The Premier League's seventh weekend of action was one which saw plenty of goals - 29 to be exact - and produced several talking points which will be discussed below.
Goalkeepers in the spotlight for the right and wrong reasons It was a weekend in which goalkeepers were in the spotlight for goalkeeping errors that were made, with some of course proving more costly than others. Liverpool, who travelled to Sheffield United, lacked their usual cutting edge as they did not always take their chances, whilst it is fair to argue that Sheffield United produced a very strong performance and few would have argued that they did not deserve a point had the match finished in a draw. However, Liverpool did win out in the end thanks to a goalkeeping blunder from Sheffield United's Dean Henderson which thus proved to extremely costly for Sheffield United.
Another goalkeeping blunder came from Tottenham's Hugo Lloris against Southampton as he overplayed with the ball in his own six-yard area and gifted Southampton an equalising goal. However, this error proved not to be costly as Tottenham Hotspur still won the match 2-1 despite being down to 10 men thanks to goals from Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Kane.
Another goalkeeping error came from Newcastle's Martin Dubravka, as he was beaten at his near post by a goal from Leicester's Jamie Vardy which put Leicester 2-0 in front, and here one would argue that it is debatable as to how costly the mistake was given that Leicester eventually humiliated Newcastle 5-0.
One goalkeeper who stood out for the right reasons, however, was Manchester City's Ederson as he made three crucial saves in their match away to Everton as the reigning champions ultimately triumphed in a 3-1 win.
McGinn shows he belongs in the top flight In what has been a somewhat disappointing start to the season for newly-promoted Aston Villa on their return to the top flight after 3 years away, there has been one player in their team who has stood out and that is midfielder John McGinn. McGinn so far has scored 3 goals for Aston Villa in the league and is their top scorer at this stage of the campaign, whilst also bagging one assist which means he has been involved in four (exactly half) of Aston Villa's goals this season, with no other team-mate having as many goal involvements.
If McGinn continues to maintain his promising start to the campaign, then Aston Villa will have a positive chance of staying up, despite their struggles so far this season and it is fair to suggest that McGinn will be crucial to Aston Villa's hopes of surviving come the end of the season. On the other hand, if Aston Villa fail to stay up at the end of the season and are relegated, providing McGinn maintains his positive form, Aston Villa will struggle to keep McGinn next season as he would be a player wanted by multiple clubs.
Leicester demonstrate top four credentials, aided by Arsenal and Man United
Going into the new season, there were many pundits who argued that the top six of the last 3 seasons (which included Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal) might be broken come the end of the season, as Manchester United have been struggling, Arsenal have hardly been in strong form of late whilst Chelsea, now under the management of Frank Lampard. Monday night saw Manchester United host Arsenal and it was little wonder why people argued that the top six of the last three seasons might be broken, as it was a match which sorely lacked in quality, was littered with mistakes and both sides were rather disjointed in their play.
There were a few teams who were touted as being able to possibly break that 'top six', and one of those who were most frequently mentioned were Leicester City. At this stage, extremely few would argue that this claim has so far been incorrect, as Leicester City currently lie in third place after seven games, and they produced an impressive display against an extremely poor Newcastle, who also played the second half with a man fewer than Leicester as Isaac Hayden was sent off for an extremely reckless tackle, in a match where Leicester scored with all their attempts on target which showed how they were extremely clinical, and the team play an attractive style of football and boast some extremely talented players, such as midfielders James Maddison (who did not even play last Sunday as he was ruled out with injury) and Youri Tielemans, full-backs Ricardo Pereira and Ben Chilwell and striker Jamie Vardy and are under the guidance of a very talented manager in Brendan Rodgers. Although it is still of course very early on in this season, on the evidence of this season so far, Leicester have shown that they have got the potential to break into the top six, and given the struggles of many of the so-called 'top six' sides, at this rate few would rule out Leicester potentially even breaking into the top four which would mean a place in next season's Champions League.
Newcastle and Watford strengthen belief that they will face a relegation battle
After two months of the league season have been completed, one can begin to understand how each team is beginning to shape up. On the evidence so far, even though it is still extremely early, once can clearly say that Newcastle and Watford have been struggling considerably.
A common feature of both these teams has been the fact that they have struggled to score goals, in fact these two sides are the joint-lowest goalscorers with a mere 4 each so far. Also, another common feature of the two teams is that they have conceded a high number of goals, whilst it is fair to say that both teams lack a clear tactical identity. This point particularly applies for Newcastle, who have tinkered frequently with their tactics and have been lacking a settled formation and there has been a sense of disquiet in the dressing room with players themselves struggling to understand the tactics, something which should be of significant concern to manager Steve Bruce. In addition, on Sunday in their 5-0 humiliation, despite the fact that they went down to 10 men, they utterly capitulated in the second half and this led to Bruce criticising the players in a post-match interview, and this does not bode well for Newcastle either. As for Watford, they suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat away to Wolverhampton Wanderers who were previously without a victory, and the Hornets lie bottom of the league after 7 matches with a mere 2 points and without a win. Watford this weekend are at home to Sheffield United, and one senses that this match will be key to their season - as if they lose, it could very easily lead to supporters believing that they will be heading for relegation come May.
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