1) Matip can be Liverpool’s defensive marshall
If he can keep his head while all about him are losing theirs, then Joël Matip could be the ideal man to bring order to Liverpool’s defence at last. The Cameroon international was signed back in February but did not join from Schalke until this summer and then missed much of pre-season with an ankle injury. But on Tuesday he made a belated and encouragingly uneventful debut during the stroll past Burton Albion. Saturday’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur represents a far tougher test but Jürgen Klopp must be tempted to start Matip at White Hart Lane as he continues trying to repair a defence that remains alarmingly rickety. Matip’s aerial prowess should help improve Liverpool’s ability to defend set-pieces and he is a sound tackler and tidy builder from the back, but what his team need most in the absence of further defensive recruits is an organiser who can somehow instil concentration and calmness into chronically skittish team-mates. Of course Liverpool fans would welcome more brilliance from Sadio Mané, Philippe Coutinho and the rest of their attack-minded mischief-makers, but it will take solid defending at White Hart Lane to stoke belief that Liverpool can combine thrills with a successful title challenge this season. Paul Doyle
2) The Phelan reunion
Are Hull City this season’s Leicester? Fine, let’s not get carried away. But it is true that hardly anyone predicted Hull would be sitting pretty with six points from their first two matches after a summer in which they lost their manager and saw potential deals for new signings collapse as key players made for the exit door. Disaster beckoned. Instead, however, Hull beat Leicester in their first match before following up their victory over the champions by winning at Swansea, leaving the rest of us to wonder what all the fuss was about. All of a sudden Mike Phelan looks like an unlikely managerial genius. But will Hull come crashing back down to earth when Phelan’s old club, Manchester United, visit the KC Stadium on Saturday evening? There is rarely any room for sentiment when José Mourinho is in town. Just ask poor Bastian Schweinsteiger. Come to think of it, maybe Hull can give the German outcast a home. Jacob Steinberg
3) A test of City’s penetrative qualities
The Pep Guardiola effect already appears to be having an effect on Manchester City, who have displayed the kind of comfort on the ball that has characterised their new manager’s previous teams. Winning his first four matches is a good way for Guardiola to start, though it should be pointed out that City have been helped by some kind defending from Sunderland, Stoke City and Steaua Bucharest, meaning that it will be informative to see how they tackle the game against West Ham United, who won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium last year. West Ham have had success under Slaven Bilic by adopting a counter-punching approach against the big sides, soaking up pressure and playing on the break, and do not expect them to veer away from those tactics on Sunday. With Sergio Agüero in hot goalscoring form, City should have enough to find a way through. Yet this could be a good test of their patience. JS
4) Time for Cazorla to pull Arsenal’s strings
Though Arsenal have not started the season well, it is also the case that their start has not been easy. A Jürgen Klopp side are not obliging opponents for a team allowing key players time off after a fraught summer and generally seeking fitness and form. Likewise a trip to Leicester, last season’s champions also desperate to avoid a repeat after a chastening defeat in their opening game. But they must not dwell on what has already happened, because the three most likely championship contenders – Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United – all have winnable fixtures. Arsenal cannot afford to find themselves six or seven points behind any of them, let alone all three.
Last season, their annual collapse began with injury to Santi Cazorla, Arsène Wenger struggling to balance his midfield thereafter; yet in neither of Arsenal’s two games this season has he been deployed in the deeper role that made him so effective. This might be something worth trying away at Watford, where he can provide invaluable invention and control; Granit Xhaka should be able to supply sufficient steel, such that the limited Francis Coquelin is not required. And while Wenger is still searching for his most potent attacking blend, whichever players he selects will find it easier if Cazorla is scheming behind them. Daniel Harris
5) Will the real Mahrez turn up?
Remember the concern when Jamie Vardy was sent off during Leicester City’s controversial 2-2 draw with West Ham United in April? Yet the expectation that Claudio Ranieri would struggle without their biggest goal threat failed to account for the influence of the majestic Riyad Mahrez, who calmed any lingering nerves by scoring a lovely, authoritative opener in Leicester’s 4-0 win over Swansea City a week later. That swaggering finish was proof of the Algerian winger’s class, one of the highlights of a stupendous season. However it appears that the hangover has not quite worn off yet, with Leicester picking up a point from their first two matches. Perhaps it is unfair to pick Mahrez out. He did score a penalty against Hull and several Leicester players have started the campaign slowly. Vardy has snatched at a few chances and the defence has looked shaky at times. Yet the level Mahrez is capable of reaching means that any dip in form will always stand out; Leicester are a vastly superior side when he is in the mood. Swansea are back at the King Power Stadium on Saturday and Francesco Guidolin’s side will be in trouble if Mahrez regains his sharpness. JS
6) Will Conte combine Costa with Batshuayi?
Chelsea have made an excellent start to the season; nothing compares to the joy of a late winner, and they have conjured two in two games. But the model is unsustainable; teams who are regularly involved in close encounters are rarely champions. Though it is impossible to draw definitive conclusions after just two games, it is hard not to assess Chelsea’s squad and apprise a lack of goals and general attacking variety compared to their likely competitors. The other side to their six points so far reveals a side struggling to penetrate.
- Appearances
- 2
- Goals
- 2
- Shots
- 4
- Shots on target
- 75%
- Offsides
- 2
Much as Antonio Conte likes a system, it is time for him to find a way of pairing Michy Batshuayi with Diego Costa, in order to compensate for the relative absence of transcendental talent. Batshuayi is dynamic, well-rounded, tough to mark – and, most importantly, in scoring form. For the majority of strikers, this is not a constant, so full advantage must be taken whenever it occurs. The likelihood may be that Chelsea win at home to Burnley whoever starts up front, but they also need to find a way to win the league. That requires the top or second-top scorer, a feat which looks well beyond a front three of Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Pedro or Willian. DH
7) Lukaku returns on hunt for scoring touch
Yannick Bolasie and Ashley Williams could make their Premier League debuts for Everton this weekend but the outcome of the joust with Stoke could depend to a large extent on the performance of a player who seemed to spend much of the summer trying to leave Goodison Park. Romelu Lukaku has not scored in the league since early March and needs to regain his form of last year if he is to contribute fully to Everton’s progress under Ronald Koeman and/or persuade another club that he is a major investment worth making. Stoke have not yet resolved their defensive problems so the Belgian can expect to get chances to end his drought. Mark Hughes, meanwhile, has yet to sign the reliable striker whom he has been seeking all summer but can at least refer to last season’s wonderful 4-3 victory in this fixture as evidence of what his team are capable of when on song. PD
8) Benteke must bring quick reward for Pardew
For Christian Benteke and Alan Pardew there can be no more excuses: big improvement must come soon. With some justification the manager has attributed most of the blame for his team’s appalling run of results – two wins and 16 defeats from their last 23 Premier League matches – to bad finishing and has been allowed to break Crystal Palace’s transfer record in an effort to address that. Thus Benteke will probably make his league debut for Palace at home to Bournemouth on Saturday. He should do well for a team that is designed to play to his formidable strengths: Palace were the third-most prolific crossers in the top-flight last season and have been the second-most prolific in the early stages of this one. In addition to deliveries from wide areas, Palace should have more creativity from central midfield as James McArthur and Yohan Cabaye are fit to start again after injuries (although Cabaye’s performances in the second half of last season hardly merit a rapid return to the starting lineup). If he gets regular starts and good service, Benteke should thrive. His reputation and Pardew’s job may depend on it. PD
9) Moyes should look on the bright side
David Moyes is an excellent fit as the Sunderland manager; he is proven as an astute spotter of talent, and also able to sustain control of a club for an extended period of time. But his recent comments about Sunderland – that they were irrevocably in a relegation struggle; that he was appointed too late and can’t be expected to effect immediate change; that it’s going to be difficult – were troubling.There were similar gripes when Moyes took charge at Manchester United, reigning champions at the time, and even since then he has insisted that given his time again, he would do nothing differently. Or, put another way, it was impossible for him to apprehend or admit to making but a single error.
None of this is necessary. Sunderland have done well to get him and will give him time to succeed; in the first instance, all he needs to do is keep them up, or show signs of progress while going down. So there is nothing to be gained by implicitly demeaning a group of players who did superbly at the end of last season; people tend to perform better when feeling good about themselves, rather than as the unwitting subjects of a story that needn’t have existed. And though it is facile to connect the supine first-half performance against Middlesbrough with anything Moyes said prior to it, they must be better at Southampton. Moyes must still fortify a young, physically unimposing squad with the belief that they can do anything, not that they will only be complete once he has had requisite time to form them. DH
10) Will Middlesbrough miss Valdes?
If Víctor Valdés is sidelined again with the hamstring problem that kept him out of Middlesbrough’s impressive win over Sunderland, then it could mean another start in goal for Brad Guzan. Aitor Karanka chose him as Valdés’s deputy instead of the 37-year-old Dimitrios Konstantopoulos and that might might be encouraging news for West Bromwich Albion. Guzan was arguably at fault for Sunderland’s goal and the American did not exactly inspire confidence in his defenders during his time as Aston Villa’s No1. He will need to be commanding against West Brom, with Tony Pulis’s side likely to pressure Middlesbrough in the air. JS
