1. Fabregas becoming a liability
AT THE HALFWAY point of last season’s Premier League, most people agreed that Cesc Fabregas had been the standout player.
The Spanish international ultimately finished the 2014-15 league campaign with three goals and a phenomenal 18 assists, playing a pivotal role in Chelsea’s title triumph in the process.
This season however, like most of his team-mates to an extent, Fabregas has undoubtedly gone off the boil — registering no goals and just one assist in the campaign thus far.
And while not making the difference in attack for a period is forgiveable, Fabregas has looked a major liability from a defensive perspective at times this season.
Tonight was no exception, as he simply failed to track Georginio Wijnaldum as the midfielder doubled the Magpies’ advantage, with Fabregas costing his side a goal not for the first time this season.
These incidents won’t have escaped the attention of Jose Mourinho — a coach renowned for his attention to detail. Fabregas consequently will need to improve both aspects of his game if he is recover anything like last year’s form and help Chelsea get back to their imperious best.
- Paul Fennessy
2. Everything’s coming up Van Gaal
It has been a strange old time for Wayne Rooney recently. The Manchester United captain is clearly not firing on all cyclinders, nor has he been for quite awhile, yet he became England’s all-time record goalscorer earlier this month and a goal today means he is the club’s top scorer in all competitions this season with five.
The goal wasn’t exactly the classiest of finishes — fine work from the again impressive Anthony Martial saw Rooney bundle the ball in with his knee to end his 1,000-minute (or 11-game) wait for a Premier League goal.
As Man City were undone by Tottenham, Louis van Gaal is guaranteed to end the weekend on top of the Premier League table for the first time since taking over.
But titles were never won in September and the Dutchman’s attention turns to the Champions League visit of Wolfsburg on Wednesday.
3. Youthful Spurs improving, Man City falter
Missing two irreplaceable players in David Silva and Vincent Kompany, and robbed of Yaya Toure by injury early in the second half, Manchester City succumbed to their biggest defeat since Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008 — going down 4-1 away to Tottenham.
Worryingly, it is the third defeat in the last four matches and a second on the bounce in the league.
Admittedly, Tottenham were assisted by two offside goals (to Man City’s one) but, on top of the result, it will give Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino great joy to see Harry Kane finally get off the mark this season with a well-taken finish.
And Erik Lamela, named man-of-the-match, arguably had his best performance in a Tottenham shirt.
The Argentine attacker has improved his defensive game and deservedly capped the display with a fine goal. Still only 23, here’s hoping he can finally show why the club paid Roma £30 million for him in his third year in England.
4. Milner steps up and Sturridge back firing for the Reds
Daniel Sturridge will attract most of the headlines after his excellent brace inspired Liverpool to a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa this afternoon.
However, as good as Sturridge was, his team-mate Milner arguably deserves just as much credit for the three points.
With Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers in particular under immense pressure ahead of today’s game, someone needed to step up and take responsibility for the Anfield club, with key players such as Jordan Henderson and Christian Benteke absent through injury.
James Milner was the man who drove his side on today, rifling home a goal from the edge of the area after just 66 seconds, before beautifully setting up the rejuvenated Sturridge for Liverpool’s second.
Granted, there were moments of concern in defence for the Reds, but the performances of Sturridge and Milner were two definite plus points this afternoon.
- Paul Fennessy
5. Gunners buoyed by Sanchez’s return to form
On a day when players were breaking goal ducks all over the place, Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez came up trumps.
The Chilean scored 25 times in all competitions during his first campaign in England last year but went eight games without hitting the back of the net this term. Understandably, a lot had been made about the fact Sanchez arrived back to the Gunners late after winning the Copa America over the summer.
At Leicester’s King Power Stadium this afternoon, he looked back to his best with terrific hat-trick as Arsenal closed the gap at the top with a 5-2 victory.
