GW9 - What did we learn?

 

Vardy is probably his own worst enemy, for going down so often and so easily in the penalty area - but his shout for a penalty against Forest on Friday night looked like it was at least worth a second a look. I keep thinking Chris Wood's streak must surely end soon, but then he comes up with another couple of excellent finishes. If he can keep this up, he is going to be in the hat with Haaland and Jackson (and Watkins... and Welbeck...?!) for the Golden Boot at the end of the year - fairytale stuff! Both keepers had great games in this one. But yes, a gap in class is emerging: for the last two seasons, Forest looked like they really deserved to be relegated; they no longer do. Leicester, however..... (Sorry, Gary Lineker.)

Bournemouth's last-gasp winner felt deserved on the balance of play, for me. In fact, they can probably count themselves unfortunate that they didn't win, after having two strong penalty shouts waved away. And back-up keeper Mark Travers played a bit of a blinder. (I doubt if it was enough to keep him the start if Kepa is soon fit again; but it will cause a little anxiety to anyone who owns Kepa in FPL.)  Villa were perhaps a little heavy-legged after their midweek exertions against Bologna; but, for me, they just haven't yet recaptured the verve they were showing for so much of last season, and despite their current high league standing, I'm doubtful they'll claim a Champions League place again. The absurdly popular Morgan Rogers had a fairly subdued game, and was pulled off only 10 minutes into the second half; I wonder if that will trigger a big sell-off. (Well, not huge so far: but he had dropped over 100,000 owners by the following Friday.)

Brentford v Ipswich was a crazily entertaining game: it often felt as though a goal was likely every time a team started to break towards the opposition end. This is what happens when you have two teams who can't defend to save their lives at the moment; and the two worst keepers in the league (OK, they both pulled off a couple of very good saves; but they also had many, many horrible moments, and filled the defence in front of them with anxiety; I really think they're both ripe to be dropped). And then Liam Delap crashed one against the far post in the dying seconds?!  Crazy game! A 3-3 or 4-4 draw would have been a fairer result. I had thought Ipswich had the talent and the manager to survive their debut season with a certain amount of comfort, but it is not turning out like that at all; and McKenna is starting to look a bit harried and desperate, like he doesn't know how to fix things. And if Brentford keep leaking goals like this, they'll be in the relegation conversation too.

It was great to see Evan Ferguson playing and scoring again at last, after a long string of injury problems. I wonder if he might now be entering the crowded field of very tempting budget forward picks?! I hate to say this, but Welbeck is surely bound to succumb to an injury again sooner or later. And when Ferguson's on song, I really think he's one of the best finishers in the league, and has a lot about his game that is reminiscent of Haaland - a kind of Erling Mini-Me. And what a ridiculous end to the game - Brighton nicking the ball in the dying moments and finding themselves four-on-one, surely certain to claim a third goal to seal their victory.... and Wieffer somehow misplaces his pass to the sole Wolves defender, Tommy Doyle, who gratefully punts it upfield for a counter-attack that improbably results in a last-gasp equaliser. Brighton, for all their attacking flair, have looked very vulnerable on the counter this year; and I think that is going to make it a struggle for them to bag a place in European competition. Wolves, with Cunha looking particularly lively, may find this remarkable (and probably not really deserved) comeback the inspiration they need to start turning things around. They do have a much kinder run of fixtures ahead now, but.... they are in very deep trouble.

Russell Martin's Southampton have always looked potentially dangerous going forward (they need a better striker), but they appear to be finding some defensive rigour as well now. And Adam Lallana was absolutely outstanding for them. If they carry on like this, they might yet emerge as the one-in-three survivors amongst this year's promoted sides. I had an inkling that they would show up at The Etihad with a top performance, and was trying to discourage The Sheep this week from hazarding their Triple Captain chip on Haaland. Now, of course, there's an unreasonable backlash against Haaland because he only scored one....  Some people are never satisfied. A couple of worrying things I noticed in this game, though, were Kovacic repeatedly being blindsided by Lallana or another Southampton player breaking in behind him (while he might bring some attractive attacking elements to City's game, he is a very poor replacement for Rodri as a central defensive lychpin) and Foden looking frustrated with his teammates, waving his arms around frantically as they repeatedly ignored him for a cutback (I wonder if they've just forgotten how to play with him, because he's been frozen out for so much of this season; or if he's had some kind of dressing-room falling-out).

Everton deserve credit for battling to the end, in a game they never really looked to be in. Smith Rowe's owners will probably have taken some encouragement from his lively and varied performance in this one: he was head-to-head with his main FPL-rival-pick Dwight McNeil, and - probably to most people's surprise - came out of it on top, ir only fairly narrowly. The game might perhaps have gone differently if Calvert-Lewin's early goal had not been disallowed; that was (yet another decision) that looked harsh to the lay viewer - and took far too long to reach.

Chelsea v Newcastle was as open and entertaining as we might have expected. Palmer's early goal being 'offiside' by a kneecap was a hard blow for his FPL owners. He's really had rotten luck so far this year (so many near misses, so many assists to teammates not converted, so many penalties not given...): he could easily have nearly twice his current massive total - frightening thought! But at least we saw an appropriate VAR intervention here, with Simon Hooper being given the opportunity to walk back his silly decision to award a penalty for Nkunku's slipping over in the box. Newcastle continue to be so-near-and-yet-so-far-away.... not playing terribly, and yet just not bossing games or putting away their chances as they did for so much of the last two seasons.

It was nice to see Palace back to winning ways. I've often felt they have not been too far off it so far this season, and have possibly been the unluckiest team of the season so far (Chelsea and Bournemouth have strong claims also); and but for a trio of smart saves from Vicario, they might have won this much more comfortably. Though, more importantly for Glasner, they were finally starting to show some of last season's defensive cohesion again, as well as some more coordinated and effective pressing in the final third; that's what they need to get back up to mid-table. It's good as well to see Jean-Philippe Mateta looking sharp and hungry and happy again; it's taken a long time for him to shake off the effects of the injury problem he picked up at the Olympics, but now he looks as though he might be about to recover the form he showed at the end of last season. I've also often felt that Spurs, despite their promising start, have felt like merely a good mid-table side - who were perhaps slightly over-performing - rather than convincing 'top six' candidates; and in the last few games, they've started misfiring badly. I don't know what's going wrong with them, but I imagine there will be a mass FPL exodus from Spurs assets after this (I never felt confident enough to go in for any of them anyway...). There were a few nice balls in behind down the left from new teenage sensation Mikey Moore, but overall he had quite a quiet game - and is clearly not yet an adequate replacement for Son.... or even Werner.

Could Ten Hag's job have been saved if those efforts from Garnacho, Casemiro, and Dalot had gone in? I doubt it; but if so, it's probably all for the best that they didn't. It is a cruelty of Fate, though, that United could be so on top for most of this game and end up losing it. It's a pity that poor refereeing again dominates the headlines in this one (the penalty decision was one of the worst I can remember in a long, long time), as it was actually a cracking game: one of the best performances we've seen from United this calendar year; but West Ham were also very much improved defensively, and really looking good value for the draw, despite having to ride their luck a bit.

Arsenal v Liverpool was a fascinating tactical battle, with The Gunners clearly having the better of things in the first half: Havertz's mobility (not just dropping deep to link up with his midfield and leaving a perplexing hole in front of the Liverpool centre-backs, as he often does in his 'false 9' mode, but also drifting out on to the right a lot, to help Saka double-team a weary-looking Andy Robertson), in particular, was causing all sorts of problems. But Slot revitalized Liverpool in the second half, particularly with his tactical substitutions on the hour, the greater physicality of Szoboszlai and Gakpo giving his team more long out-ball options... while Arsenal progressively unravelled with injuries to Gabriel and Timber, and were left hanging on for their lives in the last 15 or 20 minutes. Arsenal can feel rightly aggrieved that the referee's bizarre award of a foul on Szoboszlai denied them a late winner; but on the balance of play, a draw was a fair result. However, this game has left FPL managers in even greater uncertainty about how secure Luis Diaz's minutes are in the face of strong competition from Gakpo. And Alexander-Arnold's lack of impact in the game - apart from the sublime pre-assist for Salah's equaliser - may be causing worries to those who've invested their life savings to bring him into their defence. (Ben White reminded us that he's a very strong alternative as the top premium defender this year, with an almost identical early ball to set up Saka's opener.)