1) Will the City punish the Palace?
In a smash-and-grab victory against Manchester City ten months ago, Patrick Vieira’s men were instructed to feed Wilfried Zaha with rapid passes over the home high line manned by Rben Dias and Aymeric Laporte, with the attacker’s teammates rushing forward in support.
It was accomplished flawlessly. Zaha harassed Dias and Laporte, who were not the quickest nor the best on the turn, and prompted the latter to be sent off in the first half. Then, after the break, Conor Gallagher scored Palace’s second goal thanks to Zaha’s deft movement. Can they repeat the feat? Sure.
Especially after Newcastle’s 3-3 draw with Pep Guardiola’s champions on Sunday, which suggests they are not quite at their best. But City exudes sophistication and has a propensity to respond to setbacks in a cinematic manner. After the Palace last October, they only lost once again in the league, in February of the following year.
2) Fulham adjusts without a ball
Even though the season is still in its infancy, Arsenal and Fulham have already made a mockery of many preseason expectations. Fulham is unlikely to see much of the ball on Saturday evening at the Emirates if Arsenal’s dominance over Bournemouth on the previous weekend is any indication.
Arsenal are the clear favorites, but Fulham’s Andreas Pereira remains a threat from set-pieces, and Aleksandar Mitrovic, who is in fine form, must be well monitored. The duel between the Serbian forward and William Saliba and Gabriel, Arsenal’s central defenders, is one to savor.
St. Mary’s focuses on the forward direction
The air of listless, slow-burn decline that surrounded Southampton toward the end of last season appeared to have followed them into this season when they collapsed at Tottenham on an opening day, but since then, signs of life have returned, with late goals salvaging a point against Leeds and an impressive victory at Leicester. On Tuesday, Che Adams scored two more goals against Cambridge in the League Cup, adding to the transfer rumors around the Scotland attacker.
Nottingham Forest and Leeds are rumored to be interested in signing Adams. Ralph Hasenhüttl is adamant that Tyler Adams will remain at Southampton, and he can establish his worth with a strong performance against Manchester United at St. Mary’s. United’s attackers, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford emerged from lulls in Monday’s exhilarating victory against Liverpool, and the question of which United will show up will be a focal point. Hasenhüttl and Erik ten Hag both had sudden reasons to be optimistic.
Can Carvalho invigorate Liverpool?
A visit from newly promoted Bournemouth, coming off 4-0 and 3-0 defeats to Manchester City and Arsenal, seemed to be a great opportunity for Liverpool to finally get their Premier League season off the ground. However, something must be altered in response to the lackluster loss at Manchester United.
It is unlikely to be found in terms of players, given the treatment room is still crowded and Darwin Nez is suspended, but Jürgen Klopp may contemplate a break from his traditional 4-3-3 structure in addition to asking more intensity and attention from his defenders. After adding Nez and Fábio Carvalho this summer, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers claimed to have better-attacking versatility, and he might put that idea to the test despite the Uruguayan international serving the second of a three-match suspension.
Carvalho is 19 years old with only three Premier League substitute appearances to his name, but his late cameo at Old Trafford boosted Liverpool’s entire effort. A new option for the new beginning that Klopp requires quickly.
5) Henderson will score against Forest
Manchester United’s very public pursuit of a backup (or prospective replacement) goalkeeper for David de Gea while Dean Henderson, the Spaniard’s understudy at Old Trafford last season, is excelling on loan at Nottingham Forest exemplifies the club’s seemingly haphazard recruitment philosophy.
Before a ball had been kicked or saved this season, Henderson exposed himself to ridicule when he revealed that he had demanded to go on loan before Erik ten Hag’s arrival because he desired playtime, but believed the Dutchman would insist on keeping him on the bench if he saw how well he performed in training.
The arrival of Tottenham on Sunday is expected to keep Henderson highly busy, and he will back himself to further embarrass anyone at Old Trafford who acceded to preseason demands the 25-year-old may now regret.
6) Newcastle is in a hurry to make Isak’s debut.
It has been a summer of change at Molineux, with a slew of recruits bolstering Bruno Lage’s squad, but Newcastle’s £59 million acquisition of Alexander Isak has derailed Matheus Nunes and Goncalo Guedes’ hopes of making an impression on their home league debuts. Newcastle hopes to register the Swedish forward by Friday at noon, the deadline for Eddie Howe to add him to his Wolverhampton squad.
Nunes joined the club for a club-record £38 million, but Isak will cost even more. The 22-year-old scored on his final appearance for Real Sociedad, tying the score in Sunday’s loss to Barcelona, where he has been a huge hit since joining from Borussia Dortmund. With Callum Wilson awaiting the results of a hamstring scan, Isak may soon get an opportunity to shine.
7) A Fofana matchup to relish
Wesley Fofana is unlikely to be spotted at Stamford Bridge unless Chelsea stops undervaluing their visitors and he hitches a ride on the Leicester team bus to complete what appears to be an inevitable transfer. Fofana was spotted in the stands of the King Power Stadium last weekend wearing an expensive cashmere sweater.
Brendan Rodgers is already a manager under pressure, with no new faces in his squad, one point from three league games, and the sound of mutinous midweek shouting from the away end at Edgeley Park still ringing in his ears. While Leeds’ incredible victory over Chelsea last weekend gives Leicester cause for optimism, Rodgers’ counterpart Thomas Tuchel needs a victory after that thrashing at Elland Road. A month ago, the significance of what appeared to be a quite ordinary and inconspicuous fixture was much lower.
8) Gray poses a risk to the Bees’ defense
Thomas Frank remained optimistic despite Brentford’s heartbreaking loss at Fulham last weekend, just regretting that “football is a cruel game” and complimenting his team’s enterprising effort in a great local derby. However, he will be cognizant of the fact that Brentford’s defense must improve following costly blunders at Craven Cottage.
Ben Mee and Aaron Hickey were excellent summer acquisitions for Frank at the back, but they need to tighten things. On Saturday, Everton’s offensive injury woes and sluggish start to the season make Brentford the likely favorite against Everton, a team they defeated twice in the previous season.
Frank Lampard can take hope, though, from how Everton earned a point at Nottingham Forest on Saturday and triumphed at Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday. Demarai Gray, who has scored on each occasion, is proving his importance to a weakened squad, and he might be the one to punish additional defensive blunders by Frank’s club.
9) Leeds press offers questions for Potter
Brighton manager Graham Potter is famous for his ability to successfully modify his team’s approach to specific opponents, and how Leeds dismantled Chelsea will have given him much to think about before Leeds visited the Amex Stadium.
Few Premier League clubs press with the ferocity of Jesse Marsch’s nearly supernaturally fit men, but given Brighton’s flexibility to alter their formation and shape from game to game, it will be exciting to observe how Potter plans to go through, over, or around Leeds’ inevitable press.
In the previous season’s similar matchup, a scoreless draw, Brighton was booed off the field following an astounding goal-scoring performance. Even though the Amex faithful have yet to score at home this season, their patience is likely to be stronger following their team’s impressive start.
10) Villa has a depleted backline due to injury
Steven Gerrard can only reshuffle his team so much, and, understandably still hurting from Diego Carlos’s long-term injury, his squad feels almost identical to the one that struggled at the end of last season. The addition of Carlos was viewed as a coup, but after tearing his Achilles tendon against Everton, Gerrard is virtually back where he started at the end of May and allowed three goals against Crystal Palace last week. Gerrard paired Calum Chambers instead of Ezri Konsa with Tyrone Mings for their Carabao Cup comeback triumph at Bolton in midweek, and he may continue to do so. Alternatives to choosing Konsa or Chambers to play alongside Mings are limited. Villa is anticipated to enter the transfer market in the coming days, as the squad has failed to keep a clean sheet in four attempts and their obvious defensive weakness remains a cause for concern.
