1. Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea will all be hoping that they too have equally bad ‘struggling’ periods as Manchester United this season. As we mentioned above, Untied have struggled to find the net so far this season, scoring eight fewer goals than at this time last season, but still have 11 points – a total only two less than they had at the same point last season. What has kept United alive is a very good defensive record, having conceded only two goals all season and held three straight clean sheets. It is almost impossible to believe that the United attack will suffer a year long slump and with that in mind it is hard to argue that the rest of the ‘big four’ have put enough daylight between them and the slumping Champions.
2. One observation that might have gone unnoticed during this barren run by United is that Nani has been involved in each and every United goal this season. He crossed to Tevez for him to lay off for Paul Scholes’ goal versus Portsmouth, scored versus Tottenham and took both of the corners that led to Saha’s and Vidic’s game winning goals.
3. Reading fans should fear not from the second year syndrome just yet. After all, we are only six games into the season and it’s worth remembering that in their success of last season, the team lost six of their first 11 games and only had 13 points after the second Saturday in November, having lost four straight games by a combined score of 1-10. They then went on to win 15 of their next 27 games and collect 42 points. However, if their forwards don’t get scoring soon, it could be a long season.
4. Sunderland’s Kenwyne Jones had a brilliant debut on Saturday scoring the first goal of the game and creating the second. So far this season Sunderland have looked pretty toothless in attack apart from Michael Chopra, but Jones looked lively, full of running and very strong against Reading. One game does not make a season, but Sunderland fans will be hoping that was only the start of an impressive season to come from the former Southampton star.
6. There is so much we could pick on Jose Mourinho for this week – smell gate, egg gate etc – but we thought we would focus on his continuing poor relationship with Andriy Shevchenko. His reaction to Shevchenko’s missed opportunity against Blackburn on Saturday, after the Ukrainian international’s poor second touch, was equivalent to throwing him under a bus. Shevchenko looks like a player short on confidence and when your manager (who should be fighting your corner) reacts in such a flamboyant manner at a missed chance, it can hardly fill you with confidence. Then again Shevchenko wasn’t Mourinho’s buy was he?
7. Tottenham’s defending can’t go by without comment on how lacklustre it has been this season. But, saving the goalkeeper and defenders from more blushes, we want to highlight the poor job Tottenham’s midfielders do of tracking back and closing down the opposition. One only has to look at the tape of the goals that gave Arsenal the lead and secured the win on Saturday. On both occasions, after possession was lost, Tottenham midfielders just stood and watched or lightly jogged as Arsenal players streamed forward left, right and centre. Arsenal’s third goal came from a failed counter-attack that was actually cleared by one of the few Tottenham defenders to get back. The clearance fell to Cesc Fabregas in the middle of midfield, with still no Spurs player near him - giving him all the time in the world to find Adebayor on the edge of the area. That is poor defending all round and adds to the writing on the wall for Martin Jol.
8. Carlton Cole put in a performance, after coming on as a 26th minute substitute for Craig Bellamy, that was the reason for us stating in this year’s book that he could one day be an 8 goal-8 assist player at the top level. He is more of a goal creator than a goal scorer in the Peter Crouch mould and often takes unfair criticism. But the fact remains that if given a chance he could be a very valuable occasional starter for West Ham this season.
9. FINALLY, someone in the national media mentioned that Sir Alex Ferguson rotates his players a lot (last season he tied for 1st with Rafa Benitez in total starting line-up changes). However, Alan Hansen then let himself down by stating he only does it at home. Check out this weeks MYTH BUSTING article on the subject if you want to know more.
10. Liverpool, Manchester United, Middlesbrough and Wigan are the only Premier League teams to not concede a goal from any form of set piece so far this season.
What to watch out for next week
If Mourinho and Chelsea lose to Manchester United next weekend, is Jose Mourinho in the coaching hot seat?
Alternatively, you could just watch the football.