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

Jurgen Klopp deployed Oxlade-Chamberlain in a more orthodox right-wing position in Liverpool’s thrashing of West Ham, rather than the central role the former Arsenal man craves, but he looked more comfortable darting into the middle than starting there.

His goal, just 55 seconds after Manuel Lanzini had pulled one back for West Ham, arrived at the perfect time for Liverpool. It was no surprise, then, that Klopp was so happy with Oxlade-Chamberlain afterwards, when he praised his attitude and willingness to learn.

“A lot of players are like ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, I want’ and he is like ‘what do you want from me?’” said a delighted Klopp.

These remain small steps, admittedly, but they are small steps in the right direction. More of this and Oxlade-Chamberlain will be back in the England squad sooner rather than later.

Lewis Dunk

After consecutive 2-0 defeats to start their campaign, it looked like it was set to be a long season for Brighton and for Lewis Dunk, who scored an own goal in that opening day loss to Manchester City.

Well, it turns out there was no need to worry. Brighton are unbeaten in four matches and have won their last two away games, against West Ham and now Swansea. They kept clean sheets in both of those victories, with Dunk at the heart of the rearguard action each time.

There were even suggestions that Dunk could have done enough to force his way into Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming friendlies against Germany and Brazil. His team-mate Shane Duffy thought he deserved a call-up, at least, saying last week that he was surprised at Dunk’s omission.

It was therefore fitting that the player shackled by Dunk on Saturday was Swansea’s Tammy Abraham, who has of course been given the nod by Southgate. If Abraham is playing at an international level, then so too is Dunk on this evidence.

Son Heung-min

In the absence of Dele Alli, it was Son who stood up to be counted in Tottenham’s laboured victory over Crystal Palace at Wembley. It’s not the first time that the South Korean has delivered while his more celebrated team-mates floundered, either.

Monday Morning Football would even say that Son, who is now the highest-scoring Asian player in Premier League history, is one of the most underrated players in the league.

Son scored 21 goals in 47 games for Spurs last season, only two fewer than the much-hyped Alli. That’s a phenomenal return for a player who has never been an established starter in the Spurs team, and who is played in a variety of attacking positions.

Considering the emotional high of their Champions League victory over Real Madrid, Spurs were understandably going through a comedown of sorts against a dogged Palace side. They needed someone to inject some life into their attack and that man, again, was Son, who fired home a sweet and timely winner from the edge of the box.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin

It is a universally acknowledged truth that one of Everton’s most pressing problems in this most problematic of seasons is a lack of pace and verve in their attack. Too many attacking midfielders flitting between the lines, and not enough speed scything through them.

Calvert-Lewin looks the most likely source of that much-needed edge up front, even if he remains inexperienced and inconsistent. He replaced Wayne Rooney after little more than an hour of Everton’s dramatic 3-2 victory over Watford, scoring the crucial second goal for David Unsworth’s side.

At just 20 years old, Calvert-Lewin has been directly involved in seven Everton goals this season, scoring five and assisting two. That’s more than any other Everton player, including the likes of Wayne Rooney and £45m Gylfi Sigurdsson, whose struggles continue at Goodison Park.

Three points against Watford sent Everton out of the relegation zone and into 15th, but there is still a long way to climb. At this stage of the season, it seems Calvert-Lewin is the most likely candidate to lead the charge.

Sam Allardyce 

OK, yes, the shirt was bad. Really bad. And the gold chain was not much better. But if you were able to look beyond the get-up (or indeed close your eyes), then you would have heard some genuinely excellent analysis from Big Sam on Match of the Day this weekend.

His deconstruction of the second Leicester City goal in the 2-2 draw with Stoke City was the sort of punditry we have grown used to with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports. To hear that on the usually limited but ever-lovable Match of the Day was both refreshing and educational.

Of course, the cynics among us might suggest that Allardyce’s sudden penchant for public appearances (he also popped up on beIN SPORTS recently) might have something to do with the managerial vacancy at Everton, but we would not dream of telling you what to think.

Whose stock is falling?

David Luiz

No Luiz, no more problems for Chelsea. After all the debate over Gary Cahill’s best position in Antonio Conte’s back three, perhaps this was the answer all along.

Chelsea rediscovered some of last season’s defensive solidity at the perfect time in their meeting with Manchester United, and it was doubly impressive given their nightmare in Rome in the Champions League last week.

Andreas Christensen continues to impress whenever he plays, and it is surely no coincidence that two of Chelsea’s finest results this season have come without Luiz in their defence. In their 2-1 win over Spurs he played in midfield, and here he did not even make the bench.

It should also be said, however, that the return of N’Golo Kante was clearly crucial in their 1-0 victory over United. But it was Christensen who shackled Romelu Lukaku, and it is Luiz who will be sweating on his place in this squad over the international break.

Half of the Arsenal team

In a weekend that was hardly short of embarrassing goals, Manchester City’s third in their 3-1 victory over Arsenal was surely the worst of the lot.

The point here is not whether David Silva was offside before he picked out Gabriel Jesus. He probably was, just about.

The point is that Arsenal committed the cardinal sin of schoolboy football: not playing to the whistle. Against a team as threatening as City, when you have just battled your way back into the game, it is simply inexcusable to stick your hands in the air and stop playing, particularly when a player like Silva has the ball in your box.

Not for the first time this season, the main culprit appeared to be Granit Xhaka. But he was not alone in standing motionless, mouth agape, as Jesus put the game beyond Arsenal’s reach. Criminal.

For Arsene Wenger to then discuss how “upset” he was by the offside decision, and to say Raheem Sterling is a player who “dives very well”, felt petty.

Tony Pulis

It’s not getting any better for Pulis, is it? The West Brom fans appear to have well and truly turned after Saturday’s defeat by Huddersfield (if they hadn’t already) and, frankly, it’s hard to blame them.

West Brom’s run of form is officially the worst of any team in the Premier League. They have won just two of their past 20 league matches. In that spell, which dates back to April, they have scored only 13 goals compared to the 27 they have conceded.

For someone like Pulis, it is all about results. He can’t fall back on an attractive style of play like some managers, and he can’t rely on any sort of affinity with the West Brom crowd.

You are supposed to know what you are getting with Pulis. Ugly football, but solid results. Right now, it’s ugly football and uglier results. Patience is wearing thin.

Edimilson Fernandes

It feels a little harsh, even cruel, to pick out just one West Ham player from their shambolic showing at home to Liverpool. Yet if we are going to point the finger of blame at one person, then Fernandes is the man.

West Ham had actually begun the game impressively against Liverpool on Saturday. They could, and perhaps should, have even taken an early lead through Andre Ayew.

And then they pushed the self-destruct button. Fernandes was the main culprit for the first Liverpool goal, as he gambled on winning a 50-50 with the lightning-quick Salah following a West Ham corner.

It was deep within Liverpool’s half, but it was essentially equivalent to diving in on the edge of his own box, considering the speed with which Salah and Sadio Mane can tear teams apart. Fernandes then compounded his own error by half-heartedly ambling back towards his own goal just in time to get a good view of Salah’s clinical finish.

Others were at fault for the other three Liverpool goals, but it was telling that Fernandes did not return to the pitch after half-time.

Southampton

A collective failing is taking place on the south coast, rather than an individual one. This is a collective failure to create chances, to inspire a crowd, to provide any evidence of ambition.

Mauricio Pellegrino’s side are currently 13th in the league table following their 1-0 defeat by Burnley, which is hardly the most dangerous of positions, but one glance at their fixture list is enough to set the alarm bells ringing.

Of the so-called ‘Big Six’, Southampton have only faced Manchester United this season. Theirs has been the most favourable of early-season fixtures, and they have struggled to capitalise on that good fortune. They have also now failed to score in nine of their last 12 Premier League games at home.

With pressure mounting on Pellegrino, Southampton now face trips to Liverpool and Manchester City in two of their next three games. By the time we reach the end of November, things could be looking considerably more treacherous than they are now.

Stat attack

5 - Cesar Azpilicueta has already provided five assists for Alvaro Morata in the Premier League this season

10 - Morata has scored 10 headed goals since the start of last season, more than anyone else in the big five European leagues

13 - There were only 13 seconds between West Ham taking a corner and Mohamed Salah scoring for Liverpool

13 - Arsenal substitutes have scored 13 Premier League goals since the start of last season, more than any other side

17 - Arsenal have won just 17 of the 45 away points available to them in 2017

Goal of the weekend

Morata’s header against Manchester United was a beauty, but it was not enough to knock Huddersfield's Rajiv van La Parra’s effort off the top spot this weekend. It was both a curler and a dipper, and West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster did not even move. As we all know, that instantly makes any goal more aesthetically pleasing.

Tactics corner, with JJ Bull

Liverpool usually struggle to create against teams playing a low defensive block as Burnley and everyone else have discovered. Against West Ham it seemed like finally, after only two and a half seasons of coping with this problem, Jurgen Klopp found a solution. A change of shape!

Klopp has fielded a 4-3-3 in almost every single game since he took charge at Anfield but against West Ham it was a 4-4-2, borrowing heavily from the setup used by Monaco last season on their way to a Ligue 1 title.

It fixed a few problems. With a left midfielder, Alberto Moreno had defensive cover in front of him and instead of three central midfielders galavanting forward and leaving the defence exposed, now there were two designated defensive central midfielders offering protection.

In attack, this meant that four forwards could take on West Ham’s back five. The team had balance.

Salah likes to play on the wings and would naturally drift out to the right wing into space. The central defenders then lost track of him and a ball over the top gave him the chance to sprint into central positions and cause havoc. Sadio Mane did similar on the left.

Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mane like to attack through the middle and did so when the wing-backs were able to get forward. France play like this too. It offers defensive solidity and relies on the forwards to create and experiment - when defensive players do this, mistakes happen and goals are conceded. Klopp made Liverpool dangerous by cutting out room for errors.

West Ham couldn’t break out of their own half and looked nervous and then sad. Liverpool sat deep when they needed and were always capable of causing a scare. By being able to attack down the channels or the centre, they were at last unpredictable and able to overcome a team who wanted to frustrate.

Could this be a sign of things to come from Liverpool?

Key question of the week

What is happening to Romelu Lukaku?

The match-up between Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku was perhaps the most intriguing of all the plot-lines that ran through Chelsea’s meeting with Manchester United.

Two big money summer signings and two strikers struggling for form. But against his former side, it was Lukaku who had the most to prove, the most questions to answer.

In the end, he answered none of them. And at the same time, across the Stamford Bridge turf, Morata was battling and running and scoring a wonderful winner.

Lukaku (number 9 below) has now gone seven games without a goal, after scoring 11 in his first 10 for United.

His loss of form has also coincided with United’s recent change of shape to 3-5-2. In the simplest of terms, you would think that having a strike partner would help Lukaku: someone to play off, work with and to provide a distraction for defenders.

But being joined up front by Marcus Rashford seems to have forced Lukaku further into his shell. Maybe it is the lack of attacking width without Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan darting down the sides. Could it be slower build-up play that has left him without space in behind opposition defences?

Whatever it is, Jose Mourinho needs to find a solution. His to-do list is growing, and getting Lukaku back to his best could well be the top priority.

Who's showing the most cards?

How is the table looking?

Off the Ball, by Alan Tyers

Pundit of the weekend

Ten-year-old Swansea City supporter William, who phoned up Radio Five Live’s Robbie Savage to comment on 606 about the Swans’ woes following defeat by Brighton, and went off on a rant worthy of even the most grizzled and embittered veteran football supporter. “You will be taking my job in a few years, you speak so well,” said Robbie.

What has Sergio got?

What was the Manchester City forward holding when he was subbed off? A beeper that they give you when you’re waiting for a table in a fancy restaurant? A pager? Mesut Ozil’s heart? The internet was intrigued.

Tweet of the weekend

Tough weekend of the weekend

The Curse Of England (is that a thing? It surely should be) struck Leicester’s Harry Maguire. He has just been named in Gareth Southgate’s squad but was at fault for both Stoke goals… before missing the team coach while undergoing a drugs test.

Picture of the weekend

Race for the Golden Boot 

What's coming up next?

What's on TV this week?

Monday: Chorley v Fleetwood Town, FA Cup 1st round, 7.45pm, BT Sport
Thursday: Northern Ireland v Switzerland, World Cup play-off, 7.45pm, Sky Sports
Friday: England v Germany, International friendly, 8pm, ITV
Saturday: Denmark v Republic of Ireland, World Cup play-off, 7.45pm, Sky Sports
Sunday: Switzerland v Northern Ireland, World Cup play-off, 5pm, Sky Sports