1) The Spurs midfield is purring
Welcome, Mousa Dembélé, we were starting to fear you would not show up. But here you are now, bossing Premier League midfields with skill, power and the assertiveness that, frustratingly, you showed only in flashes until recently. Three goals in three games going into the north London derby and then a towering man-of-the-match performance at Arsenal, in a midfield in which Eric Dier and Dele Alli were also splendid, and all at the end of a merciless run of three matches in six days. Keep this up – and yes, that means ruinous injuries as well as the late-season dips from which Mauricio Pochettino teams tend to suffer – and a top-four finish looks well within Spurs’ reach. Paul Doyle
• Match report: Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham
• Spurs’ heavy press forces Wenger to go against the grain
• Recovery shows Wenger time’s passage need not be an enemy
• Tom Jenkins’ best images from the Emirates
2) Cool hand Lingard finds range after recovery
After 52 minutes of Manchester United’s 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford Jesse Lingard finally entered dreamland, scoring a debut first-team goal that has been 15 years in the making. “It was pure happiness. My mum was here, my brother, dad and girlfriend, so they are really proud of me. Since I was seven, I have been here,” he said. “It was a happy moment for me in my career. A great feeling. My family are all United fans too.” Lingard has shown real guts to return from the serious knee injury he suffered in last season’s opener against Swansea City. That came after 24 minutes and ruled him out until 14 February, by which time he was on loan at Derby County. “It was hard,” the 22-year-old said. “But that is in the past. Now I want to move on from that. Hopefully I will try and get a regular place in the team and be consistent in my performances.” To do so Lingard will have to keep the £25m signing Memphis Depay out of the side. He has done so in the last two games, and the coolness displayed when finishing beyond Boaz Myhill from 20 yards suggested he feels he belongs in the United XI. As Lingard said: “Of late I have been rash with my finishing but to be composed in that situation is good and I am glad it went in. I have been doing it since I was in the reserves so I am glad it came off.” Jamie Jackson
3) Shaqiri is finding his rhythm
Following Stoke’s 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Saturday, Mark Hughes was quick to accept that his team’s triumph would not be the story in sports pages and news reports. That is inevitable when the champions have lost for the seventh time in 12 league matches and Hughes, having played for Chelsea himself, knew the score. However, it was impossible for Hughes not to reflect on the performance of Xherdan Shaqiri after he had twisted and turned Chelsea’s left-back Baba Rahman and played a key role in the hosts’ winning goal. Hughes was in no doubt – it had been the Swiss midfielder’s best display for Stoke since he arrived from Internazionale in August. “It was important that we got him on the ball and we encouraged the guys to give him more supply because on occasions we haven’t given him the opportunity to show what he can do,” said Hughes. “He demanded the ball and showed what he is capable of. As he gets stronger and gets to understand the Premier League better, the more impact he will have.” Shaqiri was a delight to watch at the weekend and, given he has only recently arrived from a different country via protracted negotiations, it is something of a surprise that he has settled so quickly. Stoke are the Premier League’s joint-lowest scorers with 10 goals in 12 fixtures but with the 24-year-old playing in a deep attacking line alongside two other creative talents in Bojan and Marko Arnautovic, they should at least become more exciting to watch this season. Sachin Nakrani
• Absent Mourinho would have seen fight from players
• Chelsea dismiss Stoke steward’s claims of clash with Costa
4) Liverpool confidence a work in progress
Jürgen Klopp was at pains to stress his disappointment was not directed at those Liverpool supporters who left Anfield in the wake of Scott Dann’s 82nd minute winner for Crystal Palace, but that the exodus he said had left him feeling “pretty alone” underlined the fact that his attempts to restore belief in this team remain a work in progress. Liverpool, he insisted, have a duty to ensure fans remain glued to the game until the final whistle but there was a lack of conviction about their play at the start and finish of Sunday’s defeat. Christian Benteke and Emre Can both struggled – Thursday’s 5,000-mile round trip to Kazan offers mitigation, in fairness – and the side’s recent defensive improvement vanished when Yohan Cabaye swept over the corner for Dann’s late winner. Klopp’s biggest problem against Palace was on the pitch, not off it. Andy Hunter
• Match report: Liverpool 1-2 Crystal Palace
• Klopp: ‘I felt pretty alone when Liverpool fans were leaving’
5) Hornets short of sting at Leicester
Watford’s defeat against Leicester City demonstrated that dominating possession means nothing without an end product. Quique Sánchez Flores’s side created an excellent chance in the 20th minute, when Odion Ighalo’s shot hit the post, but Leicester mostly contained their threat and Watford’s manager was not happy with the way his players used the ball in the final third. “We had 60% of the possession,” Flores said. “This is good but with these statistics we didn’t win, so we need to think about it. Leicester had 40% of possession. It is because they are running. They want to run. They love it. They are used to running when we have the ball.” While Flores was happy with his team’s overall performance, he admitted that they needed more conviction in attack. Jacob Steinberg
• Ranieri praises Mahrez for gifting Vardy record chance
• Match report: Leicester City 2-1 Watford
6) Amavi a marvel but only in attack
If Rémi Garde’s first lineup is a sign of things to come, the Ligue 1 quartet that Tim Sherwood was quick to discard are going to have a big part to play in Aston Villa’s survival mission. In fact, we could even see another Frenchman, the lesser-spotted Charles N’Zogbia, strutting his stuff for Villa again judging by the fact that Garde decided it was time for the winger to thaw out after five months in the deep freeze under Sherwood. Jordan Veretout, making his first appearance in more than a month, impressed in midfield against City and Idrissa Gana was industrious alongside him. For Jordan Ayew, who had his work cut out trying to make much impression against Vincent Kompany and Nicolás Otamendi, it was not such a fruitful afternoon but there have been some promising signs of late. Then we come to Jordan Amavi, and where do you start with a left-back who looks so impressive going forward and such a liability defensively? Amavi is a joy to watch with the ball at his feet and more than capable of skipping past opponents – something he did on more than one occasion in the first half against City – but for all Sherwood’s faults and odd selection decisions at times this season, it is easy to see why Garde’s predecessor felt the £7.7m signing from Nice was too big a risk without the ball (that is not to say that Kieran Richardson was the solution). City soon got wise to the fact that there was a weakness to exploit on the Villa left and Jésus Navas, an early substitute for the injured Wilfried Bony, had a field day. This is not to suggest that Amavi is a poor player and should be left out but Garde and his staff need to spend some time working on the defensive side of the 21-year-old’s game, otherwise all that promise going forward will count for little. Stuart James
7) Argentina’s lost jewel looks like he’s here to stay
One thing is certain. Manuel Lanzini is not going back to the desert. He is too young. He is too good. West Ham want him. Partly because they know everyone else is going to want him now. The word is that talks are already under way with the UAE’s Arabian Gulf League club Al Jazira, and presumably those talks have opened with the question: how on earth did you persuade a (then) 21-year-old Argentinian with this much talent to sign for the UAE’s Arabian Gulf League club Al Jazira. Lanzini scored his third Premier League goal against Everton on Saturday, producing a finish that was both spectacular and brilliantly crafted. Either side of which he was impressively busy, West Ham’s most incisive presence in an often cagey game. Slaven Bilic will hope Dmitri Payet and Enner Valencia recover from injury by the time the international break ends. If not, Lanzini’s worth to West Ham looks set to take another incremental leap upwards. Perhaps he might even succeed in linking effectively with Andy Carroll, eight inches taller and pretty much the opposite extreme when it comes to the method and trajectory of attacking football. Carroll ran a lot, had no shots on target and made just 10 successful passes over 86 minutes on the pitch against Everton. He remains a wonderful header of the ball. His challenge as he returns to full fitness is to learn to link effectively with West Ham’s more delicate attacking patterns. Either way it is a mark of how sparse young English attacking talent is right now that Ross Barkley, largely anonymous at Upton Park, should be so coveted, when Argentinian football can afford to basically lose down the back of the sofa a player as good as Lanzini. Barney Ronay
8) Monk needs greater strength in depth
Where has it all gone wrong for Garry Monk? Just one win since August would usually spell danger for most Premier League managers but while Swansea’s slide down the table will not be viewed favourably by the Liberty Stadium hierarchy, Monk will surely be given time to turn things around. However, with key players like Jefferson Montero, Jonjo Shelvey and Bafétimbi Gomis failing to live up to the standards they set earlier in the season, the manager will be scratching his head over how to find a solution. A lack of alternatives appears to be one major factor, with eight of the team who started Saturday’s defeat to Norwich having featured in every single league game this season. In particular, finding a reliable understudy for Gomis must be a priority given the Portugal striker Éder’s struggles to establish himself since his summer move from Braga, while Wayne Routledge’s lack of form is also a concern. The decision to allow Nathan Dyer to join Leicester on a season-long loan also appears hasty given Swansea’s difficulties creating chances and Monk will be hoping he is allowed to dip into the transfer market in January to address that shortfall. The captain Ashley Williams has called for unity in the wake of their fifth defeat in eight and with Bournemouth up next at home after the international break, they have a perfect opportunity to put some daylight between them and the relegation places. Ed Aarons
9) Van Dijk shows north-east what it’s missing
Virgil Van Dijk epitomises both Southampton’s smart recruitment policy and Sunderland’s shortcomings in the transfer market. Not for the first time this season, the 24-year-old Dutch centre-half impressed for Ronald Koeman’s side. Transplanting Van Dijk – assured and defensively elegant in the 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light – from Celtic could cost a reported £13m but it looks money very well spent. The painful fact for Sunderland – and Newcastle fans – is that previous summers have seen their clubs heavily linked with Van Dijk before directors were deterred by the asking price which, last year, was around £10m. When you consider the money wasted on a litany of inferior players at Sunderland, particularly, that seems a glaring case of failing to grasp the bigger picture. Louise Taylor
10) King shows glimmer of hope for slumping Bournemouth
The Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, is probably still puzzled by how his side did not score against Newcastle, but it is a problem that needs addressing, and fast. For all of their 20 shots at goal, the Cherries were wasteful and have not managed to score in any of their last three games. Worryingly, Bournemouth have scored just three goals in the six games they have played since their injured talisman Callum Wilson was ruled out for the season. Howe left the former Crystal Palace striker Glenn Murray out of his match-day squad, instead playing Joshua King, one of nine summer signings, as a lone striker. King is still looking for his first Premier League goal after being thwarted repeatedly by the Newcastle goalkeeper, Rob Elliot, but the former Manchester United trainee otherwise excelled and enjoyed his best performance in a Bournemouth shirt. “As long as he continues to get in goalscoring positions, I will always back people to be effective,” said Howe. King could yet prove a long-term solution for Howe – the Leicester striker Jamie Vardy went 23 games without finding the net last season after all. Ben Fisher
