Talking points from Premier League Gameweek Five

Manchester City’s 4-1 demolition of Manchester United brought an end to weekend that saw Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea claim victories in varying degrees and Liverpool being beaten for the first time this season, whilst West Brom claimed their first win of the season. There was a ton of action over the weekend, so, let us look at the five major talking points from the weekend.

Paulinho saves AVB’s blushes

Paulinho of Tottenham celebrates after scoring the winning goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Cardiff City and Tottenham Hotspur at Cardiff City Stadium

Even with the departure of Gareth Bale, Tottenham had a busy summer which saw over £100m worth of talent arrive at White Hart Lane. Whilst that no doubt made the squad a lot stronger, the arrival of so many new players means that they will take time to settle in. And until they do, just like they managed against Cardiff, clean sheets are their biggest ally as they look to pick up as many points as possible.

Against the Blue birds, it took an injury time winner from Paulinho to give Spurs all three points and claim their fourth clean sheet in five games.

In fact, Giroud’s winner in the North London derby is the only goal Spurs have conceded this year. The solid base provided by Paulinho and Capoue has meant that, whilst they have a remarkable attack, it is their defence that has helped them secure four wins out of five, which sees them joint top of the Premier League.

When their attacking unit is up and running, they will be a force to reckon with, but until then, clean sheets will be AVB’s best friend.

Suarez’s return couldn’t have come at a better time

Three wins on the bounce and no goals conceded, Liverpool were on cloud nine after their dream start to the season. But last Monday’s encounter with Swansea showed that they are far from perfect as they drew 2-2. This weekend, saw their first loss of the season at home to Southampton.

And on the basis of that result, it looks like the Suarez couldn’t have picked a better time to come back to the side.

The game against Southampton revealed some of Liverpool’s inherent flaws, as Rodger’s side lacked a cutting edge. The fact that he started the game with four centre-backs didn’t help as their style of play involved bringing the ball out from the back was disrupted.

More than that, the midfield was unable to carve out an opening and Sturridge looked like he was running on empty by the end. So, it is certainly a good thing that Suarez is back for the game against Manchester United in the League Cup.

A peculiar pattern emerging?

The latest round of Premier League games saw only four home wins, with three of them coming courtesy of Arsenal, Chelsea and City and no draws, when there were five of them just last weekend. What it meant is that there was a whopping six away wins over the weekend, which is a massive figure, particularly given the cautious approach most managers take these days.

Although it has only been five weeks, this year has already seen a peculiar pattern emerge from the weekend’s results. The odd weekends have seen very few draws, with the first and third weekend of action having only a draw each, whilst the rest of the weekends have seen almost half the fixtures end in draws.

Whilst it might seem like nothing, it certainly looks like a pattern is emerging, in which visiting sides are throwing caution to the weekend every alternate weekend, starting from the opening weekend.

Sessègnon helps West Brom claim first win and puts the final nail in Di Canio’s coffin

Coming into this weekend’s fixture, West Brom and Sunderland were the only two sides without a win in the league so far and it looked like something had to give. The deadline day acquisition of Stéphane Sessègnon proved to be the difference between the two sides as the Benin international opened the scoring and played a pivotal role in most West Brom attacks.

Defeat left Sunderland as the only club without a single win and their owners had enough, as they sacked Di Canio in the aftermath of the result, which was slightly distorted by the score line.

Whilst the black cats lacked cohesion and never threatened to score, the Baggies, on the other hand, boosted by the Benin international, looked thirsty throughout and the form of his attackers would surely have pleased Steve Clark.

Is Baines the best English left back at the moment?

There are those who believe that Leighton Baines finally deserves his shot at the national team, especially, now that Ashley Cole has crossed the magical hundred cap mark. Baines made yet another claim for his inclusion on Saturday as his two goals helped Everton beat a spirited West Ham outfit.

Baines scored with two sublime free kicks, which ended up in either corner, showing that he might as well be the best free kick taker in the league right now, especially with the departure of Gareth Bale.

In doing so, he managed to join the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Sebastien Larsson as players to have scored with two free-kicks. If he keeps up his good form, it will only be a matter of time before he is given his chance.