Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend: Arsenal win leaves Emery with conundrum; Spurs fall at fortress Vicarage Road; and Alisson gaffe masks Liverpool progress
Unai Emery heeded calls to fit both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang into his starting XI today at Cardiff and the move paid off in a breathless 3-2 win.
Lacazette was deployed centrally and thrived on the greater degree of involvement, setting up Aubameyang’s goal and smashing the late winner.
Aaron Ramsey also revelled through the middle, popping up all over the pitch in a typically all-action display.
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The cloud to that silver lining is that Emery’s selection shunted Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil – Arsenal’s two most gifted individuals, by a distance – into wider areas.
After a difficult start, back-to-back wins will have delighted Emery, who is still honing his new team, and he may see it as an argument for another day but relegating your best players to fringe roles is surely not a long-term solution.
Fortress Vicarage Road
This was meant to be the weekend that the wheels came off Watford’s best ever start to the season.
And Tottenham, who had also taken three wins from their opening three Premier League games, looked set to burst the Hornets’ bubble when they went ahead through an Abdoulaye Doucoure own goal.
But Vicarage Road is becoming something of a fortress under Javi Gracia and back they came, courtesy of Troy Deeney and Craig Cathcart headers from set pieces.
That’s seven wins and only one defeat from 10 home league games for the Spanish coach – better form than any other top-flight boss. The next visitors? Manchester United.
Alisson gaffe masks Liverpool progress
When your goalkeeper makes gaffes that lend themselves to headlines such as “Alisson Blunderland” it is bound to divert the limelight from more prosaic matters.
But what the fuss over the Liverpool No1’s inadvisable spot of dribbling at Leicester on Saturday overshadowed was the fact that the Reds have quietly turned into an efficient, solid winning machine.
Not so long ago, defensive clangers were almost as common as a Mohamed Salah goal. Now they scarcely concede at all; Alisson’s blooper led to their first breach in seven Premier League matches.
And while Jurgen Klopp’s team have only scored more than twice on one occasion this season, a 2-1 victory at the King Power Stadium means they have taken maximum points from their four games.
Murray and Ings champion English strikers' cause
Last week’s international retirement of Jamie Vardy highlighted the dearth of striking options available to Gareth Southgate, but there are two Englishmen in fine goalscoring form.
At 34, Glenn Murray remains Brighton’s most effective forward despite almost £50m spent on Jurgen Locadia, Jose Izquierdo and Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
His brace rescued a point for the Seagulls at home to Fulham and took his tally to three in four games this term, having netted 14 last season.
Elsewhere on the south coast, Danny Ings is enjoying a new lease of life at Southampton. Ings has two goals in three starts since his loan move from Liverpool and, at 26, may yet add to his solitary England cap.
Sloppy City sail close to the wind
Maybe it was all just a little bit too easy for Manchester City last season and at the beginning of the new campaign.
Fresh from their record-breaking title season, they picked up where they left off with utterly dominant wins over Chelsea, in the Community Shield, Arsenal and Huddersfield.
But having dropped points at Wolves last week, they only narrowly saw off a stubborn Newcastle on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium in a performance peppered with further signs of carelessness.
And for all their possession in those two games, they leaned heavily on a goal from a set piece and a brilliant long-range shot for their points.
No team can be perfect every time, but Pep Guardiola looks to have some sloppiness to nip in the bud.