Premier League weekend: Five things we learned | OneFootball

Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend, featuring Arsenal’s emerging cult hero and another dreadful day for Manchester United.

Trossard emerging as Arsenal’s clutch cult hero

Leandro Trossard is developing a habit of finding big moments for Arsenal. When the Gunners needed a hero this weekend, the Belgian forced an own-goal-winner against Leicester to take the North Londoners within a point of the summit.

Leicester had fought back from two goals down to level and threatened to derail Arsenal’s title bid until Trossard found himself free at the back post in the 94th minute to create the decisive goal. It follows a quick-fire intervention off the bench to help Mikel Arteta’s team beat Aston Villa earlier in the campaign, and crucial goals in big games against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United last season.

How big a goal this one will turn out to be remains to be seen. But after falling on the wrong side of the narrow margins in each of the last two title races, Arsenal know better than most that every point counts.

Early Bees don’t get the worm

The early bird gets the word or so the saying goes, though it’s not turned out to be quite true for Brentford.

Thomas Frank’s team set a remarkable Premier League record this weekend after opening the scoring against West Ham inside 38 seconds.

The Bees are the first team in Premier League history to score inside the first minute of three consecutive league games, having needed just 22 seconds and 23 seconds to score against Manchester City and Tottenham respectively in recent weeks.

Brentford, however, have failed to win any of those games and Frank must fix his team’s habit of giving up leads.

Manchester City academy thriving across the league

The Manchester City academy system is flourishing right now. Phil Foden and Rico Lewis are key parts of Pep Guardiola’s squad but the ripple effect of City’s development is being felt across the Premier League.

Cole Palmer’s extraordinary performances at Chelsea have been well-documented. This weekend, he reached new heights with a four-goal first-half performance against Brighton, a display that heightened the sense of regret at his sale last summer.

However, Palmer is not alone in thriving after being nurtured at the Etihad. Morgan Rogers is excelling in Unai Emery’s midfield at Aston Villa, Jadon Sancho is showing sparks of recovery at Chelsea, and Liam Delap scored twice to earn Ipswich a point this weekend.

City’s Elite Development Squad (EDS) might just be the best in the business.

Managers reaping rewards of central conversions

One of the trends from the Premier League’s early weeks has been the successful conversion of wide players into central positions.

Morgan Rogers has been arguably Aston Villa’s Player of the Season so far in an advanced role behind Ollie Watkins and opened his account for the Premier League campaign against Ipswich at Portman Road.

Ange Postecoglou has also benefitted from a similar switch, as Dejan Kulusevski ran riot at Manchester United. The Swede starred as a number eight at Old Trafford, where he carved out nine chances in a superb Spurs performance on the road.

Dwight McNeil is also shining amid more regular involvement centrally. Operating as a number ten for Everton in recent weeks, the left-winger has three goals and two assists in five Premier League appearances and leads the division for chances created (20).

His brilliant brace earned Everton their first win of the season this weekend and getting the 24-year-old’s quality on the ball more often has been an intelligent tactical tweak for Sean Dyche.

Time up for Ten Hag tenure

Is this the end of the road for Erik ten Hag?

Not for the first time, Manchester United are at crisis point after being well-beaten by Tottenham at Old Trafford. United have been here before, painfully, time and time again across the last three seasons. The excuses are wearing thin.

Ten Hag has spent around £600m on new signings since arriving at Old Trafford. Against Spurs this weekend, four of the back five were his own signings. Another two, Manuel Ugarte and Joshua Zirkzee, featured further forward. Spurs cut them apart.

Ange Postecoglou is one of multiple managers in the Premier League who have had less time than Ten Hag but, quite clearly, have implemented their style on their team. Unai Emery, in three months less than the Dutchman and with significantly fewer resources, has taken Aston Villa from 18th in the table to Champions League football.

Manchester United have now conceded three or more goals in a game on 25 occasions under Ten Hag. Spurs, inside 90 minutes, created a higher xG at Old Trafford than Manchester United have in their three games on home soil. The numbers make for bleak reading.

With tough trips to Porto and Aston Villa before the international break, nothing less than immediate improvement will save Ten Hag.

Read – Premier League Team of the Week as Spurs stars shine

See more – Premier League Awards: Cole World, Arsenal leave it late

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