The Premier League is now well and truly underway, and if the rest of the season carries on like this then it will be one to remember. Defending champions Liverpool got off to the worst possible start to the month with a 7-2 humbling at the hands of newly-promoted Aston Villa and lost star defender Virgil van Dijk to an ACL injury in their next match against Everton, but recovered well to finish the month top of the table.
Leicester suffered disappointing losses to Villa and West Ham, but still found themselves in the top 6 with Wolves, Villa, Everton and Chelsea, with Spurs and City rounding out the top 8. At the bottom of the table, 4 teams remained winless, but 3 draws for West Brom left the Baggies just above the relegation zone, which is currently inhabited by Burnley, Fulham and last year’s surprise package Sheffield United, who each have just 1 point to their name.
The race is on!
The race for the Golden Boot: Son Heung-Min (Tottenham) – 8 goals; Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) & Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) – 7 goals
The race for Playmaker of the Season: Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 8 assists; John McGinn (Aston Villa) – 4 assists; James Rodriguez (Everton) & Aaron Cresswell (West Ham) – 3 assists
The race for the Golden Glove: Rui Patricio (Wolves) – 4 clean sheets; Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa), Alex McCarthy (Southampton) & Édouard Mendy (Chelsea) – 3 clean sheets
Safe hands?
Everton have had their best start to a league campaign in some time and with their quality up front and he struggles of some of the big teams, this looks like an opportunity for a first top-6 finish since the 2013/14 season. However if they miss out, I can’t help feel that a lot of it will come down to Jordan Pickford’s performances between the sticks.
While Pickford is certainly capable of pulling off some stunning saves, he is anything but reliable. Though they started the month with a win over Brighton, Pickford gifted the Seagulls a goal by fumbling Leandro Trossard’s shot, allowing Neal Maupay to score, while Tom Davies had to make a crucial block at 3-1 when Pickford slapped a cross straight to Maupay.
2 weeks later in the Merseyside Derby, he was lucky to stay on the pitch after an awful and completely unnecessary challenge on Virgil van Dijk, causing an ACL injury that has ended the Dutchman’s season. It was a disgusting challenge that deserved a red card all day long, but Pickford got away with it as an offside was called in the build-up, so the challenge was never looked at – a ridiculous decision in my eyes. And yet despite this lucky break, he still went on to almost cost his team the game, with a poor effort to stop Jordan Henderson’s late shot, an offside picked up by VAR the only thing saving him.
That’s just 2 matches, but it’s already more than you expect to see off a top keeper in the space of a couple of months, and with a shaky defence you need someone reliable in goal. Frankly, it was no surprise to see him dropped for the first Premier League match of November (though he was back for this weekend’s game against United), but Carlo Ancelotti must surely realise that he made a mistake by not bringing in a legitimate upgrade at the position during the transfer window – something that Chelsea did, to the tune of 3 clean sheets in the league already!
Missing piece
Who would have though that after 2 months of Premier League football, Manchester City would be down in 8ᵗʰ? Pep Guardiola’s men have not started the season well, winning only 3 of their opening 6 games, while November saw them only manage draws against Leeds and West Ham.
It’s crazy to say, but the team is struggling to score goals, with just 4 goals scored in 4 games in November, despite the plethora of attacking options that Pep Guardiola has to choose from. And there is a simple reason for this: while Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus are great strikers, they have not been regularly available in these opening weeks of the season, and City have not had the depth to cover for it, instead playing wide men like Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres in the central position, to limited effect.
I understand that with the 3-up-front formations that many teams go for these days, less strikers are needed on the roster, but both Aguero and Jesus have spotty injury histories, so it makes sense to have at least one more specialist striker in the squad, as in a league as strong as the Premier League, you will not have the time to think about where you should be or what you should be doing, you just need to act on instinct, and that will not come naturally to a winger.
Carry on
Liverpool’s opening 2 matches of the month could not have gone much worse: an embarrassing 7-2 loss at Villa, then losing Virgil van Dijk for the season against Everton. The Dutchman is arguably one of the best centrebacks in the world and I’m sure many still remember the dismal defensive performances the Reds put in before his arrival – the Villa loss wouldn’t have been anywhere near as much of an aberration back then!
Can Liverpool cope without him? Clearly yes, as they won both of their following league matches to complete the month top of the table, while they still have talented – just not reliable – defenders in their squad. Don’t be surprised to see the Reds looking to bring in a replacement for van Dijk in January – someone who could then realistically go on to become his partner once he is back.
But until then, don’t be surprised to see Liverpool go on the idea that “a strong defence is a swift and decisive offence.” In Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané, they already had one of the most potent attacking units, while the acquisition of Diogo Jota just adds to that either as a 4ᵗʰ weapon on the pitch or to allow some rotation in the front 3 with minimal drop in quality. Oh and then let’s not also forget that they have playmakers like Thiago Alcântara and Xherdan Shaqiri and 2 super dangerous fullbacks in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson. Expect them to have an answer for any goal they concede.
Team of the Month
Wolverhampton Wanderers
It looked like Villa were going to be the obvious choice here with a huge victory over Liverpool, but their 0-3 loss to Leeds came at just the wrong time and game me the chance to look elsewhere, eventually landing on Wolves.
While they may not have had the same challenges as Villa this month, they successfully navigated matches to 3 wins and a draw, with an aggregate score of 5-1, to leave them 3ʳᵈ in the table. But what made this more impressive is that they have continued this success despite the loss of Diogo Jota to Liverpool. They are far from the strongest of squads in the league, but are so consistent as a team, you never want to rule them out in a match.
Eyes on the Ball 