This article titled “Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend” was written by Conrad Leach and Paul Doyle, for The Guardian on Friday 26th September 2014 07.29 UTC
1) Pochettino gets ready for his first north London derby
The match of the weekend? Well, no, not if you are from Merseyside, or if you prefer golf but the north London derby is still normally a pretty tasty affair. This fixture in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons produced a 5-2 Arsenal win both times. Arsenal played Tottenham three times last season and won them all, without conceding a goal, although it has not been unrelenting joy for the Gunners. The home win in the FA Cup in January was the game Theo Walcott left the pitch on a stretcher, happily making a 2-0 sign to Spurs fans, only to find out a day later he had picked up the injury that would rule him out of the World Cup. Walcott has not played this season but Arsène Wenger insists he is close to fitness. Going further back, Tottenham have won one out of the last six derbies. That victory, in March 2013, ended up being rather hollow, as they subsequently collapsed and gifted what seemed a certain Champions League place to Arsenal. This will be Mauricio Pochettino’s first north London derby; Wenger has been doing them for 18 years. Arsenal beat Aston Villa easily last weekend while Spurs lost at home to West Bromwich Albion. There should be only one winner … right? Conrad Leach
2) Everton to test Mignolet and Balotelli
One thing that Roberto Martínez never did at Wigan was provide really convincing proof that he can build a solid defence. He inherited one at Everton last season but appears unsure how to maintain it when stalwarts lose form or fitness. Everton need to tighten up quickly, as do Liverpool. Beyond that, Martínez might consider targeting two Liverpool players in particular: firstly, Simon Mignolet, who is looking increasingly shaky in the Liverpool goal, especially when attempting to cope with the sort of crosses that, you imagine, Leighton Baines will seek to deliver with regularity this weekend; and secondly, Mario Balotelli. The Italian has kept his composure since his return to England, and even performed a handy civic service last Sunday by posting a playful tweet that resulted in some people exposing themselves as racist vermin, but if he is still prone to costly losses of temper, then a high-stakes local derby with a history of producing red cards is the sort of contest in which he could let his team down. On the other hand, he could inspire them to victory. It will be interesting to see how Balotelli reacts if, for example, Seamus Coleman is fit and tries to handle him the same way he tried to prod Diego Costa earlier this season. Although given how that worked out, perhaps Coleman will not try that approach again. Paul Doyle
3) Redknapp returns to St Mary’s
Harry Redknapp has a history of bucking trends at Southampton. They had been a top-flight staple for 27 years before he was appointed manager in December 2004 with the club 18th in the table; five months later they were bottom and relegated. This weekend Redknapp needs to preside over another change of pattern at St Mary’s but it is difficult to see how he can, as injuries to Jordan Mutch and Joey Barton have weakened a QPR midfield that already seemed as inadequate as their defence and attack.
Rangers’ two new Chileans could be crucial to their attempts to get joy on the south coast. Striker Eduardo Vargas hinted at much-needed speed and sharpness during last week’s draw with Stoke so it is just about possible to foresee him becoming the first QPR player to score on the road this season, against a Southampton defence that has yet to concede a goal at home. Meanwhile, Vargas’s compatriot, Mauricio Isla, needs to either improve dramatically or be dropped, as last week he floundered so badly at right-back that Stoke’s Victor Moses looked like the reincarnation of Stanley Matthews. Dusan Tadic must be polishing his dancing shoes. Redknapp said afterwards that Isla is far more comfortable in a 3-5-2; but the rest of QPR’s defenders seem ill-at-ease in that set-up. Something has to change quickly. Otherwise Redknapp will continue to look like repeating history, by going down with QPR again. PD
4) A chink of light for Villa against Chelsea?
There has been the curse of second place in this nascent season. At the international break, Swansea were up there, level on points with the leaders Chelsea, until the two faced each other at Stamford Bridge. Then Aston Villa took advantage of a fairly generous early-season set of fixtures to move second. The matches have not been so kind since, but they deservedly beat Liverpool at Anfield two weeks ago. They were, however, up against a virus and Arsenal last Saturday, and lost to both. Against Chelsea, Paul Lambert’s side have a chance to show they are over the worst of that bug and to prove they can put up another good fight against a Champions League team. But who would bet against José Mourinho’s men at the moment? Even though Manuel Pellegrini called Chelsea “a small team” after the 1-1 draw against Manchester City last Sunday, Diego Costa and Cesc Fábregas have loomed large over the league so far. Chelsea are unbeaten, with four wins and a draw. There is a chink of light for Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann: Chelsea have conceded seven league goals, which is the most of any team in the top six. And could Mourinho allow himself to be distracted by the Champions League trip to his home country on Tuesday, when Chelsea play Sporting, in Lisbon? CL
5) Time for Van Gaal’s team to show they are not pushovers
Oh, Manchester United, where did it all go wrong? You sign Ángel di María, Radamel Falcao, Ander Herrera, among others, spend £150m in the summer, and with all those guns blazing you lose 5-3 at Leicester. Not to mention the August results, including that opening-day home defeat to Swansea and the mauling at MK Dons, in the League Cup. Where does Louis van Gaal start to pick up his team’s confidence after that defeat last Sunday? By picking a recognisable defence, might be a start, and that is if David de Gea’s confidence is not being slowly eroded in goal. The irresistible form of Di María has not been matched by his team-mates and the frailty they have shown is beginning to look like a regular occurrence, not a fluke. Every game looks like it presents a test for United, when only two seasons ago the assumption was they would stroll past most teams outside the top six, especially at Old Trafford. West Ham visit on Saturday, buoyed by last Saturday’s comprehensive 3-1 win over Liverpool, when they took advantage of Liverpool’s post-Champions League fatigue and some defensive absent-mindedness. But West Ham beware: it can’t be long before Falcao starts scoring as freely as Costa. CL
6) A watershed moment for Rivière?
There was much ado when Falcao and James Rodríguez left Ligue 1 in the summer but not a lot when Newcastle bought the player who outscored both of those stars for Monaco last season. Which is understandable, because Emmanuel Rivière is not in their class but the 24-year-old is a lot better than he has looked in his first few weeks at Newcastle, when his finishing has been feeble and all-round contribution minimal. He has not been helped by the paltry service he has received – the lack of intelligent through-balls means he has had little chance to exploit his pace and has instead spent more time jostling with centre-halves with his back to goal – but a positive change occurred on Wednesday, when, after fluffing a couple of early opportunities, he scored twice (albeit one being a penalty). If that spurs an upswing in his Premier League performances, then Newcastle might just inflict further pain on a Stoke team who managed to beat Manchester City away but have not yet even scored at home. PD
7) Will Tigers prove their quality against the champions?
Last season’s losing FA Cup finalists will not be going that far in the League Cup this season. Hull City lost to West Brom on Wednesday, to go with their elimination from the Europa League last month, leaving them with just league football to concentrate on until the FA Cup third round in January. Steve Bruce’s side are 10th in the league with a goal difference of zero. Not bad, not good, simply the definition of middling. Bruce thinks they are better than that. “We are really close to having a really good team and a really good squad. It’s frustrating, as you can imagine”, he said after their midweek defeat. That would have been more believable if they had held on against Newcastle last weekend, instead of squandering a 2-0 lead. At the same time as Hull were losing to the Baggies, Manchester City were putting seven past Sheffield Wednesday, which may have put the wind up Bruce. Hull City have won this fixture in recent memory – in February 2010 – but lost home and away last season against Pellegrini’s side. The Chilean would dearly like to get his title defence back on track, having stuttered through this month without a league win, although the home draw with Chelsea on Sunday was clearly no disgrace. With Aston Villa, Tottenham and West Ham coming up for City, they have a chance to get closer to Mourinho’s men. CL
8) Baggies fans edging towards optimism?
This is the match in which Alan Irvine could really convince Albion fans to be optimistic about the future under their inexperienced manager. This time last week all was gloomy, but a deserved win at Tottenham Hotspur and a League Cup victory against Hull in midweek has changed the mood. The victory against Hull came with an entirely different team to the one that beat Spurs and after Irvine made substitutions. Suddenly Albion’s squad looks deep – and can only get deeper as more injured players return – and the manager is starting to show he can use his options well. His challenge now is to show supporters that he can take charge of a home Premier League match from the start and convincingly put away underdogs who, as they continue to pine for the injured Danny Ings and Sam Vokes, only wish they had the resources of Albion. PD
9) Palace need to find some home form
It is quite something that, this season, Leicester have played Manchester United, Everton, Stoke City, Arsenal and Shrewsbury Town and their only duff result came against … Shrewsbury. That was in the League Cup late last month and, even more surprisingly, was at home. Yet that upset may end up being to their advantage. It meant they have had this week off, enabling them to come down slowly from the high of beating United 5-3 last Sunday. By contrast Crystal Palace, who won at Everton on Sunday, played extra-time against Newcastle in the League Cup on Wednesday and lost, although Neil Warnock chose mainly a second-string team. Two of his substitutes caught the eye: Andrew Johnson, 33, made his return in Palace colours after eight years, and the debutant, Sulley Kaikai, 19 last month, scored the goal that sent the game into extra-time. The Eagles have yet to win at home this season in the league. They need to start now. CL
10) Sunderland look to Johnson to shine for first win
Things have not clicked into place yet this season for Sunderland. The momentum that helped them escape relegation in May has not carried through to this campaign and a relatively easy start (they only picked up one point from games against QPR and Burnley) has not yielded much. If they had won both those they would be in the top six. Instead, while it may seem a touch early to talk about the relegation zone, at least Gus Poyet’s side are outside it, albeit on goal difference, level on points with QPR. They have not won in the league yet, and were knocked out of the League Cup on Tuesday, losing at home to Stoke City. Adam Johnson is the Black Cats’ top scorer – with two goals this season – but if it all sounds a little uninspiring, there could be an interesting comparison of wing-play, assuming Jefferson Montero plays for Swansea. He signed this summer after impressing for Ecuador in the World Cup and he ran Tony Hibbert ragged in the League Cup, as Swansea beat Everton 3-0. Despite that win, Garry Monk’s side need a bit of a boost. They were second in the table at the international break at the start of the month but have lost their last two league games, including last week’s home defeat against all-conquering Southampton. CL
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