Three Talking Points from Gameweek 8 in the EPL
Aston Villa and Southampton continue to surprise people
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After an impressive victory 2-0 on Friday night at home to Newcastle, Southampton moved to the top of the Premier League table for the first time since the Premier League came into existence.
It was also a win that put into perspective how far the come has come since losing 9-0 to Leicester City last season.
Ralph Hasenhuttl has done a brilliant job at picking his players back up after such a humiliating defeat, he’s done so well that Southampton are now playing the best football they’ve played in their Premier League era.
That isn’t even taking into considering the time in which Pochettino was the manager which really is high praise.
Pochettino helped make Southampton a top half of the Premier League side which was a tremendous achievement.
It didn’t instantly click with Ralph as the club appeared to be moving in the wrong direction but from the evidence so far this season, they seem to be stronger than ever before.
Now it’s still early days and lots can still change but the signs are promising, and Southampton could be dark horses for finishing in one of the Europa League spots.
As for Aston Villa, they look a changed team this season, their recruitment in the summer was so much more intelligent than the previous summer and it has set them up to have a successful campaign.
The worry for fans at the start of the season would have been another season battling relegation and that this time they might not have enough to stay up.
However, the contrast to that so far has been stark, even if they haven’t been perfect.
For me the best piece of business was keeping hold of talisman Jack Grealish and his quality has shined through in massive wins against Liverpool and then Arsenal last weekend.
The summer signings of Martinez, Barkley and Watkins have all so far been fantastic, particularly Watkins who has hit the ground running in the Premier League.
He scored another two goals against Arsenal yesterday to add to a hat-trick against the Premier League champions, it’s the stuff of dreams.
Whilst Southampton are now 4th after Spurs, Leicester and Liverpool leapfrogged them, Aston Villa are 6th but with a game in hand, if they win that game in hand, they will go joint top of the Premier League themselves.
It’s quite remarkable how well these sides have started the Premier League season but in a campaign with so much uncertainty, a top four finish isn’t out of the question.
Guardiola and Klopp deserve credit for the quality of football on show as Manchester City and Liverpool drew 1-1 in an edge of your seat encounter
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Klopp through in a surprise from the start as he mixed up his trusted formation in a bold attacking 4-2-4 which included both Jota and Firmino.
It was the kind of bold move that only great managers make in the big games, but it threw City off and stopped them from beating Liverpool at the Etihad for the third consecutive Premier League season.
The first half was packed full of high-quality attacking football and drama.
Liverpool fairly won the first penalty after Walker clumsily tripped Mane up and Salah converted with his usual ruthlessness.
However, Manchester City responded brilliantly as De Bruyne slipped in Jesus who turned exquisitely and toe poked home the equaliser.
Then Manchester City had the chance to take the lead after a controversial VAR decision awarded De Bruyne a penalty.
He missed.
Yes, that’s right De Bruyne missed a penalty, to the amazement of Alisson who had dived the wrong way and everyone watching at home who thought it was a full gone conclusion.
However, that was the end of the drama in a match which turned out to be a tail of two penalties and it will seem like a missed opportunity for Manchester City as they failed to close the gap on their biggest rivals for the title.
Chelsea win again and are starting to look the part
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It’s been a slow start to the new campaign for Chelsea who were struggling for form and with integrating all their new signings together.
However, the big summer spending to make up for their transfer ban seems to be coming together as they have gone 6 games unbeaten in the league and have started conceding less goals.
Scoring hasn’t really been a problem this season but before Mendy came in for the unreliable Kepa, they were conceding goals far too frequently.
However, in their last 8 games in all competitions, Chelsea have kept 6 clean sheets and conceded just 4 goals.
Thiago Silva’s improved form has also been a big factor as another one of Chelsea’s summer signings who has helped to improve the side in a defensive sense.
Going forward they look more effective too, Ziyech has been majestic since he came back from injury, Werner is scoring goals and Chilwell gives Chelsea another dimension with his attacking runs from full-back and goals too.
Chelsea also have Havertz and Pulisic to come back into a side that looks very capable of mounting a title challenge.