Premier League Notebook Heading into Week 13
Everything is right with the world once again. Manchester United are back in the top four, they are beating Arsenal at their place and Wayne Rooney is back among the goals.
Normality—or at least a portion of it—has been restored.
Some thought such a day would never take so long to return, almost 18 months since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Others, having witnessed the destructive effects of David Moyes' managerial reign, thought it would be a fair while longer until the top-four spots were a viable ambition once more at Old Trafford.
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Having steered United up the table after the opening 12 games of the season, the question now for Louis van Gaal is simple: Can he maintain it?
United were clinical on the counter-attack against Arsenal, but no neutral who watched the game would argue they were impressive. For large parts of the match, United looked leaky at the back and struggled to get a foot on the ball on midfield; that they ended up winning said as much about Arsenal's profligacy at it did the visitors' spine.
Then again, wasn't that United's greatest strength in the final years of the Ferguson era? Few critics seemed to believe United had the best squad in the league, yet under Ferguson they fashioned a winning spirit that saw them through in games against teams with equal or superior talent but a lesser spirit and determination.
Speaking this week, assistant manager Ryan Giggs told the BBC:
"He [Van Gaal] demands that [a level of effort and intensity] in every training session. He wants the same intensity as if it was a game.
There are a lot of similarities to Sir Alex. He sets standards and if you drop below them he is not happy.
"
If United beat Hull City on Saturday—and, if they don't, it would be a waste of everything they achieved at the Emirates—they will have acquired 16 points from a possible 18 in their last six home games, with the only dropped points coming in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
It would also extend United's winning run to three on the spin, meaning, bar the derby loss to Manchester City, they have only lost once since the Capital One Cup collapse against MK Dons at the start of September—a similarly painful defeat against Leicester City.
Many will say, despite all that, United are yet to play well—but, in a way, doesn't that make their efforts even more impressive? Considering the injury problems Van Gaal has dealt with, it is an ominous sign that the club have started acquiring points with regularity without many of their best players to call upon.
"You are seeing attacking football, us trying to score goals and taking the risks but we have not been able to get any consistency due to injuries," Giggs added, noting one reason they remain so far behind Chelsea.
"Their back four has not changed and they have consistency in their team. They are are head and shoulders above anyone else at the moment."
Behind Chelsea and Manchester City, there is clearly scope this season for one team to establish itself as the third-best side in England. United's victory over Arsenal gave them the advantage in that regard, while a win this weekend over Hull would build on that key triumph.
With so much more room for improvement, it would be both ominous and laudable if United did so.
Week 13 Fixtures
All games 3 p.m. GMT (10 a.m. ET) unless otherwise stated.
Saturday
West Bromwich Albion vs. Arsenal (12:45 p.m.)
Burnley vs. Aston Villa
Liverpool vs. Stoke City
Queens Park Rangers vs. Leicester City
Manchester United vs. Hull City
Swansea City vs. Crystal Palace
West Ham United vs. Newcastle United
Sunderland vs. Chelsea (5:30 p.m.)
Sunday
Southampton vs. Manchester City (1:30 p.m.)
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Everton (4 p.m.)
1. What to watch out for this week
Burton gets chance for immediate revenge on Arsenal
Terry Burton took a couple of well-aimed shots at his former employers Arsenal on Friday, after leaving the club for West Brom as he was overlooked for the Gunners' vacant head of youth-development position. Having decamped to the Baggies, the veteran football man claimed (gasp) that Chelsea have "steamed ahead" when it comes to youth development.
Burton told the Guardian:
"It’s a massive job. There’s a lot of work to be done there. Arsenal, with respect, have fallen behind. They just weren’t working hard enough, like Chelsea.
They’ve got the best pathway, because they’ve got Arsene Wenger, who gives young players a chance, better than any other club. But the processes, and things that had just been missing over a period of years, Chelsea had steamed ahead in their recruitment and all aspects of it really.
That gap can close. But it’s too soon to tell. The guy there ... you’ll have a better idea in five years.
"
It will be interesting to discover whether Burton's words are sour grapes or the perceptive observations of a man overlooked ... I guess we'll have a better idea in five years. Then again, as Matt Dickinson noted in Friday's Times, is Chelsea not the very worst club for a young player to try and progress these days?
In the meantime, a win for West Brom would lift them within a point of Arsenal, something few would have ever anticipated could happen after 13 games of the season. Refining their academy system may be a priority for the Gunners, but it is the first-team squad that will always need the closest attention.
A Europa League derby
We have heard all about the European hangover effect, but what happens when both teams involved are suffering with the same issue. Does it negate the hangover completely—or will both teams end up stumbling around at half-speed?
We might find out on Sunday, as Tottenham host Everton at White Hart Lane. Both teams won on Thursday—Everton against Wolfsburg, Tottenham at home to Partizan Belgrade—albeit in very different manners.
The Toffees produced an impressive defensive display to beat their opponents 2-0 thanks to two counter-attacking goals, whereas Mauricio Pochettino's men laboured to a relatively unimpressive 1-0 win that never threatened to get the pulses racing.
Both teams have aspirations of greater escapades next season, ideally by trading in Europa League participation for Champions League qualification. That has been the case for the last few seasons without success, and this season they have hardly started with the sort of consistency and quality that is usually required.
Winning the Europa League might prove their best route to the promised land, regardless of who ends up overcoming the effects of the hangover best on Sunday.
Reds avoid potentially awkward Moses reunion?
Liverpool face Stoke City this weekend, with manager Brendan Rodgers perhaps slightly relieved that Victor Moses will not be able to play for the Potters due to a thigh injury.
Moses started just six games for Liverpool during his loan spell last season, adding a further 13 substitute appearances (most of them late additions once the game had already been won). It was, to all intents and purposes, a wasted season for the Chelsea man.
This season, he has already started 10 games for Stoke, scoring once and laying on three assists. While some of his diving has courted headlines (Swansea manager Garry Monk was less than complimentary, while he endured further scrutiny last weekend in the defeat to Burnley) the Nigeria international has slowly established himself as one of the Premier League's more effective attacking players, becoming a key cog in Mark Hughes' system already. His injury is a more significant blow than it might seem.
Returning to Anfield, Moses might have had particular incentive to deepen Liverpool's current malaise. As Rodgers still struggles to find a way to get his expensive summer acquisitions to work together in a coherent fashion, it would have been ironic if it was a former player he never trusted that came back to haunt him.
Instead, Stoke will have to find another way to win.
2. Video of the week
3. Player to watch
Leonardo Ulloa
After starting his debut Premier League campaign with five goals in as many games, Ulloa has not scored for Leicester since he grabbed the last two of those—in September's unforgettable 5-3 victory over Manchester United. Leicester have also not won since that game, something that might not be entirely unrelated to Ulloa's recent drought.
The Foxes have 10 points from their opening 12 games, but only two of those have come in their last seven. It is a very worrying drop in form, a slump that only makes Saturday's meeting with QPR all the more important.
Both sides find themselves in the relegation zone as we prepare to cross the one-third mark of the season, but QPR, thanks in part to Charlie Austin finding his goalscoring feet, at least appear to be moving in the right direction after a horror start. A win at Loftus Road would lift them off the bottom of the table for what feels like the first time this season; if Leicester are the team that replace them (if Burnley get anything from their game with Villa, Nigel Pearson's side would be), it would feel like a symbolic moment.
If Leicester have stalled, they need to restart the engine as soon as possible. For that to happen they need Ulloa to begin finding the net again; doing so against QPR, one of the creakiest defences in the league, would be timely in more ways than one.
4. Game of the weekend
Southampton vs. Manchester City
It is not the only clash between sides in the top six this weekend—yes, Newcastle face West Ham on Saturday, well spotted to you—but it is a game many observers have long been waiting to see. After meeting Liverpool (a defeat) at Anfield and visiting Spurs (another defeat) already this season, Saints host one of the league's best sides in front of their home fans.
City should arrive at the game in buoyant mood, having beaten Swansea (who play in a similarly expansive way to Ronald Koeman's men) last weekend and going on to defeat Bayern Munich in dramatic circumstances in midweek. Southampton, in contrast, drew with Aston Villa in their last game—a disappointing performance that may have dampened some of the growing enthusiasm surrounding them.
They will at least have had six days off since that match, wherein their biggest advantage might lie. Just as Liverpool were believed to have benefitted from their lack of European involvement during their title bid last season, so too might Southampton benefit from a similarly focused schedule. They do not have a massive squad—the loss of Steven Davis, following on from James Ward-Prowse's longer-term absence, highlighted that fact—but, when the league is the only focus, the continuity that fosters can be as much of an advantage as a disadvantage.
If Champions League qualification is now the ambition (and, while they remain outsiders, it is not something that can be laughed off), then it is not the games against the likes of Manchester City that will decide the success (or otherwise). The consistency of their performances against the rank-and-file of the Premier League will do that.
Beating City, however, or at least pushing them hard, will be a useful yardstick of their qualities. Of course a draw might only strengthen Chelsea's grip on the title, but that's not Koeman's concern.
