As ever, it’s been a frantic start to the Premier League season and this week we saw a few surprises in store for some teams at the top, despite Chelsea being able to maintain their lead at the summit. West Ham marched on with another impressive victory away from home, Tottenham’s woes continued as they now have a new head coach and Norwich City continue to struggle at the foot of the table.
So, let’s get into the top five stories from round 10 in the Premier League.
No More Nuno
Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked by Tottenham following their 3-0 home defeat against Manchester United. His tenure lasted just four months as it is thought the players never really bought into his methods. After all, he was the fifth-choice after previous attempts to hire Antonio Conte, Gennaro Gattuso, Mauricio Pochettino and Paulo Fonesca all failed over the summer.
The defeat to the Red Devils, who had been dismantled by Liverpool the week prior, was the final nail in the coffin for the former Wolves boss. Tactically, Spurs have looked abhorrent for the past few weeks now, with a real lack of goalscoring threat. Harry Kane has scored just one league goal so far.
Tottenham have just announced that Antonio Conte will takeover at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
A Drop at the Top
Surprisingly, both Liverpool and Manchester City dropped points last weekend as the Reds drew 2-2 at Anfield against Graham Potter’s Brighton and the Citizens suffered a shock 2-0 defeat at home to Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace.
Jurgen Klopp is still yet to lose this season as his side have made a strong start to their Premier League campaign. However, Brighton have made an equally impressive start, sitting in eighth position, and have picked up 16 points from their first 10 games. They were able to fight back from being two goals down to snatch a point to extend their unbeaten run against Liverpool to three matches.
City are now five points behind Chelsea at the top of the table and have now suffered back-to-back defeats in all competitions, also getting knocked out of the Carabao Cup last week by West Ham. Conor Gallagher impressed at Eastlands, assisting the opening goal, and doubled Palace’s lead to secure three points as Vieira looks to transform the Eagles.
Halloween Thriller for the Hammers
West Ham continue to go from strength-to-strength and sit in fourth place in the Premier League table, level on points with Man City, as they picked up an emphatic 4-1 victory away to Aston Villa. Declan Rice continues to demonstrate his quality and marked his performance with a goal.
David Moyes’ side have had a fantastic seven days, picking up wins against Tottenham, Manchester City and Aston Villa and will look to build on their sixth place finish last term.
Maybe Champions League football is just around the corner.
After 10 games, Declan Rice is the only player in the Premier League this season with:
◉ 10+ clearances
◉ 10+ tackles made
◉ 10+ interceptions
◉ 10+ aerial duels won
◉ 10+ chances created
◉ 10+ take-ons completed
◉ 10+ touches in the opp. boxThe complete midfielder. ? pic.twitter.com/CAQDlpVE6Q
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 31, 2021
Blues March On
Chelsea continued their fine start to the season as they comfortably put away Newcastle United at St. James’ Park in a 3-0 victory. Reece James bagged himself a brace with two fine strikes as the Magpies never threatened over the 90 minutes.
The Blues have conceded just three goals so far this season and have now won their last six matches in all competitions, with an aggregate score of 10-0 in their last two Premier League games.
They are quickly becoming the favorite to win the title this year as they look to bring the Premier League trophy back to Stamford Bridge. It was last there in 2017 under the reign of Conte.
Woeful Canaries
The Premier League’s bottom club suffered another defeat at the weekend as Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United picked up a 2-1 victory at Carrow Road. Time is starting to run out for Daniel Farke as his side have failed to win a match so far this term and have picked up just two points.
Farke has not won any of his past 20 matches in England’s top division and they have only scored three goals in the league so far. Norwich also suffered an embarrassing 7-0 defeat away to Chelsea just over a week ago.
Norwich are, of course, a self-sustaining club and there have been concerns over the quality of the squad and whether it is up to the standard of the Premier League. However, Sunday’s match was a big concern with tactical frailty running through the side. Norwich simply do not look like scoring from open play and they look disjointed.
They could be in line for a managerial change and new voice.