GW3 - What did we learn?

Arsenal, while looking quietly dangerous, are still nowhere near as formidable as they were at their strongest, in the third quarter of last season. OK, they were very unlucky to be reduced to 10 men (yet another doubly terrible refereeing decision, with Veltman deserving a red card and not getting one, while Rice was unjustly sent off), and would probably have beaten Brighton comfortably but for that; and I don't see how they didn't get a penalty for Dunk's handball (questions of the position of the arm and presumed 'intentionality' should be irrelevant when you block a goal-bound shot!). But it really wasn't a terribly convincing performance from the Gunners. 

And there are worrying signs at The Emirates, I think: Arteta appearing not to rate his expensive new signing Calafiori (unless it's just a fitness issue; but it had looked like he should sail straight into a regular start at left-back, and that hasn't happened for some reason....), and to have lost confidence in Martinelli. It's also not good that most of their summer transfer initiatives have failed, the only new arrivals being Merino (who's immediately picked up a fairly serious injury in training) and Sterling (who hasn't played much first-team football in the last two years, and doesn't seem like a type of player they urgently need); while they've let go four of their best young back-up players - so, the squad, at the moment, is even thinner than it was last year. I wonder if Sterling's main role will be to come off the bench fairly regularly for 10 or 20 minutes, not so much as an 'impact sub', but just to save Saka's legs (reduced minutes for him might lessen his FPL appeal slightly...). Next week, however, I can see he might possibly start as a 'false 9', to allow Havertz to slot back into midfield to replace the suspended Rice.

Getting a draw away at Arsenal continued Brighton's impressive start under Hurzeler, but... I think they've got some serious structural problems in central midfield, having lost Caicedo, Macallister, Gross, and Gilmour in quick succession (and now Milner, to injury); I don't think Baleba can hold things together on his own. The FPL sheep are getting over-excited about Minteh (who hasn't done much yet; and will surely share minutes with Adingra and Gruda), Welbeck (who has started superbly, but is bound to pick up an injury again soon), and Joao Pedro (who's playing well, but doesn't look likely to produce that many goals). The only one of their players I might fancy is just-back-from-injury Verbruggen in goal - but not until after their horrific run of fixtures from GW6 to GW12 is behind them.

Everton were quite mystifying this weekend: they've suddenly remembered how to score goals, but forgotten how to defend! Dominic Calvert-Lewin looked very sharp and confident; if he's really rediscovered his scoring boots after two or three years in the doldrums, that could be transformative for the team's prospects this year. But they need to start defending much better; and the problem there at the moment really seems to be in midfield rather than defence. Their late collapse against Bournemouth this weekend seemed to be largely the result of fatigue, so perhaps there are some fitness issues too, players' stamina not yet back to 100% after the summer break? But everyone else's in the league is, so that would suggest some deficiencies in the club's training regime.

Bournemouth were.... inexplicably bad for most of the game at Goodison, just not 'at the races' at all. And yet you have to admire their fighting spirit in engineering that last-gasp recovery. And they have a lot of talented attacking players - Semenyo, Ouattara, Kluivert, Tavernier, Sinisterra - which suggests they might not find life too difficult without Solanke. And Kepa is one of the most interesting last-minute transfer deals: I fancy him to give quite a boost to Bournemouth's prospects now... and perhaps to become one of the most productive 4.5-million-pound keepers.

Brentford, apart from the form of Bryan Mbeumo, are not giving much grounds for optimism yet about their season; a comfortable win against Southampton is nothing to write home about. And I'd probably hang fire even on considering the acquisition of Mbeumo, given that they must be favourites to take a couple of drubbings in their next two matches, away to City and Spurs. Heck, even their following home games against West Ham and Wolves might not be easy for them. They look, at the moment, as if they'll struggle to get out of the bottom third.

Southampton's only bright spot, really, is the inventivneness of Adam Lallana. It's a pity they don't seem to have anyone around him who can capitalise on this. They are, unfortunately, already looking like this year's Sheffield United, a team so hopelessly out of their depth that you can safely bet your house now on them going back down at the end of the season.

Leicester, while not as abject as any of last season's promoted sides, are not yet showing signs of having enough creativity to trouble an opponent. The goalkeeper, Hermansen, is their only player who impresses me as a possible FPL prospect. However, they were robbed of a penalty near the end when Tielemans flattened Vardy from behind (if doesn't matter if you 'get a piece of the ball' if you've completely swept an opponent's legs away to achieve that...).

Villa, then, were a little lucky to prevail in that game. They're still not firing on all cylinders - although the form of Rogers, Duran, and Digne is encouraging. FPL managers should not get over-excited about Onana's points prospects: he's a midfielder who scores a goal occasionally, rather than a goalscoring midfielder - bagging 2 goals in 3 games doesn't mean that he'll be bag another 2 this month,... or over the remainder of the season..... Equally, they shouldn't get too disheartened about Watkins: he is playing well, but the team just aren't creating many clearcut chances for him at the moment. But there's little doubt he'll start racking up the goals and assists soon. (I'm sure his early withdrawal, on the hour, was precautionary, after he'd suffered a series of heavy knocks in the game, rather than 'tactical', and shouldn't raise any doubts about his minutes prospects - much less his start - in upcoming games.)

Kieran McKenna - unsurprisingly, I suppose - stuck by his keeper, Muric, despite his absolute horror-show against City last week. I hope that show of confidence will pay off, with the keeper settling down to a solid season (apparently he had a very good season for Burnley in the Championship two years ago). The rest of the Ipswich side is looking, as I'd expected, quite impressive - hard-working and well-organised, much the most likely of the promoted sides to have a chance of going up. And Liam Delap is becoming a tempting 3rd forward pick.

Fulham are still not quite clicking. I think they have enough strength and balance in their squad to be fairly comfortably mid-table, but their season's looking like it might be a bit up-and-down. The young Brazilian striker Muniz hasn't found his goal-touch yet - but I remain hopeful that he soon might. Alas, his large number of FPL owners are probably going to grow impatient with another blank from him and initiate a big sell-off. The other big 'sheep' move here is likely to be a big pile-on for Traore, as people are easily convinced that he has now become a reliable goal-machine. (He has never in his career been a 'reliable' anything; and I really can't see him even being a regular starter.) Smith Rowe, and the full-backs Robinson and Tete, continue to look like their best FPL prospects.

Wolves are still all over the place in defence: Kilman is a huge loss for them. But I trust that Gary O'Neill can sort things out there... eventually. Sam Johnstone is looking an intriguing goalkeeper prospect now that he's got a regular starting place again. He's not likely to keep many clean sheets at Wolves as they are at the moment, but a leaky defence provides the opportunity for lots of 'saves' points - and he produced a couple of really outstanding ones on Saturday.

Forest, apart from the hot goalscoring form of Chris Wood, are not giving much reason for optimism. Even against a very ragged Wolves, they weren't able to generate many chances; and they were actually lucky to get a point, when Wood, defending like a forward, brought Dawson crashing down in the box near the end; it might have been an accidental tangling of limbs, but it looked clumsy.... and we've seen them given so often before.

Haaland has certainly started this season in red-hot form: another hattrick, even after missing a sitter early on!  DeBruyne and Lewis and, of course, Bernardo Silva are also looking very sharp. And City really might have scored a lot more, with DeBruyne bringing one of the saves of the season out of Areola with a fierce drive at the near post, and later crashing one against the woodwork; Grealish too had a couple of good chances, one blocked by a defender, and one fizzed just beyond the far top corner of the goal. However, without Rodri, City do lack some defensive solidity; the pace of Kudus and Bowen often exposed them on the counter-attack And people who went in for Savinho suffered immediate regret: surprise, surprise - the favoured running-order for City wingers at the moment is Grealish, Doku, Savinho! They'll probably all get decent minutes when fit, but it will always be a guessing-game as to which of them will start in any given week; and Savinho will probably get on the pitch slightly less often than the other two.

West Ham are still a bit of an enigma: a definitive new style of play under Lopategui has not yet emerged. While the pace and guile of Kudus gives them a lot of attacking threat, their midfield doesn't seem to have any shape, and they were very sloppy in possession. They're looking like they might be one of those entertaining teams who both score and concede loads - but that won't get them a very high league finish. And they really need to start making use of Fullkrug....  

Areola's injury didn't look too bad; so, I suppose we have to keep our fingers crossed until the end of the international break. If he's out for a while, it would be a very useful windfall for the significant handful of managers who'd gone for Fabianski as a cheap, non-playing back-up keeper (a fair enough pick, since he is much the best of the 4.0 options; perhaps the only back-up keeper in the EPL - well, aside from the more expensive Kelleher and Ortega - who's a worthy starter, and perhaps actually stands a chance of being promoted on form, rather than just injury to the No. 1).

Eze owners are no doubt relieved that he's finally got off the mark. But they shouldn't have been worried: he's been playing well all season, and was desperately unlucky not to have scored in each of the first two games. And there are signs that Palace are finding some confidence and steadiness in possession again - though I still worry if they can adapt to the loss of Andersen. At least Henderson is in good form, producing outstanding saves from Palmer, Madueke, and Jackson to secure a point they probably didn't quite deserve.

I really don't know how Sanchez is still starting in goal. I suppose Maresca must see something in him that I don't. I have been hoping that Jorgensen would be promoted to the first team at any moment - which, with Chelsea's improving form, and soft early run of fixtures, would make him a very tempting keeper option. I suppose, if Sanchez really is nailed for now, he becomes a tempting option for the same reasons. Palmer, of course, is Palmer; he is, I think, the most dependable of all the premium-priced players, and will almost certainly be the best of them in points-per-pound return, even if he can't quite outdo Salah and Haaland for total points.

Newcastle's makeshift defence is still looking very vulnerable, but Spurs are not yet firing properly: lots of possession and pressure didn't really lead to many chances on Sunday - while they, predictably, got cut open far too easily by a quick counter-attack. Romero, I thought, looked alarmingly unconcerned, like he just couldn't be bothered to try to sprint back in situations like that. Maybe he was carrying some kind of an injury, or maybe was just getting badly fatigued late in the game - but it did look more like an attitude problem to me. Solanke still missing, Son and Maddison failing to impose themselves on the game, and Vicario still laughably intimidatable at set pieces - lots of alarm bells for Spurs. Dragusin was probably their best player, and he's not a regular starter. Many more positive signs for Newcastle, with Barnes, Joelinton and Murphy looking very sharp, as well as the always dangerous Isak and Gordon; but they do have a rather challenging run of fixtures coming up.

I am slowly warming to Gravenberch in the Liverpool engine room: he's not the combative Keane/Vieira type I prefer to see in that role, but he's doing a job for them. And Luis Diaz is confirming my view that, when fit, he's always been one of Liverpool's most consistent and dangerous players, as deservedly nailed-on for the left-wing start as Salah is for the right. Some FPL managers are getting so delirious about Liverpool's attacking form, though, that they are taking the 'trident' in its entirety Salah, Diaz, and Jota. That's just NUTS, because it doesn't spread risk (you're screwed if Liverpool suffer a piece of bad luck like an early wonder-goal against them, or a soft penalty award, or a sending-off, and you suddenly have three key players with limited points), and your total return is capped (they are sharing Liverpool's total attacking haul each week; and while that might often be a very big haul, it often won't be, and there is certainly a maximum limit to which it can approach even in its very best weeks: if one of these chaps gets a hattrick, one or both of the others will probably return few points that week; you really want to try to identify a sole primary goal-threat in midfield from as many teams as you can, and get the best 5 of those that you can afford; that should give you more points than taking 3 attacking midfielders from the same side - however good that side is). Also, you know, Liverpool currently have the best defensive record in the league, so you might want to at least leave yourself the option of getting one of their defenders...

Manchester United? The most interesting thing about them at the moment is the betting on when Ten Hag's going to be sacked....  I suppose at least Rashford is finally starting to show some signs of returning form; not much, but some. And I had thought Onana could be a tempting prospect in goal this season; but the way they're playing at the moment, I wouldn't touch any of their players with a bargepole.