Liverpool need to buck up their home form, United looking to plug a few holes, out-of form Swansea and in-form Everton plus whether West Ham can keep up their bright start in this weekend’s Premier League preview.
Liverpool’s need for consistency
Liverpool finally kick-started their season against Norwich last weekend and to a certain degree, the performance had been coming. The Reds had played well against the two Manchester clubs in particular with nothing to show for it and their lowly league position probably belied their displays up to that point.
Performing against the bigger clubs hasn’t been a problem for Liverpool in recent years, however, putting in displays against the mid-to-lower ranked teams has. Last season, for example, they drew with Sunderland, Norwich, Swansea, Blackburn, Stoke and Aston Villa at Anfield, where they also tasted defeat to West Brom and Wigan.
Liverpool certainly aspire to better than that and if they are going to end up in the top six, they’ll have to turn their home ground into a fortress for the remainder of the season. Their next six league games include home ties against Stoke, Reading and Wigan so those should provide a good indicator of whether they can start proving their muscle against the so called lesser lights.
Can Laudrup stop the good start going down the Swanny?
Where did it all go wrong for Swansea. Praise was being lavished upon the Swans, their new manager and new signing Michu at the start of the season, but they’ve lost their last three games by a combined score of 7-0 and haven’t scored a goal since the first of September.
Like many have done before him, Laudrup has learned that success at the very top can be fleeting and resting on your laurels is not something you can get away with. A home tie against Reading would appear to provide the perfect opportunity to get the season back on track.
Will Man United continue to be so open?
The signings of Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa in the summer certainly caused plenty of excitement around Old Trafford, but few will argue with the fact that they were papering over cracks elsewhere in the team, particularly at the heart of midfield where there is nary a ball-winner in sight. Paul Scholes has a lot of great attributes but the last time he won the ball cleanly in a tackle was some time in the late 90s.
RVP and Kagawa have made good starts to their United careers, but the problems lie elsewhere
United are certainly exciting to watch at the minute, but Fergie must be tearing his hair out at how open they have become and how easy they are to get at. Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans weren’t great against Spurs last weekend, but as Gary Neville pointed out on Monday Night Football, they were left horribly exposed by those in front of them and quite a lot of players would have struggled against the pace of Bale, Lennon and company.
Fergie can’t get anyone in until January and it’s doubtful if he will even then, so he has to make do with what he’s got and may have to sacrifice a little of his side’s attacking threat to make them a little less porous from midfield back. In that regard, the return of Darren Fletcher could be a very timely one, although it’s asking a lot of someone who was out for so long with such a serious condition to solve all of United’s problems.
Credit where it’s due to Big Sam and the Hammers
Thanks in no small part to the hilarious Twitter parody account in his name, added to some of his own antics through the years, Sam Allardyce has become something of a comedy figure in English football. There has barely been a peep out of him this season though and he might be advised to keep it that way because the Hammers have flourished on their return to the top flight.
Because of the Premier League pedigree of Allardyce and some of the West Ham squad, a lot of people thought that they would survive, but not many would have predicted their impressive start to the season so far.
As it stands, they’re in seventh, level with Spurs and West Brom and one point adrift of both Manchester clubs in third and fourth. They’re also a point ahead of London rivals Arsenal, who will provide their first proper test this weekend – with due respect to Swansea, who whupped them in the second game of the season.
There’s a definite clash of styles between the Hammers and the Gunners and it should make for good viewing in the evening fixture on Saturday.
Everton look for three points at goal shy Wigan
Traditionally Everton are slow starters to the league campaign, so any Toffees fan would look at you like you had two heads if you were to tell them that after six games they would be second to Chelsea in the table. Not since 1978 have they began October in the top two.
You would get pretty good odds on David Moyes’ side to maintain such a lofty position, but the early signs have been good. The defence is looking particularly solid, former Latics player Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar are causing havoc down the left, Marouane Fellaini has had a terrific start to the season and up front Nikica Jelavic is continuing his rich vein of form, with 12 goals in 18 games so far in his career on Merseyside.
In-form striker Nikica Jelavic
Victory over Southampton means Everton go to the DW stadium looking for a third straight win in the league against a side they have only lost to twice in the Premier League.
Wigan on the other hand start the weekend a point outside the relegation zone and have lost the last three league games on the spin. Their only win so far was a 2-0 victory over a desperate Southampton and Roberto Martinez will be worried by their lack of firepower.
Only QPR and Norwich have scored fewer goals than the Latics. All logic and form would point to an away win, but Wigan are the one team most likely to ruin your accumulator.
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