Premier League Derbies Offer a Chance to Kick-Start Four Seasons

This weekend sees something of a rarity in the Premier League, in that two of the biggest derbies in England take place on the same day. On Merseyside, Everton travel to face Liverpool, while in north London, Arsenal will host Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium.

Under any circumstances these would be two noteworthy and exciting games, but they are perhaps lent extra significance this weekend because of the relative states of the clubs involved.

All four clubs are, to varying extents, going through periods of transition, and all four are displaying some problems in dealing with that transition.

The most obvious are Liverpool, who are still adjusting to a post-Luis Suarez world and attempting to integrate the myriad new talent purchased with the proceeds of his sale.

While the likes of Adam Lallana, Lazar Markovic and most notably Mario Balotelli (for he is the most obvious direct replacement for Suarez) will need time to settle, the early signs are not especially encouraging for Brendan Rodgers' side.

They have lost three of their opening five games—one away to Manchester City, but the others against Aston Villa and West Ham, two clubs that have started the season better than many expected, but two sides that Liverpool should beat all the same.

It is in games like this that Suarez's absence is most keenly felt. After Liverpool went behind in both, one may have been more confident they would come back and salvage at least a point if they still had the Uruguayan, but without him—and indeed the injured Daniel Sturridge—they looked a little more toothless.

Liverpool's other problem is that they somehow seem to have regressed in defence despite spending upwards of £35 million on Alberto Moreno and Dejan Lovren, as displayed by a slapstick performance at the back against West Ham.

Their defence wasn't exactly a strong point last season, but they had the attack to cover it up, whereas without Sturridge and Suarez, they have no such get-out.

Everton are theoretically the least destabilised of the four clubs, having not changed their manager in the summer and not lost any significant talent, but they have still started the season terribly.

They have won just once, and while they have the second-best attack in the league, they have comfortably the worst defence, goal totals skewed by that extraordinary 6-3 defeat to Chelsea.

Roberto Martinez said this week, as quoted by the Daily Mail:

"

We don’t want to accept the amount of goals we have conceded. We don’t want to be a team that concedes cheaply. I don’t think it is in the nature of the two sides. We want to impose ourselves on the game. The city wants two teams that will grow and get better. We want to become as good as we can.

"

Part of this could be a sort of "second-season syndrome" after Martinez's first campaign went so well, in addition to the added rigours of competing in the Europa League. Whatever the reason for their struggles, a victory at the weekend now looks crucial for a team desperate to kick-start their campaign.

Down in London, another two sides who have endured indifferent starts to the season meet, with Spurs looking northwards at Liverpool with a knowing glance. They, of course, suffered similar problems last term after selling Gareth Bale and seeing his replacements struggle to settle in, but they now have a different transitional problem to contend with.

Mauricio Pochettino has brought different methods to White Hart Lane, the ones he employed with such success at Southampton, but their performances have been similar to the ones that came before.

Two convincing wins began the season, but since then they have been outclassed by Liverpool, held by Sunderland and beaten by West Brom. Such inconsistency plagued them last season and, on this evidence, looks set to do so again.

And then there's Arsenal, who have similarly shown familiar shortcomings. Arsenal are also in a transitional phase to an extent, but one largely of their own, or more specifically Arsene Wenger's, making.

Wenger spent plenty of money in the summer upgrading Arsenal's attack, with Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez arriving, but he didn't pay quite as much attention to their defence.

Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers arrived, but Bacary Sagna, Carl Jenkinson and Thomas Vermaelen departed, and given the frequent injury problems Arsenal have endured in recent years, leaving 19-year-old Chambers as the first reserve in two different positions looks like pure negligence.

Additionally, Wenger didn't recruit the genuine holding midfielder Arsenal have been lacking for some years. Concerned Arsenal fans will probably not have been reassured by Wenger's proposed solution to the problem: Abou Diaby.

He said, as quoted by the Daily Telegraph:

"

I try to transform him because he was injured and has the physical potential to win the challenges, to face the game will be easier for him than to play back to goal with the injuries he had. I try to develop him in a deeper role. I think he can do it, he can be very interesting, has all the attributes. He must love it as well because he’s more of an offensive minded player.

"

The problems with this plan hardly require explanation. Diaby's fitness problems are legendary and vast in their scale, to the extent that he has been fit to play a part in just 16 league games over the last three seasons.

When he has played, his performances have been good, notably against Liverpool the season before last, but to think there will be any permanent change to this pattern and then rely on that notion seems ridiculous.

This weekend matches up four teams who have endured difficult starts to the season for their own different reasons. These derby games represent chances for all four to show their true form and start afresh. It will be interesting to see which of them takes that chance.