
Show/hide article…
Another fascinating weekend of Premier League action saw Arsenal stroll past fierce rivals Tottenham.
Goals from Shkodran Mustafi and Alexis Sanchez sealed the three points for the Gunners whilst the rest of the top six all secured victories.
Here, Sportsmail gets the fans’ verdicts following the latest weekend of action…
Arsene Wenger reasserted his claim to the North London throne with a dominant win against a Spurs whose gushing press far exceeds their achievements.
Spurs were nowhere. They were totally outclassed by an Arsenal side that brought a cup final sparkle to a cold derby day. Mustafi was exceptional, Ramsey was at his industrious best, and Mesut Ozil showed a bite and drive we don’t see enough of.
The question now: can Wenger spark fire like that every week?
Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and admit you lost to the better team on the day.
Arsenal really wanted it and we were found wanting. Plenty of Spurs fans were castigating Dembele and Alli but for me, despite it not being his worst performance, Moussa Sissoko just doesn’t offer any control for us in central midfield.
That’s what we needed more of, especially in the first half. Still confident we’ll finish above them though.
Look out, Bournemouth are on the march! Callum Wilson is on fire and he could have scored more than the hat-trick he bagged against Huddersfield.
The Cherries were out of sorts in the first 20 minutes and Huddersfield started well, but as soon as the first goal went in Bournemouth got stronger and stronger.
Francis deserved to be sent off, but the refereeing left a lot to be desired. Strangely, Bournemouth were even better with 10 men.
The same old story away from home, but this one will hurt a bit more for David Wagner and Town.
After an opening spell which Town dominated, there was no clinical end product. Town’s long-standing frailties from set-pieces seemed to return, while the bad luck with refereeing decisions doesn’t seem to have changed.
Despite having most of the ball, just one shot in a second half against 10 men simply isn’t good enough. The away-day blues need addressing - and quickly.
A third successive Premier League win, a third successive clean sheet and 22 points from the first 12 games of the season. It’s taking some believing but it shouldn’t be so because we are very much now a decent Premier League team.
Once in front there was never any chance of us not picking up three points, albeit against a Swansea side who are poor and will surely be dispensing very soon with the services of Paul Clement.
We were solid defensively meaning goalkeeper Nick Pope had little to do and were always a goal threat.
Same old story. Swansea succumbed to yet another loss and the club is in a fast decline.
I can handle a loss - especially at a tough ground like Turf Moor - however, the fight and effort isn’t there, and we’re lacking so much in quality it’s embarrassing.
This lack of quality is setting us aside from the better teams in the league, like Burnley who I totally envy at the moment.
There are calls for Clement out from the Swansea fans, and lose at home to Bournemouth next week and I will start agreeing with those calls.
The problems lay deeper than Clement though, in this worrying time for the football club.
Excellent performance from Palace right from the off against a very disappointing Everton side, who got themselves back level courtesy of a dive.
It was a travesty that the hosts did not take all three points but a horrendous blunder at the back let in Everton right before the break.
Weak refereeing for the most part did not slow down the visitors’ ‘foul-at-every-opportunity’ tactics but regardless this is two points dropped which we cannot afford.
The standard of football at Everton is the worst I’ve seen.
No disrespect to Crystal Palace but we made the team that is bottom of the league look like 2009 Barcelona, giving the ball away far too easily and gifting us two goals let them down.
We were on the back foot the entire second half, not once threatening Speroni or being capable of pressing Palace’s midfield.
Another poor performance, we were very fortunate gaining a point. Awful refereeing throughout.
Leicester were given a lesson in total football.
After Kompany’s blatant red card that wasn’t, City began to dictate the rhythm and pace of the game, with De Bruyne bursting forward and spraying delicious passes to all quarters of the pitch.
The timing of the two goals was cruel, with Jesus’ strike coming just before half-time and De Bruyne’s just after the Foxes had hit the post at the other end.
It just gets better and better. This could have been a tricky fixture given the disruption of the international break and the problems/memories of last season’s defeat at Leicester, but this was as comprehensive a 2-0 victory as imaginable.
Some of the football we produced was breathtaking and it could have been a cricket score had our final ball been better.
Silva and De Bruyne were mesmeric again, and Fernandinho remains the engine that keeps us ticking. It is, quite simply, a joy to watch.
This is what good teams are supposed to do. Liverpool made it look very easy against opponents who had recently proved to be a tough nut for them to crack.
The forwards were dazzling, the midfield diligent and the defence - yes, even Dejan Lovren - assured.
The response to the Spurs defeat has been everything you’d want it to be and with the treatment room emptying, Jurgen Klopp now has more quality players than he knows what to do with.
Mo Salah and Sadio Mane in tandem are virtually unstoppable and keeping them fit will be the key to Liverpool’s season.
Once organised in defence but toothless in attack under Claude Puel, Mauricio Pellegrino’s Southampton appear to have gone one step further — losing the former, too.
Complaining about this Southampton side at the minute couldn’t be further from ‘being negative’. It’s simply analysing what’s in front of us and recognising that serious change is needed.
The Southampton board have some big decisions to make, and the general feeling among the fans is that the buck stops with Pellegrino.
Gutless. Spineless. Embarrassing. Awful. If Tony Pulis had any credibility he would resign before next weekend.
His tactics are a shambles. Playing attacking midfielder Matt Phillips at right back is ridiculous.
No wins since the second game of the season. I’m afraid it’s time to go. The Wales job is waiting for you Tony.
Having faced two tough games last season against a well organised, well drilled West Brom side this was totally different.
The three-man midfield paid dividends with Chelsea finding time and space to play.
Eden Hazard’s calm and composed finish gave an indication he has back to his best and tormented our hosts throughout.
It is no coincidence that Paul Pogba’s return marked Manchester United’s first four-goal haul since September 30 against Crystal Palace.
Pogba was amazing and it was great to see Zlatan Ibrahimovic return from injury, too.
This felt like a momentum-building win for United.
This came as no surprise - especially after Jamaal Lascelles and Mikel Merino were ruled out through injury.
The level of performance was encouraging and the aggressive and fearless approach in the opening half hour gave us plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks.
The players cannot be faulted for a lack of effort. United were simply superior in terms of quality and were ruthless in front of goal - which is to be expected when they boast an individual who cost more than our starting XI.
Will Hughes shone brighter than his hair. Not only did he score one goal and set up another, the midfielder ran the game in Roberto Pereyra’s absence in the number 10 role.
But bizarrely, despite dominating the game from start to finish, we could have come away with nothing had Christian Kabasele and Heurelho Gomes not come to the rescue to prevent West Ham’s three key chances.
The latter’s world-class double save at 1-0 will certainly make it on to his highlights reel. Why would Marco Silva want to leave this team behind?
A threadbare squad — lacking its two most dynamic players in Chicharito and Antonio — was unable to match the intensity and commitment of the Watford players.
Of course, if Kouyate or Arnautovic took the chances offered to them on a plate then maybe things would have been different but it doesn’t detract from the fact that Watford were much the better side for large periods.
This result illustrates the magnitude of the task at hand for Moyes at West Ham and it’s going to take more than a few clips of intense training to turn the ship around.
Were are doing superbly but in some respects the Prem has been gentle with us so far.
Things are about to get hot and spicy, but tonight gives us the chance for another cheeky three points before we enter a mad few weeks.
You know what you are going to get when Stoke City come calling and it isn’t pretty!
However, in Knockaert and Gross we have players who will be too good for them if they can avoid the industrial challenges.
I’m saying 1-0 to the mighty Albion!
Stoke fans will be wanting the answer to several questions ahead of the trip to Brighton.
First will be which Stoke City turns up to the Amex Stadium. The one which beat Arsenal and drew against Man Utd, or the one which lost at home to Bournemouth and got hammered at Man City.
Other than that we’ll be waiting to see if we ditch the 3-4-3 system and go for a 4-4-2 line-up which will allow Peter Crouch a place in the starting line-up.
He has earned it with his goalscoring form and it’d be interesting to see how Brighton, despite their great start to the season, deal with this particular Premier League challenge.
Go to the original article…
...ill-temperedly hatched by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!