1) McGinn on the rise with Villa
On current form there are, at a rough count, at least three teams from the established “top six” that could benefit from the services of John McGinn. With the exception of Kevin De Bruyne it is hard to find a midfielder in better form and he certainly deserved to be on the winning side here, when Aston Villa were eventually pegged back by Burnley. “He’s been consistently good in all our performances and consistently looks like he’s going to score goals,” said McGinn’s manager, Dean Smith, after he volleyed in Villa’s second having earlier had a strike ruled out by VAR. “He’s an all-action player, gets into the opposition box, scores goals, wins free-kicks.” McGinn has an unorthodox running style but seems to cover every blade of grass while offering a constant creative threat: his rise has been quite something and the list of admirers will surely be growing. Nick Ames
2) Yarmolenko makes major impact
Manuel Pellegrini stopped short of describing Andriy Yarmolenko as like a new signing but there is no masking the impact the Ukraine winger has made since returning from almost a year out through injury. Yarmolenko provides West Ham with another welcome touch of class in the attacking third, where Pellegrini already has a wealth of options: the fit-again Manuel Lanzini, Felipe Anderson, Pablo Fornals and Jack Wilshere. “He [Yarmolenko] is carrying us at times,” said Ryan Fredericks. “We want to give him the ball as much as possible. He’s a little bit different. Unpredictable.” Recent evidence, namely goals against Manchester United and Bournemouth, suggests Yarmolenko could propel high-flying West Ham towards the top-seven finish they crave. “We’re a different team, a different beast this season,” Fredericks said. Ben Fisher
3) Abraham improves despite firing blanks
After scoring seven goals in three games Tammy Abraham has none in his past three outings for Chelsea. He struggled in the defeat by Valencia in the Champions League, lost a battle of wits with Adrián when he went through against Liverpool last week and had a frustrating afternoon in the win over Brighton on Saturday, spurning several opportunities in both halves. Instead of dwelling on the misses, however, let us focus on the positives. For a start Abraham has the knack of getting into goalscoring positions. But what of his ability to lead the line? It is not enough for a striker to be a mere poacher these days. They have to work for the team and Abraham showed he is improving in that area against Brighton, whose defenders struggled to live with his pace, strength and intelligence. His finishing might have been off but he did not have a bad game. Jacob Steinberg
4) Palace looking safe and secure
In a season when clean sheets have been something of a rarity, Crystal Palace’s three from seven matches – the joint-highest along with West Ham and Manchester City – is a testament to their defensive strength in depth. Gary Cahill has proved to be a shrewd acquisition for the club, while Mamadou Sakho, James Tomkins, Martin Kelly and Scott Dann give Roy Hodgson several options at the back. The manager said: “It’s a great pity that we don’t have quite that luxury in other areas which I think would help us enormously if we had that. But I’m still hoping from the club’s point of view I hope that can be put right in January.” Having previously struggled at Selhurst Park, Palace are on their longest unbeaten home run since 1993 but face City, Leicester and Liverpool in their next three. Ed Aarons
5) Everton’s Silva lining
Everton have now lost three consecutive Premier League matches and on traveling to Burnley on Saturday will have not collected a point in the competition for more than a month. Marco Silva’s team did, though, trouble Manchester City and Silva, for one, remains confident about Everton’s prospects for the season as he hailed the supporters. “I don’t have doubts. I think they [fans] go home with that bad feeling when we don’t get a result,” said the manager. “In the dressing room they had the same feeling. But I said to them, if we have this desire and attitude we will get the results. It will not always go like this. Football is like that, you know. It’s up to us to keep working. But they went home after an ovation for the players. It is important for sure that they will be there again at Burnley to support us and we must show the desire again.” Jamie Jackson
6) Fernandinho no more than stopgap
Since he arrived at Manchester City Fernandinho has received almost universal praise, but he was twice at fault for Everton’s equalizer. Playing as a center-back in Pep Guardiola’s makeshift defense, the Brazilian fluffed an attempted clearance of Gylfi Sigurdsson’s cross then put in a weak tackle on Alex Iwobi to allow Séamus Coleman to set up Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He is a superbly combative and elegant midfielder, whose ability to control midfield and protect the defense has been as fundamental to City’s success as Kevin De Bruyne’s artistry or Sergio Agüero’s ruthlessness, but he is quite simply not a defender. City have been unlucky that injuries have struck down Aymeric Laporte and John Stones but square pegs in round holes will not cut it. Not with Liverpool in this form. Rob Bleaney
7) Rodgers will savor Anfield return
Well, there is no stopping Leicester. Presented with a tiring and vulnerable opposition, they went clean through Newcastle. Some teams may have relaxed at 3-0 but Brendan Rodgers’s men hammered away at the open door that was Newcastle’s defense and were not flattered by the margin of victory. Leicester are up to third place. Is that courtesy of a generous start to their fixtures? Maybe. They have taken one point from games at Old Trafford and Chelsea. Up next on Saturday is Liverpool, at Anfield, a game Leicester drew last season and one Rodgers will savor. Should he go on the front foot, he will want Jamie Vardy to hustle and hassle Virgil van Dijk and James Maddison to be fit. He did not face Newcastle but Rodgers said after this win his star turn in midfield should be in contention. He will dearly love that to be the case. Conrad Leach
8) Wilder favors tough love
Chris Wilder was unsympathetic towards Dean Henderson after the goalkeeper’s error provided Georginio Wijnaldum’s winner. He also conjured an odd image. “I am not going to put my arm around him and rub his head,” the Sheffield United manager said. Henderson may not be daunted – George Baldock described him as confident three times in swift succession – but Wilder hopes a reaction will not be required by a man the Blades deem a future England keeper. “He made a huge one last year against Leeds and came back and he made a couple in a high-profile Championship game against Aston Villa and came back but I don’t want him to make mistakes,” the manager said. “For all the top goalkeepers mistakes are very few and far between. He is an outstanding young goalkeeper but a lot will be down to how he takes it on. This is a big season for him. It is up to him how he develops.” Richard Jolly
9) Ndombele off to promising start
One of the criticisms of Tanguy Ndombele at Lyon was his goals output. In 66 Ligue 1 appearances for the club he scored once. He knew himself that he needed to be more productive at Tottenham and so a second goal in five Premier League games was something to be happy about. What caught the eye about the midfielder’s performance against Southampton were the traits that convinced Spurs to part with a club-record fee of £55m in the summer – the driving, direct runs past opponents and the quick, incisive passes and flicks to get his team moving. These are early days and Ndombele needs more time to come to terms with the remorselessness of English football but he showed on Saturday that the raw materials are there. The search for consistency will define his season. David Hytner
10) Dashing Traoré adds guile
Let us talk about Adama Traoré again. The Wolves player is a source of fascination for many, partly because of his heritage – he grew up in Barcelona’s La Masla – but also his natural attributes, particularly his searing pace. The question of how to maximize those abilities has come into extra focus this season after Wolves moved on some of their forward players, giving Traoré a more prominent role. At points he has played as a wing-back but in recent games Nuno Espirito Santo has switched to a 3-4-3 and Traoré is back in his favored advanced position. Against Watford he was very effective but in a surprising way. Yes, there were exhilarating dashes down the wing and also those dribbled bursts of close control. But Traoré used another weapon, too – his passing was often excellent, with his pre-assist for Wolves’ decisive second goal the pick. Substituted late on, it was with a sense of job done. Paul MacInnes
(The Guardian)
