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Crystal Palace have some of the Premier League’s most exciting attacking players, yet an underwhelming start to the season has Patrick Vieira’s side marooned in mid-table. Could the Frenchman be doing more to build a side capable of playing a style of football that suits his forward talent?
Bukayo Saka delivered in yet another vital moment for Arsenal in their weekend win against Liverpool. The response of the 21-year-old to the devastation he suffered at Euro 2020 will always be a part of his story but he is more than showing that it will not define him.
A fourth win in five matches against Reading at Loftus Road on Friday has moved QPR up to third in the Championship table. Despite it still being early in the season, there are plenty of signs that new manager Mick Beale is finding new ways to adapt and improve every week.
Queens Park Rangers welcome Reading to Loftus Road on Friday night in a meeting of two of the surprise early-season promotion contenders. Although Mick Beale’s side are on a four-match unbeaten run and are in high spirits, the potential absence of key man Chris Willock may be problematic.
Despite achieving a great deal more at West Ham United than expected upon his return as manager, David Moyes’ inherent preference to stick to what he knows looks like it might hold the east London club back based on the early weeks of the current Premier League season. Moyes has proven he can change before and he may now need to do so again.
Despite ultimately falling to a defeat against promotion-chasing Salford City on Saturday afternoon at the VBS Community Stadium, a determined Sutton United display once again proved that they are on course to make themselves a regular part of the football league furniture.
Sutton United welcome promotion-chasing Salford City to Gander Green Lane on Saturday afternoon in League Two. The U’s own hopes of a successful campaign have been boosted by an unbeaten home run to start the season, meaning they are sure to pose a substantial threat to Salford’s hope of reclaiming a place in the automatic promotion places.
Despite concerns about his big-money signing from Everton, Richarlison has already forced his way into Tottenham’s starting line-up in the early weeks of the new season. The Brazilian’s contributions off the bench were outdone by his match-winning brace as a starter against Marseille in midweek, and all the signs suggest he will continue to thrive in North London if given the opportunity.
Millwall brought an end to a four-game run without a win courtesy of a 2-0 victory against Cardiff City at the Den on Saturday. Even though manager Gary Rowett was hesitant to give all of the credit to his goal-scoring substitutes, his ability to make changes has the potential to get the Lions season back on track.
Steve Morison returns to Millwall on Saturday with the club he used to call home on a disappointing run of form that is threatening to undermine their season before it really gets going. The Lions will be hoping their former favourite and his Cardiff City side will do them a favour at the Den, but the Welsh club’s deadline day transfer business might lead to another long afternoon for Gary Rowett.
A new approach out of possession has helped Fulham collect an impressive eight points from their opening five games of the Premier League season. Marco Silva and his players will be well aware that they are not certainties for survival yet but the early signs continue to be promising.
Aleksandar Mitrović’s late penalty miss against Wolves at Molineux on Saturday meant he failed to make it back-to-back goals from the spot upon Fulham’s return to the Premier League. Whilst the Serbian’s record from 12 yards is only slightly below average, it could be that his penalty-taking technique is putting him at a disadvantage.
Fulham made a promising start to the Premier League season as they secured a 2-2 draw against Liverpool at Craven Cottage. Even if three precious points alluded them, the performance typified the changes head coach Marco Silva has made on the banks of the River Thames, particularly in relation to his talisman Aleksandar Mitrović.
Fulham are hoping that the managerial skills of Marco Silva and a super-charged Aleksandar Mitrovic will help them make the Premier League a more permanent home from this coming season onwards. However, slow progress in the transfer market and the scars of relegations past are creating concern at Craven Cottage. Finding solutions to both will be vital if top-flight survival is going to be achieved.
West Ham United have pushed the boat out this summer in terms of financial support for manager David Moyes as a reward for an overwhelmingly successful second spell at the club. Moyes has made the most of cheaper additions for the past two seasons, but the potential arrival of a number of costly arrivals from the continent could go some way to making the Hammers regulars in European competition in the future.
Despite only spending five months in the red and white of Brentford, there can be little doubt that Christian Eriksen had a significant impact on the west London club in the second part of the 2021/22 Premier League season.
In the space of six months, Tottenham Hotspur’s central midfield has gone from a key area of concern for Antonio Conte to an area of the squad that is now bursting with quality options for the head coach to choose from.
Gabriel Jesus made an ideal start to life as an Arsenal player with a brace in Friday’s pre-season friendly fixture against FC Nurnberg. There has already been plenty of consternation in regards to whether or not the Brazilian can score the goals to get the Gunners back into the Champions League, but it may well be other aspects of his game that make the move to North London a successful one.
Whilst he may not yet be a familiar name to a Premier League audience, Fulham’s latest recruit Joao Palhinha has more than proven himself in his native Portugal, in the Champions League, and at International level. His statistics suggest he may well be the man to make the Cottagers a sturdier proposition in the top flight next season.
Fulham are aiming to put an end to a run of five consecutive seasons that have ended in either second tier promotion or top flight relegation by keeping their heads above water in the 2022/23 Premier League season. Learning lessons from their brief previous stints at this level and taking inspiration from one of their local rivals could be key to their survival hopes.
Brighton have noticeably struggled this season when highly-rated centre-back Adam Webster has been unavailable, and this has never felt more prescient than during the run of defeats they are currently on. Getting Webster fit and available again could be vital if the Seagulls are to achieve their ambition of a top-half Premier League finish.
Brighton should be well set to adapt to the recent departure of technical director Dan Ashworth given the structure he helped to develop at the club over the past three seasons, but with a number of key players out of contract in the not-too-distant future, he may only be the start of a process of change at the Amex.
“I am very happy here, at one of the best-run clubs in the Premier League, with a fantastic owner, chairman, CEO, sports director. (There are) great people at the club.”
Ben White’s £50 million move from Brighton and Hove Albion to Arsenal last summer is starting to look like a rare sort of transfer, in that it appears to have worked out for all parties involved.