World Football's Monday Morning Hangover: Saints and Winners

Welcome to world football's Monday Morning Hangover, an homage to the NFL section's own Monday Morning Hangover, in which we round up the key stories and important points from the latest weekend in world football.

With an inevitable focus on the Premier League, let's get started.

Don't Ever Question Jose

Jose Mourinho was right all along. At his press conference ahead of Saturday's game with Sunderland, he was quick to dismiss any questions that suggested the Premier League title was already in the bag for his Chelsea side.

"Complacency is not a risk we have,” Mourinho said (per the Guardian). “It’s not a profile of this group in this moment. We have all the other risks. The risks that belong to football—the risk of a bad period, injuries, unlucky matches, other teams growing up and becoming stronger."

The Portuguese obviously knew something we didn't. By Monday morning, the title race appeared wide open again.

That's because Manchester City (down to 10 men for the final 15 minutes) beat Southampton 3-0 at St Mary's on Sunday, closing the gap between them and Chelsea by two points following the Blues' frustrating 0-0 draw with Sunderland the previous evening.

Chelsea's lead in the table remains six points (Southampton were second), but with Manchester City now a step closer to their rivals, the consensus in the media is that the race for the title is competitive once more.

After seeing his side ultimately cruise to victory, City boss Manuel Pellegrini stoked those fires when he told the BBC:

"

We have to play 25 games more. It is a lot of points and nobody knows what will happen in the future.

In football in one week you can change your position. Chelsea are playing very well and we will see what will happen. We must try to concentrate just on [Wednesday's game against] Sunderland.

"

Tony Marshall/Getty Images

The Blues, of course, will be able to tell City just how difficult Sunderland can be at home. Mourinho might wonder if everyone is overreacting slightly to the matches this weekend, even if he might welcome the fact it will help his fight against complacency.

Sunderland, after all, had a a week to prepare for the game, while Chelsea had to travel to Schalke in midweek before making the long trip up to the north-east. City, in contrast, played Bayern Munich at home in European competition before being given an extra day to recover before their meeting with Ronald Koeman's side.

All those factors have an effect and perhaps explain why Chelsea looked flatter than they have at any other point this season (their other two draws this season were a result of conceding late equalisers). Similarly, City's 3-0 win over the Saints (with a sending off) reads more impressively than it actually panned out—two of those strikes came on the counter-attack as the home side pushed forward in search of an equaliser that they clearly thought was there for the taking.

In the end, they paid for that ambition, as so many teams not used to competing at the front of the pack tend to do in such games—games in which a bit more pragmatism could have been effective. Nevertheless, the fact they thought City were vulnerable gives us an indication of their true quality at the moment.

With that being said, it will be interesting to see how both sides react in their next games on Wednesday. City travel to Sunderland (as mentioned), while Chelsea host Tottenham Hotspur in a London derby.

If City win and Chelsea lose, the gap will be down to three points and the title race will be firmly back on. But it is equally possible that Chelsea could win (they tend to have the measure of Spurs—as do City) and City could find themselves pegged back, returning the Blues' advantage to eight or even nine points.

The papers might then start reconsidering things all over again. After the Sunderland draw, Mourinho told the BBC:

"

It's a pity. We want to win every match but we have to lose some points.

Only one team tried to win the game but credit to Sunderland. They were very defensive, but defending a lot and well is not a crime, it is a quality—and they did it well.

We are doing very well still and it is a point in a very difficult stadium.

"

The next round of games will either cement or undermine what we think we saw over the past weekend. Only then will we be able to make a clearer distinction on whether the title race is back on.

Goal of the Weekend

For some reason, a great number of the weekend's best goals seemed to come in Serie A. Torino's Bruno Peres tops the lot.

Goal of the Weekend: Runner-Up Edition

Random Asides

• A 3-0 home win against a lesser Premier League side and it suddenly feels much more like the old Manchester United. Injuries might continue to keep them from really challenging the top two—Angel Di Maria limped off Saturday—but they suddenly look a strong bet to finish third at worst this season.

• A note of acknowledgement for Mile Jedinak, who led his Crystal Palace side out for the game against Swansea City with his cricket bat in hand, a touching gesture and emotional tribute to compatriot Phil Hughes, who tragically died last week. Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici also offered a similar tribute. 

• On the subject of the Eagles, Crystal Palace were woeful in the first 20 minutes against the Swans and looked like they could be heading for a battering. But an injury to Dwight Gayle forced Neil Warnock to change things, and after shoring up the midfield with James McArthur, Palace came back and claimed a valuable draw. Through luck and timing, Warnock may have been shown a more viable away strategy for the rest of the season.

• There was a certain irony that it was Glen Johnson's bravery and determination that gave Liverpool a vital, late 1-0 win over Stoke City. Johnson's relationship with the club has often seemed slightly cool—he is out of contract in the summer, with little immediate prospect of an extension, and he is often the focus of a lot of criticism from fans—but he put his head on the line to lift the gloom around the club.

• Leicester City will wonder quite how they managed to lose 3-2 to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, a result that saw them drop to the foot of the Premier League table. QPR profited from three close-range strikes, as Leicester lost out at the end because of one final defensive mistake in the box. After a reasonable start to the campaign, Nigel Pearson has a lot of work to do to pick his team up.

• Great call from linesman Mike Mullarkey to allow Joe Cole's goal to stand in Aston Villa's draw with Burnley. It initially looked for all the world like Cole was offside when he turned home Andreas Weimann's cross, but replays proved Mullarkey was spot on. Officials often get a lot of criticism; Mullarkey (who has officiated at World Cups and in European matches) again showed why he is regarded as one of the best.

• Nice to see goalkeepers come up for corner kicks in not one but two Premier League games this weekend. Ben Foster went up to try and salvage something for West Bromwich Albion against Arsenal, while Rob Elliot did the same as Newcastle United strived for an equaliser against West Ham United. Neither adventure resulted in a dramatic goal, but it is great to see a tactic usually reserved for cup encounters make its way into league matches. After all, an additional point is always going to be worth more than a hit in the goal-difference column.

Christopher Lee/Getty Images

Good Week, Bad Week

Good Week

Charlie Austin: A close-range winning goal in a vital game—exactly what you want from your No. 9.

Ander Herrera: Forced back into action due to injuries, the Spaniard took his chance with both hands despite the pressure and various distractions.

Sergio Aguero: No goals on his 100th Premier League appearance but two assists in another classy display.

Mauricio Pochettino: His delight at coming from behind to beat Everton was clear to see. It was a statement win.

Bad week

Moussa Sissoko: Linked with Arsenal one day, getting sent off in silly circumstances the next.

Paul Lambert: No Roy Keane, no improvement. His Villa side looked very ordinary against Burnley.

Diego Costa: Frustration got the better of the striker for about the first time this season.

Joe Hart's challengers: Questionable performances from both Ben Foster and Fraser Forster.

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Other Points of Note

Hammers Have All the Tools for the Job

The Southampton-Man City game was one top-six clash this weekend, but it was not the only one. West Ham also faced Newcastle, a game the Hammers won 1-0 to continue their remarkable start to the season. 

Southampton's fortunes have overshadowed West Ham's to great extent (there is only room for one fairytale story at any one time), but the Hammers are similarly well-positioned to contend in the upper reaches of the table this term.

Sam Allardyce is often a figure of fun as a manager, but we should not ignore the work he has done here. At the start of the year, the club were getting thumped in the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup by Manchester City (9-0 on aggregate), but they are now fifth in the league.

Allardyce has had similarly talented sides before, but this team is subtly different in approach to the one he enjoyed such success with almost a decade ago. That, in itself, is an impressive achievement. Allardyce said, via the Guardian:

"

I think it’s my second best squad. The first one was the last three years at Bolton. That was littered with outstanding world-class talent. [Youri] Djorkaeff, [Fernando] Hierro, [Jay-Jay] Okocha, [Nicolas] Anelka, [Ivan] Campo. And then Gary Speed, [Kevin] Nolan scoring goals all the time as a young lad. Stelios won Euro 2004 with Greece while with us.

That one was probably a little better but this one has the potential. We’ve signed lots of young players with ambition. I think the rest of the players who have accepted these players have got better as well. James Tomkins was outstanding. They have raised their level.

"

Spurs Starting to Get Back on Track

After watching Spurs and Everton in Europa League action Thursday, you would never have guessed that Spurs would win a meeting between the two sides—especially after Kevin Mirallas had given the Toffees the lead in emphatic fashion early on.

But goals from Christian Eriksen and Roberto Soldado (finally!) turned the game around for the hosts, who again had Harry Kane to thank for a certain injection of urgency after a disjointed performance against Partizan Belgrade a few days earlier.

Everton, meanwhile, lacked the defensive cohesion and counter-attack incision that characterised their impressive 2-0 win over Wolfsburg, as Roberto Martinez's side slipped down to 10th (level on points with rivals Liverpool) in the Premier League table.

Spurs, in contrast, are up to seventh, slowly improving after a less than spectacular start to the campaign. It will be interesting to see how they fare against Chelsea—they typically crumble, a trend Pochettino will want to end—but in the longer term, if Soldado can get among the goals more regularly, they could soon be where the fans think they should be: challenging Southampton, Manchester United and whoever else (West Ham?) for one of those remaining Champions League qualification spots.

Clive Rose/Getty Images

Tuesday and Wednesday Night Football

The dust does not get long to settle in the Premier League, with another round of games scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Outside the top two, Manchester United host Stoke (on Tuesday) and Arsenal host Southampton (on Wednesday), which means we should have a far clearer idea of how the picture at the top of the table is developing by Thursday morning.

With a raft of games between now and the first week of January, we are finally into the period in which the contenders will really begin to separate themselves from the pretenders. It will be interesting to see.