Monday Morning Football: A definitive analysis of the Premier League weekend

Whose stock is rising? 

Wilfried Ndidi

Leicester's title-winning midfield axis of N'Golo Kanté and Danny Drinkwater has been gutted by Chelsea, while summer signing Vicente Iborra is yet to make his full debut due to injury. Craig Shakespeare's side look a little light in this department, but Wilfried Ndidi is fast becoming a fixture in the middle of the park. 

Midfield roles tend to be highly specialised in the modern game, but Leicester's 4-4-1-1 requires two genuine all-rounders in there who can contribute both offensively and defensively. 20-year-old Ndidi's ball-winning qualities will earn him comparison with Kanté: the Nigerian has won more tackles than any player in the Premier League with 26 - three more than Huddersfield's Aaron Mooy and four more than Kanté. 

No Leicester won a high percentage of their duels than Ndidi in the 3-2 defeat against Liverpool, while only Harry Maguire bettered his 10 ball recoveries. It was an all-action defensive display built upon intelligent reading of the game and a sense of anticipation well beyond his years. 

Only Maguire passed the ball more than Ndidi, though 15 of his 44 passes went astray - in keeping with a chaotic match in which both teams played like runaway trains. However, Ndidi is regularly Leicester's most involved player when it comes to touches of the ball - proof he can be constructive as well as destructive. The 2016 champions have unearthed another one here, and keeping him from the clutches of the big six will soon be a headache. 
Daniel Zeqiri

Oumar Niasse

Everton did not replace Romelu Lukaku after he left for United this summer, but it seems their best chance of replacing his goals might be closer to home than they had realised.

No player has scored more goals for Everton this season than their match-winner on Saturday, Oumar Niasse, who came off the bench to score twice and inspire a comeback from a woeful position at 1-0 down to Bournemouth.

Niasse has had a pretty bizarre Everton career so far: he joined for £13.5m in winter 2016, but only made five appearances before being shipped out to Hull on loan the following season. 

There was no move for him this summer and Premier League appearance for Everton even though he'd impressed at Hull. Then, all of a sudden, he plays 35 minutes against Bournemouth and wins Everton the match. He has to be given more chances in the coming months.
Ali Tweedale

Raheem Sterling

Sterling always seems like such an easy target, and for the amount he cost City a couple of years ago, you can kind of see why.

If I had the luxury to pick a lineup from the squad that Pep has available to him, I probably wouldn't select Sterling when you could play Bernardo Silva or Gabriel Jesus.

But then Guardiola knows his football a hell of a lot better than me, and he continues to stick by Raheem, for which he must have good reason, right?

Sterling's two goals against Crystal Palace on Saturday took his total to five Premier League goals in three starts and two sub appearances this season. Only Lukaku, Morata and Aguero have scored more than him. And Sterling scored the winner at Bournemouth and the equaliser against Everton: take away his goals and City are three points worse off.

Granted, that would hardly be the end of the world but just stop giving Raheem such a hard time, okay?
Ali Tweedale

Alvaro Morata 

'It takes strength to be gentle and kind' Morrissey once crooned, and a week after he was reproached for being too nice Alvaro Morata put three past Stoke in a consummate performance. The former Real Madrid is indeed diameterically opposed to the departed Diego Costa, more elusive and subtle, looking to fool defenders rather than fight them. 

In shorthand, Morata is the complete striker. There are no obvious technical or physical weaknesses in his game, and a forward that combines aerial prowess with pace is a precious asset. The Spaniard's three Premier League goals before Chelsea's 4-0 win at Stoke were all with his head, but his three finished in a hat-trick at the bet365 Stadium demonstrated the layers to his game. 

His second was the highlight - displaying a frightening turn of speed and athleticism. Pushing the ball past the backtracking Darren Fletcher in the left channel, Morata beat his man on the outside before running around the ball to finish with his right-foot in the bottom corner. It was a finish that would not look out of place in Thierry Henry's scrapbook. Pundits tend to reserve words such as 'power' to describe Romelu Lukaku, but they were more applicable to Morata this weekend. 
Daniel Zeqiri

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Crystal Palace fans will not appreciate condescending remarks about how well they fared for 44 minutes of a 5-0 defeat at Manchester City. However, one positive for Roy Hodgson is the form of Ruben Loftus-Cheek who was once again Palace's best performer in a No.10 position at the Etihad - hitting the post with a deflected shot at 0-0. 

Loftus-Cheek can glide opponents with a technique smoother than mashed potato in Claridge's. The on-loan Chelsea man was a thorn in City's side whenever Palace got a rare chance to counter-attack in the first half, and could do little to hold back the waves of sky blue shirts in the second period. Hodgson will now be sweating on the fitness of Christian Benteke , who limped off with a suspected knee injury. Palace are desperately light up front, and Loftus-Cheek would benefit from an experienced striker to be a foil. 
Daniel Zeqiri

Whose stock is falling?

Andy Carroll

Ultimately, it was Slaven Bilic's fault for introducing Andy Carroll to a match for which he was entirely unsuited. Blaming Carroll for his immobility is like blaming a pig for rolling in excrement. It's his nature. 

Nevertheless, where once the word 'throwback' was employed as a compliment, it now encompasses Carroll's incongruity - he bestrides matches like a great lump of suet pudding on a Michelin-star plate. West Ham, by the standards of last season's big matches at the London Stadium, were halfway decent in the first half an hour of their 3-2 defeat against Spurs. The visitors looked short of ideas from central midfield without Mousa Dembele, while the hosts carried a threat on the counter-attack - particularly in the channels behind Tottenham's wing-backs. 

Replacing the injured Michail Antonio with Carroll clogged up their attack and handed the initiative to Spurs, and to make a bad situation even worse it was Carroll who gave the ball away in the build-up to Harry Kane's first goal. Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew are no world-beaters, but would have at least replicated some of the attributes lost by Antonio's departure. 

Across the Premier League, coaches are favouring forwards like Swiss Army Knives - who can press from the front, contribute to link-up play and occupy a number of roles across a forward line be it central or wide. Carroll has his uses, mainly when a team is pinned back in their own box and West Ham are dominating territory, but increasingly he looks a giant anachronism and one-trick pony. 
Daniel Zeqiri

Harry Maguire

This writer states quite confidently that Leicester's £17 milllion capture of Harry Maguire will look a bargain in 12 months time, but it was a difficult day for the centre-back against Liverpool. The former Sheffield United man's frame suggests he is in the mould of your meat-and-potatoes English-stopper, but this does Maguire a severe disservice. His elegance in possession and ability to build-play from the back bears comparison with fellow Yorkshireman John Stones. 

This would prove his undoing against Liverpool however, when he stepped out from Leicester;s back four into Liverpool's half looking to play a one-two. The return did not arrive, and Jurgen Klopp's side counter-attacked in trademark fashion resulting in Jordan Henderson scoring their third. Though Leicester forged a path back into the contest, Craig Shakespeare acknowledged that this sucker-punch was a crucial moment in the match. 

We would hate to see Maguire pounced upon the by 'put it in row Z' brigade who hounded Stones after every mis-step, but perhaps this was a time for him to feel the game a little better. Liverpool are one the league's best pressing teams and looked vulnerable every time the ball was in their defensive third. 
Daniel Zeqiri

Alan Pardew's comedy career

The former Crystal Palace manager was not on flying form during his Sky Sports stint to preview West Ham's game with Tottenham.

Accompanying Chunky was former Hammers and Spurs striker Sir Tedward of Sheringham, who played under Pardew at White Hart Lane. Naturally, conversation turned to Harry Kane.

"He's very similar to Teddy," said Jamie Top Top Redknapp. "Not blessed with blistering pace but an incredible football brain." Pardew agreed that Sheringham had a similar profile.

"He was as quick as Harry Kane's mum!" Pardew added, pointing at Sheringham. Nobody knew quite what to make of it.

"Steady," muttered Sky's Simon Thomas. Well, quite.
Alan Tyers

The Southampton forward line

Southampton have some very decent players going forward, an admirable academy system, an overall sense of decency, and simply nobody who can put the ball in the back of the net.

They were were all over Manchester United for much of Saturday's second half, Jose Mourinho's men were having an off-day and were there for the taking. But Saints managed to get just four of their 14 shots on target.

Look at how their Saturday front four today got on last season: Nathan Redmond top scored with just seven in the League, three for Long, three for Tadic, ZERO for Davis. Manolo Gabbiadini, on as a sub v Man United, has just one this term and four last season in the PL.

They created chances against a patchy United side but couldn't capitalise, and they are really going to struggle to achieve much unless one of those can start scoring, or they can buy someone in January.
Alan Tyers

Five mind-boggling stats 

33

Christian Eriksen is now the highest-scoring Dane in Premier League history, having moved one ahead of Nicklas Bendtner.

1

Crystal Palace are the first team ever in England's top four tiers to lose their first six games of the season without scoring.

15

15 of Chelsea's last 16 goals have seen a Spaniard either score or assist.

7

Simon Mignolet has saved seven of the last 15 penalties he has faced.

Goal of the weekend

Jason Burt's team of the weekend

One key question for this week

Will this weekend's matches take their toll on England's best in Europe? It's a familiar story, but Premier League teams have struggled for years now to keep up in the Champions League while producing incredible entertainment on the weekends domestically.

Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and even City were given tough tests over the past couple of days (yes, I know City won 5-0 but Palace made life difficult for them), and all four are in action in Europe this week.

Liverpool, Tottenham and United all have fixtures they will be expected to win but face long round trips, while Chelsea play one of the best teams in Europe in Atletico Madrid.

There were four wins and a draw for England's Champions League sides on matchday one, but it won't be quite such plain sailing the whole way through the group stages.

Ali Tweedale

Who's showing the most cards?

How is the table looking?

Off the Ball, by Alan Tyers

Shirt of the week

'Snot fair

Over to Kim for the Cup Draw 

Wikid Game

Quote of the weekend

Perennial naughty boy Nile Ranger, after scoring for Southend, taking his boot off, pretending it was a gun and ‘shooting’ it at the crowd:

LOL what a win... to put things straight I wasn't shooting the crowd.. I just have a lot of ammunition in the boots this season.

Search of the weekend

Hats off to the “rules is rules” security guard at the bet365 stadium this Saturday who made sure to thoroughly search one character… Stoke owner, chairman, bankroller and all-round ledge Peter Coates, 79. He took it in good spirits.

Race for the Golden Boot 

What's coming up next?

What's on TV this week?

Monday: Arsenal vs West Brom, Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event / UHD, 20.00
Tuesday: Spartak Moscow vs Liverpool, BT Sport 2, Manchester City vs Shakhtar Donetsk, BT Sport 3 / 4K, APOEL vs Spurs, BT Sport ESNP, all 19.45
Wednesday: CSKA Moscow vs Manchester United, BT Sport 3, Atletico Madrid vs Chelsea, BT Sport 2, both 19.45
Thursday: BATE Borisov vs Arsenal, BT Sport Showcase / 2, 18.00, Everton vs Apollon Limassol, BT Sport 2 / 4K, 20.05
Saturday: Huddersfield vs Spurs, Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event / UHD, 12.30, Chelsea vs Man City, Sky Sports Football / Mix / Main Event, 17.30
Sunday: Arsenal vs Brighton, BT Sport 1 / 4K, 12.00, Everton vs Burnley, Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event / UHD, 14.15, Newcastle vs Liverpool, Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event / UHD, 16.30