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Premier League week six: hits and misses

By Jocelyn Taub

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 24: Theo Walcott of Arsenal celebrates scoring his sides second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on September 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 24: Theo Walcott of Arsenal celebrates scoring his sides second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on September 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 24: Theo Walcott of Arsenal celebrates scoring his sides second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on September 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 24: Theo Walcott of Arsenal celebrates scoring his sides second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on September 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images) /

Which teams and players stood out after week six of Premier League action? Here’s a look at this weekend’s hits and misses

Another week of Premier League action is over and it’s time to take a look at which teams fared well and which clubs need to regroup. This week there were 34 goals scored, 40 yellow cards issued and just one player received a red card sending off.

Five positives from the weekend:

  • Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United were each victorious. The three clubs impressed and put in dominating performances.

Chelsea has owned Arsenal for most of the past decade. Arsenal changed the narrative and took control of the match. Villain Diego Costa was kept in check and Arsenal steam rolled Chelsea 3-0.

Jose Mourinho’s team desperately needed a win and a convincing performance. That’s exactly what they got. United easily handled Leicester 4-1. In addition, record signing Paul Pogba worked hard and scored his first goal for United.

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Liverpool’s impressive start to the season continued with an easy 5-1 victory over visiting Hull. Jurgen Klopp’s team is making a lot of pundits take notice. Liverpool have scored 16 goals which is second only to Manchester City’s 18.

  • Manchester City and Tottenham remain the only undefeated teams in the league.

Manchester City’s perfect start to the season continued with a 1-3 win away to Swansea. Tottenham came away from Middlesbrough 1-2 victors.

  • Arsene Wenger has taken a lot of abuse in recent years. This weekend he deserved a lot of praise.  The manager’s game plan for Chelsea was perfect. The only thing that would have made his team’s 3-0 win over the Blues better would have been if Mourinho was still the Chelsea manager.
  • When it was revealed that Mourinho would be the new Manchester United manager it looked likely that Juan Mata’s days were numbered. There were reports all summer that Mourinho had no interest in retaining his former Chelsea player.

Mata is still at United and is showing his manager just how good he actually is. He scored United’s second goal versus Leicester and put in another strong midfield performance.

  • Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min is looking like a player reborn. In just his third league appearance the forward scored both Tottenham goals in his team’s win at Middlesbrough. Two weeks earlier he netted twice in Spurs’ 0-4 victory at Stoke. He has already equaled his last season goal tally of four.
West Ham United’s English midfielder Mark Noble reacts after commiting a foul that earned him a yellow card during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Southampton at The London Stadium, in east London on September 25, 2016. / AFP / Ben STANSALL / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)
West Ham United’s English midfielder Mark Noble reacts after commiting a foul that earned him a yellow card during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Southampton at The London Stadium, in east London on September 25, 2016. / AFP / Ben STANSALL / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images) /

 Five negatives from the weekend:

  • West Ham’s 2015-2016 campaign was the club’s best in years. Expectations were therefore high coming in to the new season. As it currently stands, things can’t get much worse.

The Hammers lost their fifth match out of six at home to Southampton. The team looks uninspired and the atmosphere at West Ham’s new home is poor at best.

Rumors have been spreading that Manager Slaven Bilic is in jeopardy of losing his job. However, the Telegraph reported yesterday that the West Ham board is backing its manager.

  • Another manager under current scrutiny is Swansea’s Franceso Guidolin. The Swans have won just one match and sit in 17th place. Reports have been circulating that Swansea are considering former USA coach Bob Bradley and Welshman Ryan Giggs as replacements.

David Moyes and Sunderland just can’t catch a break. The Black Cats had a 2-0 advantage 60 minutes in to their match with Crystal Palace. Then everything imploded. Palace fought back and Christian Benteke’s header in stoppage time gave all the points to the London club. Sunderland are at the bottom of the table with just one point.

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  • Chelsea’s bright start to the season has become bumpier in recent weeks. Consecutive losses to Liverpool and Arsenal has left new boss Antonio Conte scratching his head. There is a lot of blame to go around at Chelsea, but star signing N’Golo Kante appears to be the recipient of a lot of criticism. He was heavily mocked by the media this weekend for his lack of pace against Arsenal.
  • Kante’s old club Leicester isn’t faring too well so far either. Leicester was totally outplayed by Manchester United over the weekend. It was the Foxes’ third loss in six matches. Leicester lost only three matches in total as league champions last season.
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