Thoughts and analysis from dramatic weekend of Premier League action

theScore examines the most important developments and biggest talking points from another entertaining weekend of Premier League football.

Pochettino gives Chelsea courage

Go back a few weeks, and heads would’ve dropped. Manchester City going ahead would’ve presented a treacherous mountain to climb. Belief would drain from a group of Chelsea players who scored one goal in September. Composure would fray, Nicolas Jackson would hack shots into the stands, and Raheem Sterling would run down dead ends.

But on Sunday, Erling Haaland gave City the lead twice, and Rodri did it once. Chelsea fought back on each occasion.

Mauricio Pochettino is gradually getting a grip on the discordant squad he inherited. Chelsea’s press was magnificent in the barmy 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge, ruining Manchester City’s usually precise and pacey buildup play. The ambition among Pochettino’s ranks was abundantly clear when, soon after going ahead 2-1, they hounded Rodri in his own defensive third.

It might be tempting to step off when Rodri has the ball in that area. He can resist pressing with his strength and awareness and quickly flip defense to attack once he works into space. But Marc Cucurella was on his tail. The persistence of Cucurella, clearly not dwelling on conceding the earlier penalty, forced Rodri backward into his own box and toward the corner flag. The City midfielder then jabbed the ball up the line before Chelsea collected the loose ball and attacked again.

Conceding four goals can happen against Manchester City – and that’s before you consider the soft penalty given to Haaland and the fortune needed for Rodri’s strike to deflect beyond Robert Sanchez. Chelsea could’ve won this. Ruben Dias was rash with and without the ball while struggling with the home side’s relentlessness. Bernardo Silva did well but was stretched when trying to aid the buildup play and support the attacks. The chaos didn’t suit City, and Chelsea knew it.

“We feel a bit exhausted, to be honest, after a game with that rhythm,” Rodri said after the match. “It wasn’t our best performance, and individually, we can look at ourselves because conceding four goals is not normal for us.”

Pep Guardiola’s side allowed four goals in a match for the first time since a 5-2 defeat to Leicester City in September 2020. It’s hard to think of a clearer sign that things are improving for Chelsea under Pochettino.

A very ‘Spursy’ result

Responding to adversity is one of the hallmarks of title-winning teams.

On the back of their chaotic, incident-filled loss to Chelsea – their first of the season – and missing a handful of critical starters, Saturday’s match against Wolverhampton Wanderers was always going to provide excellent insight into Tottenham Hotspur’s ability to sustain their outstanding start to the campaign.

Their response, sadly, left a lot to be desired. Tottenham went limp after Brennan Johnson’s first goal for the club in the third minute at Molineux. The manner in which Wolves stormed back to claim a 2-1 win was certainly dramatic – two goals in stoppage time – but it was hardly undeserved.

“We probably ran out of a little bit of legs there, which is understandable. A lot of those guys haven’t played, and they scored a couple of good goals,” Ange Postecoglou said afterward.

How Tottenham would cope without injured playmaker-in-chief James Maddison has, understandably, hoovered up a lot of attention. But Saturday’s defeat made it clear that defensive absentees will have a greater impact on the club’s fortunes. Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, and Destiny Udogie missed Saturday’s match through a combination of injury and suspension, forcing Postecoglou to start Eric Dier and Ben Davies in central defense against Wolves. The drop off was stark.

Under no real pressure, Dier carelessly hoofed the ball out of play, giving away possession right before Pablo Sarabia’s slick equalizer in the 91st minute – Davies couldn’t come across quickly enough to cover for him and block the shot on the play. The entire backline then fell asleep on Mario Lemina’s winning tally six minutes later. Tottenham fouled Lemina inside his own half, and the 30-year-old picked himself up, dusted himself off, and calmly jogged straight into the penalty area, totally undetected, to receive a pass and send the home crowd into a frenzy. Two lapses in concentration. Two goals against.

Tottenham’s depth will be tested in the coming weeks, especially during the jam-packed holiday slate of matches. The backups failed their first exam.

Magpies down to bare bones

Bournemouth poured forward again and again.

Newcastle United are so ravaged by injuries and worn by their demanding schedule that Emil Krafth, a largely forgotten defender who played one Premier League minute over the previous 18 months, was called off the bench at Dean Court on Saturday. Matt Ritchie hasn’t started a top-flight match since December 2021 but played for over an hour. Lewis Miley, 17, was handed his full league debut. Even Kieran Trippier, one of Newcastle’s most reliable players, has been uncharacteristically sloppy lately.

A better team than Bournemouth would’ve scored five, six, maybe more against the Magpies. Their 2-0 win didn’t adequately reflect their dominance over opponents limping and wheezing their way into the international break.

Trippier told media following the match that the club can’t use the full treatment room as an excuse. Still, he referred to that exact issue when disagreeing with a Newcastle fan immediately after the final whistle. He repeated: “How many injuries have we got? How many injuries have we got?”

The answer is 10, plus two suspensions.

Absentees

At least the international break has come at a good time for Newcastle. Their next match against Chelsea on Nov. 25 will signal the return of Bruno Guimaraes – Newcastle have failed to win all seven league matches the Brazilian has missed since his debut – and could feature Alexander Isak, who has eight goals over 14 appearances in all competitions. Miguel Almiron and Callum Wilson could also be called back sooner than expected.

And besides, this is what Newcastle wanted: the club is competing on three fronts in the Premier League, Champions League, and the League Cup, and will enter the FA Cup in January. Newcastle’s transformation since the Saudi Arabian takeover two years ago has been quick and undeniably impressive. They’re comfortably ahead of where Manchester City were at the same stage of the Abu Dhabi era.

There are still plenty of reasons to be positive on Tyneside.

“We need to dust ourselves down and come back in strong,” manager Eddie Howe said.

Quick free-kicks

Should Kulusevski play centrally?

With an ankle injury expected to sideline primary creator Maddison until January, Tottenham need to get creative to compensate for the extended absence of the team’s leader in assists. Shifting Dejan Kulusevski into a more central role is a possible solution. The Swede, who views himself as more of a No. 10 than a winger, thrived operating in that area during his breakout season with Parma. Kulusevski drives the play forward differently than Maddison – the Englishman is second in the Premier League in progressive passes, while Kulusevski sits second in progressive dribbles – but has the necessary creativity to unlock opposing defenses. However, making that switch could create more personnel problems than it solves considering Tottenham’s lack of depth on the wing. It’s worth at least having the discussion.

No relief for Rashford

Erik ten Hag’s prediction that Marcus Rashford would soon return to form didn’t come to pass in the 1-0 win over Luton Town. For the second match in a row, Rashford operated on the right flank, making room for Alejandro Garnacho on the left. He tested Luton with some decent crosses but otherwise labored through a 12th straight outing without a goal. Ten Hag gives the impression that he wants to play Rashford into form. But that may only be due to his lack of trust in who could replace the 26-year-old academy graduate: Antony, Anthony Martial, and Facundo Pellistri.

Everton starting to click

After years of poor recruitment and a conveyor belt of managers with clashing playing philosophies, Sean Dyche is somehow extracting some reasonable performances out of Everton. Three victories, a draw, and one defeat since the start of October have taken the Toffees from being just a single point above the relegation zone to forming a considerable eight-point cushion. Saturday’s entertaining 3-2 win at Crystal Palace featured some classic sleeves-up Dycheian defending and promising performances from Vitaliy Mykolenko, Jack Harrison, and super-sub Idrissa Gueye. James Tarkowski was at fault for Palace’s second goal but otherwise impressed with five tackles and eight clearances.

VVD is all the way back

Virgil van Dijk has put his 2020 knee injury behind him for good. The Liverpool defender was at his graceful best in the Reds’ 3-0 win over Brentford on Sunday, anchoring the defense with the assured, composed performance that was so common prior to his ACL tear. The Dutchman’s positional sense always made him a good candidate to make a successful return from one of the sport’s most debilitating injuries. Crucially, Van Dijk has also recaptured the physical powers that, combined with his football IQ, made him a colossus at the back during his peak. He’s returned to that elite level this season, and Liverpool are much better off for it.

Elanga impressing at Forest

Manchester United were far too hasty in allowing Anthony Elanga to depart. The 21-year-old Swedish winger is taking full advantage of his increased opportunities following his €17.5-million move to Nottingham Forest. He’s already played more league minutes for Steve Cooper than he accumulated all of last season with the Red Devils and has turned that into a team-leading three assists. Elanga scored his first goal of the campaign in Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to West Ham United, too. Had United exhibited a little more patience with a young player who was showing promise in the early stage of his career, they could have reaped the rewards of Elanga’s development. Instead, they’re left with minimal options on the wing behind Alejandro Garnacho, who’s still growing.

JWP filling the void

West Ham lost their best player and captain when Declan Rice got his big move to Arsenal this past summer. Replacing him was always going to be an enormous task. James Ward-Prowse is giving it a proper go, though. The set-piece wizard signed for a relatively paltry £30-million fee in August and is a low-maintenance player who provides leadership on the pitch for David Moyes to go along with his unrivaled delivery from dead-ball situations. Ward-Prowse’s two assists, both prototypical deliveries from corner kicks, turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory over Forest on Sunday. He now has nine helpers across all competitions for West Ham on the campaign. His 17 dead-ball assists in the Premier League since 2020-21 are by far the most in England’s top flight. What a weapon to have in your arsenal.

Stat of the weekend

An important reminder to never switch off a Tottenham match before the final whistle blows. There’s always the potential for drama.

Tweet of the weekend

“We ain’t got no history.”