Champions League games, their worst run since going nine without a win between December 2008 and December 2009.

That, of course, makes it their worst such run in the competition under Simeone, although Barca can beat that in the 'woes' stakes as they fail to get out of the group for the second year in a row.

Before last season, Barca got to at least the last 16 for 19 campaigns in succession, and if they lose away to Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday, it'll be the first time they've lost four consecutive Champions League away games since October 1997.

The fall from grace

It wasn't so long ago that LaLiga was at worst considered the main 'rival' – if leagues can have rivals – of the Premier League. It had superstars, El Clasico, teams winning at various levels in Europe and there was a brand of football widely associated with the competition.

LaLiga still has its draws, and let's not forget we've seen Spanish teams win the Champions League and Europa League in the past 18 months, but the Premier League is now undoubtedly world football's biggest domestic league in virtually every way.

This has more or less become the case through money, something many LaLiga clubs do not have much of.

For example, last season in the Premier League, Sporting Intelligence estimated only Norwich City received less than £100million (€116.1m) across prize money and TV revenue. Even then, Norwich raked in £98.6m (€114.5m), and £79m (€91.7m) of that was the equal share every club gets.

By comparison, that's roughly the same as the €115m (£99.1m) Barcelona took in last season. Only Atletico Madrid (€154m, £132.7m) and Real Madrid (€158m, £136.1m) earned more in LaLiga, which highlights the financial might of the Premier League.

In football, few issues can be completely separated from money, but there's an argument Spanish football has suffered from a lack of evolution.

The Premier League's always been regarded as "physical", but the competition has so much power now that the clubs are able to sign most of the best technical players as well. Their resources and the improved coaching make it easier than before to turn technical players into greater physical specimens and physical players into greater technicians.

Similarly, the competition can boast a range of different playing styles and philosophies. Again, it would be unfair to say this is exclusive to the Premier League, but the point is there are signs of evolution everywhere in English football when it might once have been seen as somewhat insular.

Barcelona's ingrained principles make it pretty difficult for them to alter course; stylistically, Atletico have hardly changed at all through Simeone's tenure; and Sevilla work with the same buy-to-sell model as they have for 20 years, while on the pitch they're currently paying the price for failing to adapt to key defensive losses and signing too many ageing players over the past three years.

Of those three and Madrid, Los Blancos are probably the only ones you could say have evolved with the times, with Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti both valuing approaches regarded more pragmatic than perhaps the club is known for.

Nevertheless, there's a perception LaLiga football is slow, and this certainly doesn't help the idea the Spanish game has struggled to modernise. It considers itself a greater financial power than the German Bundesliga, and yet, in eight Champions League meetings between teams from those countries this term, Spain has one win to Germany's five.

Too little, too late?

Coaching remains a high standard in Spain, and that's highlighted by the technical qualities of the players, but with money at a premium compared to the biggest clubs and the Premier League, the best managers and players soon move on.

Evolution is difficult: you're just hoping your team lands on the perfect combination of coach and sporting director, but after one or two – if you're lucky – good seasons, one is lured away and the cycle starts again.

That may be a simplistic way of looking at it, granted, but it's difficult to shake the notion LaLiga is paying the price for its own lack of vision.

In 2015, a new TV money distribution agreement came into effect, with 50 per cent of all revenue being shared equally among all clubs. It was much needed but arguably too late.

LaLiga had the world's best players for over a decade, but much of the money from that era just went into the pockets of the big two rather than to improving the league's infrastructure or commercial clout.

However, the new TV money distribution deal was a big win for LaLiga as a whole, and the league's crackdown on financial irregularities also stands to help the competition build a sustainable future.

In that regard, the future could be quite bright for LaLiga. But will it ever be the same again? Due to the might of the Premier League, probably not.

It's fair to say that, eight weeks into the 2022 NFL season, it has been a year of surprises.

The New York Giants have six wins, the Seattle Seahawks lead the NFC West and two preseason NFC favourites, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Green Bay Packers, have collapsed to 3-5 starts.

This is a campaign in which to expect the unexpected and, as such, three of the top quarterback displays from Week 8 heading into Monday Night Football are entirely in keeping with the theme of 2022.

While one star still shaking the rust off following an injury lay-off delivered the kind of game most have come to anticipate from him, the degree of accuracy displayed by the trio of signal-callers surrounding him at the top of Stats Perform's well-thrown rate chart by the end of Sunday's action was eyebrow-raising to say the least.

And there was one quarterback who tried and failed to find a new team in the offseason who rose above the rest. 

Jimmy G's perfect day

There will never be a game that definitively decides the endless Jimmy Garoppolo debate in the Bay Area, where the San Francisco 49ers' quarterback who was meant to be elsewhere this season remains a beloved but polarising figure.

But nobody could argue Garoppolo was not excellent in Week 8 as the 49ers scored 24 unanswered points to sweep the Los Angeles Rams with an emphatic 31-14 win at SoFi Stadium.

So much of the attention in the immediate aftermath was rightly on Christian McCaffrey, who became the fourth player with a touchdown pass, rushing touchdown and touchdown reception in a single game since the 1970 merger in a remarkable performance just 10 days on from his trade from the Carolina Panthers.

However, Garoppolo also deserves a share of the spotlight following what was, by at least one measure, a perfect game from a quarterback frequently criticised for his volatility.

Garoppolo ended the defeat of the Rams with a 100 per cent well-thrown rate. Each of his 25 passes, excluding throwaways, was deemed to be accurate and well-thrown.

He is the 35th player to achieve such a feat and the second this season following Trevor Lawrence for the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts.

While Garoppolo averaged only 6.76 yards per attempt, he still completed a host of big-time throws, including a third-down touchdown shot to a leaping McCaffrey and a 56-yard bomb down the left sideline to Ross Dwelley that was followed by a perfectly placed ball to George Kittle in the back of the endzone on a sprint out pass that iced the game.

At 4-4 heading into the bye with a star-studded offense and a series of players still to return from injury on defense, the 49ers are ideally positioned for a surge down the stretch. They won't get perfect every game from Garoppolo, but if he maintains a level close to what he produced in Inglewood on Sunday, San Francisco will be a major threat in the NFC.

Air Marcus has Falcons on top

Marcus Mariota had hardly been trusted to throw the ball over the four games prior to Atlanta's wild win over the Carolina Panthers by head coach Arthur Smith.

Only once over those four games had he registered more than 20 passing attempts, but Mariota was allowed to air it out on Sunday, and the Falcons should be delighted by the manner in which he did so.

The former second overall pick delivered an accurate well-thrown ball on 92.6 per cent of his 27 pass attempts, maintaining remarkable accuracy while pushing the ball down field with consistency in a captivating shoot-out.

Mariota averaged 10.15 air yards per attempt against Carolina. Just five quarterbacks – Josh Allen (12.96), P.J. Walker (12.33), Tua Tagovailoa (11.79), Russell Wilson (11.04) and Jalen Hurts (11.04) – were more aggressive in that respect.

Of that quintet, Tagovailoa (82.4 per cent) and Wilson (84.6 per cent) were the only two signal-callers to even post a well-thrown rate of 80 per cent.

Mariota blended accuracy and deep-ball aggression in a way most quarterbacks struggle to replicate and, though he tossed an overtime interception that should have cost the Falcons the game, his performance may convince Smith to diversify his approach and shift to a more balanced attack as the 4-4 Falcons look to make a surprise run at the NFC South title.

Dak looks all the way back

The case could be made that the Cowboys were still running the 'Cooper Rush' offense in Prescott's first game back from a finger injury in Week 7 against the Detroit Lions.

Dallas laboured somewhat in that one before pulling away and, though the Week 8 performance was not a faultless one from Prescott, it was one to breed hope the Cowboys can legitimately contend to go deep into the NFC playoffs with him at the helm of the attack.

Prescott posted a well-thrown rate of 92.3 per cent in the Cowboys' 49-29 win over the Chicago Bears, with arguably his most aesthetically pleasing throw coming on his first touchdown pass as he split safeties Eddie Jackson and Jaquan Brisker on a 21-yard rope to CeeDee Lamb on third-and-nine.

Third down did not prove a challenge for Prescott at any point. He completed five of his six third-down throws for 85 yards and a touchdown, with a Bears defense ill-equipped to stop the Cowboys consistently frustrated when they got into positions to get off the field. 

An interception by Jackson was the sole blemish on the day for Prescott, who also had a rushing touchdown, and the room for improvement he clearly still has after a showing of this calibre should be of great excitement to the 6-2 Cowboys as they attack the second half of the season.

Fields fills Chicago with hope 

The Bears did not produce the all-round performance to keep pace with the Cowboys, but it was another effort by last year's first-round pick Justin Fields to boost optimism around his prospects of blossoming into one of the league's better quarterbacks.

After finally building a gameplan around his athleticism in the Monday Night Football win over the New England Patriots, the Bears once again leant on Fields' mobility. He threw seven times on the move, with Chicago also implementing play-action and the quarterback bootleg into the attack.

The results were impressive as Fields finished the game with a well-thrown rate of 90.9 per cent while averaging 9.5 air yards per attempt. On top of that, he did not throw a single interceptable pass, though he did have one pick called back because of a roughing the passer penalty.

Fields was perfect on play-action, with all six of his passes from those concepts well thrown, and he would have had significantly more than 151 passing yards to his name had rookie receiver Velus Jones not dropped an outstandingly placed moonball down the right sideline from the Chicago 47-yard line in the second quarter.

But Fields still accounted for three touchdowns, throwing two and rushing for another in a 60-yard display on the ground. Though the Bears' decision to trade defensive stars Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith will play a role in limiting their wins in 2022, the Bears will be increasingly convinced Fields is the right man to rebuild the team around if he continues in this vein of form.

Rory McIlroy could not have scripted a better start to his latest PGA Tour season.

The Northern Irishman, making his 2022-23 debut at the CJ Cup in South Carolina, carded four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine to claim his third win of the calendar year. The victory moved him back to number one in the world for the ninth time in his career, but the first time since July 2020.

"I've worked so hard over the last 12 months to get myself back to this place," he said afterward. "I feel like I'm enjoying the game as much as I ever have. I absolutely love the game of golf and I think that when I go out there and I play with that joy, it's definitely showed over these last 12 months. Yeah, it feels awesome."

The 33-year-old, who captured the Tour Championship in August, became the first FedExCup champion to open his season with a win since Tiger Woods did it at the 2007 Buick Invitational. He also became the fifth player since 1983 to successfully defend a title on a different course and joined Woods as the only player in Tour history to do it multiple times (McIlroy won the 2019 and 2022 RBC Canadian Opens at two different locations, while the CJ Cup moved this year to Congaree Golf Club from The Summit Club in Las Vegas).

As always, McIlroy used his prodigious skill set with the driver to power his way to victory. He averaged 323 yards off the tee at Congaree, marking the fourth-longest average by a winner in the ShotLink era. It was the 31st time of McIlroy's storied career where he has led the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, the most of any player since 2020.

Tom Kim chugs along

Tom Kim shocked the golf world when he burst on the scene at the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship in August, when the youthful Korean came out of nowhere to shoot a final-round 61 and claim the regular-season finale.

The Korean would not be surprising anyone this year, though, especially after his breakout performance at the Presidents Cup. And yet there he was just a few weeks later, surprising everyone once again as he held up another trophy, this time at the Shriners Children's Open.

At 20 years, three months and 18 days old, Kim became the second-youngest player to win two PGA Tour events on the all-time list, behind only Ralph Guldahl, who won his second event in 1932 at 20 years, two months and 10 days.

Now trailing Kim on that list as a who's who of world-class players and Hall of Famers – Gene Sarazen, Horton Smith, Tom Creavy, John McDermott and some guy named Tiger Woods (he won his second event at 20 years, nine months and 20 days).

"Golf on the PGA Tour is really hard. It's really hard to win tournaments," said Kim, who also became the fastest Korean to multiple wins, taking just 18 starts. "You can't expect everything in life. I've just got to keep working hard on my game. I'm very fortunate to win twice on Tour and to be even out here. I think the mindset is for me I've just got to keep working hard and be grateful for what things come along."

Kim certainly makes the game look easy, despite what he may suggest. He became the first player since J.T. Poston in 2019 to go bogey-free in a tournament and win and was only the third to do it all-time (Lee Trevino first accomplished the feat in 1974). He hit 87.5 percent of his greens in regulation – the best mark by a Shriners winner since 2008 – and was a perfect 100 per cent in scrambling for the week.

Canadian Hughes nabs second win

But Kim was not the only player in October to card the second win of his PGA Tour career, as Canadian Mackenzie Hughes survived in the first play-off of the season to win the Sanderson Farms Championship.

The 31-year-old poured in an 8-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to outlast Sepp Straka, notching his first victory since winning the RSM Classic six years ago. As the sun set over Mississippi, Hughes had to convert six critical putts over his final seven holes – four of them for par – before ultimately outlasting Straka.

"I kept telling myself the whole week that I was going to do it. That was the only thing I saw in my mind," Hughes said. "Those par saves down the stretch, I was just trying to will the ball into the hole."

It seemed to work. Hughes finished with a 91.67 scrambling percentage, the highest mark of his career and best since winning the aforementioned RSM Classic, where he finished with an 85 scrambling percentage (that was good for second at that event). His +2.31 average in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green was also the second-best average of his career, behind last year's RSM Classic, where he finished second after carding a +3.14 average.

"The second [win] felt harder because I've had to wait a lot longer for it," he said. "The first one came in my fifth tournament as a PGA Tour member. I felt like, 'Oh, man, this is going to be easy, I'm going to be able to rack up a few of these,' and it's been six years since I did that.

"It's been unbelievable. I didn't need the validation, but it's nice to be a two-time winner instead of a one-time winner and help to add to that tally."

There will be one racing certainty when the WTA Finals gets under way: a new champion will be crowned.

Iga Swiatek heads the list of contenders to carry off the trophy in Fort Worth, Texas, having enjoyed a spectacular season.

Ascendant Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff will be chasing a home victory, while Tunisia's Ons Jabeur has reached finals at Wimbledon and the US Open so loves the big occasion.

Ahead of the tournament getting under way on Monday, Stats Perform has taken a look at the eight-player field.

Swiatek still the player to beat

With no past winner in the line-up, there is every reason to look to the world number one, Swiatek, as favourite.

The 21-year-old Polish player has eight titles this year, lifting trophies at Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, the French Open, the US Open and San Diego.

Indeed, she is the only grand slam singles winner in the draw, with Ash Barty having retired and Elena Rybakina absent after no ranking or race points were awarded at Wimbledon, where she was a surprise champion.

Rybakina's absence calls into question the meritocracy of this year's tournament, which is intended to showcase the top performers on tour, yet there can be no doubt the season's premier performer is in the draw.

French Open and US Open winner Swiatek's remarkable run of 10 straight-sets victories in finals (dating back to the 2020 French Open) was finally ended by Barbora Krejcikova, who sprang a shock by winning in Ostrava in early October.

But by getting back to winning ways a week later in San Diego, scrapping for a three-set victory over Donna Vekic in the title match, Swiatek produced a typically impressive response, beating Qinwen Zheng, Gauff and Pegula on her way through the draw to improve to 64-8 in her win-loss record for the year.

Here is a measure of her dominance this season: Swiatek headed the 'Race to the WTA Finals' rankings with 10,335 points, with the players in second (Jabeur) to eighth place (Daria Kasatkina) having tallies ranging between 4,555 and 2,935 points.

Is Pegula the chief rival to Swiatek?

She might not have been the player that would have sprung to mind even a month ago, but Pegula's victory at the Guadalajara Open this month was an eye-opener.

Beginning by saving match points in a thrilling three-setter against Rybakina, Pegula took down grand slam winners Bianca Andreescu, Sloane Stephens and Victoria Azarenka before swatting aside Maria Sakkari in the final.

Pegula has reached quarter-finals at the Australian, French and US Opens in 2022, and she has a tour-high 39 wins in WTA 1000 events since the beginning of last year.

She is up to third in the WTA rankings, one ahead of Coco Gauff, with the United States now having two women in the top five for the first time since October 2010, when Serena Williams was number two and sister Venus sat fourth.

As Pegula said after the Guadalajara final: "I'm definitely a very ambitious person. A little bit of a perfectionist, as well. I don't think you could win if you weren't ambitious, especially at this level.

"I feel like it's going to give me more motivation going forward knowing I can win these big titles. I think it will give me a lot of confidence ending the year, going into next year."

These are spirited words. She heads into the tournament with a 0-4 record against Swiatek in 2022, however.

Who's in, who's out, what's it all about?

As well as Swiatek and Pegula, the field for the eight-day tournament includes Caroline Garcia, Aryna Sabalenka and Sakkari, who have all featured at the WTA Finals in the past.

Four players make their debuts, including Pegula, who is joined as a newcomer by Jabeur, Gauff and Daria Kasatkina.

Gauff, 18, has become the 14th player aged under 19 to reach the WTA top five since the rankings were introduced in 1975.

She would not be the youngest WTA Finals champion, were she to lift the title, as Monica Seles has a tight grip on that record, having triumphed at the age of 16 years and 11 months at the 1990 edition.

Last year's champion Garbine Muguruza is absent. The Spaniard was expected by many to push on and enjoy a stellar 2022 season, but it did not play out that way, with the former French Open and Wimbledon winner sliding to 57th in the world rankings after a dismal campaign.

It goes to show that whoever prevails in Fort Worth, we should be cautious about treating the outcome as an indication of what to expect in the new year.