FIVE THINGS: Premier League Weekend
Once again, the Premier League has delivered this weekend in terms of excitement, goals and major talking points.
With Leicester and Arsenal still soaring, Chelsea struggling and Aston Villa naming their new manager, SillySeason looks at the five stand-out points from this week’s action.
Chelsea’s woeful spell is more than just a blip
Even with his job seemingly not under threat according various sources, it begs the question as to how long will Jose Mourinho have if his side continue to play like they are currently doing so.
After taking the lead against Liverpool within 5 minutes, it looked as if the Blues were ready to leave the horror of the past behind and begin to make their way up the leader board.
However, once again, the team fell apart after a short spell of brightness and continued to collapse, allowing Jurgen Klopp to gain his first three Premier League points.
With Chelsea now sitting 15th, four points above the relegation spot, the pressure must surely be starting to mount on the Portuguese manager.
Added to this, the manager has now been slapped with a one-match stadium ban, time for change maybe?
United still lacking attacking threat
With multi-million pound summer signing, Anthony Martial taking life at Manchester United with both hands, the sides draw at Crystal Palace on the weekend showed that a finisher and a creator is still absent from the team.
Another draw at Selhurst Park signalled United‘s third goalless draw in a row, with Wayne Rooney still not performing to the maximum levels he used to display.
There appears to be a huge need for even more signings when the transfer window opens again in January, with a striker surely on the top of Louis Van Gaal‘s wishlist?
Arsenal are title contenders
3-0 against a solid Swansea side signifies how far Arsenal have come on this season.
With consistent performances since the beginning of the season, it looks as if Arsene Wenger is finally getting the best out of his side, with Mesut Ozil being key to that.
Along with Alexis Sanchez‘s top class performances and the goals from Olivier Giroud, it is now hard to ignore that Arsenal could be within a shout of winning the Premier League title, especially with both Chelsea and Manchester United looking disjointed.
We shall see if the Gunners begin to drop out as expected, but do no be surprised if they stay up the top and fight with Manchester City right until the final day this season.
Leicester still flying
The surprise team of the season, now named the ‘comeback kings’ are still pulling out the results.
Sitting at 3rd in the table, the job that Claudio Ranieri has done is sensational thus far.
This has been hugely helped by the form of both Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. Both scorers on the weekend, if you haven’t got them in your fantasy team yet then it would be a good idea too, as both don’t look like dropping out of form just yet.
The real question would be whether they can sustain this blistering start throughout the season, but so far they are a team to be feared, even by the top sides.
Big Sam’s job bigger than first thought
After winning against local rivals Newcastle United last weekend, Sam Allardyce would probably have expected to give Everton a tough game at Goodison Park.
Even after coming back to draw level at 2-2 after half-time, the problems were still there for everyone to see. It looks as if Allardyce is going to have to do some major rebuilding in January, with the team struggling from the back four right the way to the attacking options.
Wes Brown highlighted this, and summed up Sunderland’s awful start, again, to the Premier League season.
By Ollie Brown @olliebrowner_