The league is beginning to settle now with us almost a quarter of the way through the season and it is no surprise to see the three teams promoted last season occupying lowly positions. QPR are one place above us whilst Leicester are only being kept out of the relegation positions by perennial strugglers Sunderland.
Having said that, had Leicester won at Swansea on Saturday they would be in 9th place in the table so things do remain very tight.
The message board has gone into free fall with us back on the bottom, and after a fifth league defeat of the season. It's interesting to note though that all but one of the five teams to have beaten us are currently in the top nine of the league; only West Brom below that have turned us over.
Two clubs beaten over the weekend are certainly in poor form. On Sunday, Spurs were beaten 2-1 at home by Newcastle. Spurs won their first two games this season, beating West Ham and QPR without conceding a goal.
They've won just once since in seven games, that a 1-0 win against manager Mauricio Pochettino's former club Southampton.
Worse is the current form shown by Aston Villa. They won ten points from their first four games this season, beating Stoke and Liverpool away and recording a win against Hull and a draw against Newcastle at home.
The last of those games was the 1-0 win at Liverpool when Gabriel Agbonlahor scored the only goal of the game after nine minutes. Not only have they not picked up a point since but they haven't scored a goal.
What was our run without a goal in the Premier League? I think it was 565 minutes. It was 76 minutes in the Chelsea game, then five goalless games, and finally Michael Kightly scored on 39 minutes at Leicester. That's 76 + 450 + 39 which equals 565 minutes.
Villa are not there. They've now gone 531 minutes without a goal. It would be nice to think they would still be goalless on Sunday against Spurs after 35 minutes to take them beyond our run. It's an opportunity for one of those two teams to find some form again.
I didn't see much Premier League football this weekend. I opted for El Classico on Saturday tea time and was on my way home for the first half of the Manchester United v Chelsea game. I sort of watched QPR v Villa last night but that was it.
Well done to Charlie on those two goals. He'll always be a goalscorer but I wish he hadn't netted them last night. Harry Redknapp rates him and said he'd played for Poole, Hungerford and he doesn't know which lower league clubs.
Harry is still favourite to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked. He's no longer odds on with Sky Bet but remains 11/8 favourite.
Sean Dyche is now fifth favourite with Alan Pardew getting some relief at Newcastle going out to sixth favourite, but one of interest might well be Steve Bruce at Hull. I heard a couple of weeks ago that he was unhappy at the KC so it might be a case of watch this space should any other jobs become available. Bruce is never shy at walking from one club to another when the opportunity arises.
Gus Poyet is second favourite. Sunderland, resplendent in their new shirts on Saturday, sponsored by After Eight, only conceded twice, but they were two shocking goals to concede with Wes Brown giving away the first and goalkeeper Vito Mannone the second.
I was wondering whether the Sunderland fans in attendance, and there were over 44,000 in the stadium, might be offered a refund after another defensive shambles. They were playing Arsenal, admittedly, but Alexis Sanchez won't get two easier goals all season - and I really hope I haven't spoken too soon given where we are playing this Saturday.
The results and stats from the weekend games are below with the leading goalscorers, each club's red and yellow card count and this weekend's fixtures.
The Results | |
Saturday 25th October | |
LIVERPOOL 0 HULL 0 | SWANSEA 2 LEICESTER 0 |
SOUTHAMPTON 1 STOKE 0 | WEST BROM 2 CRYSTAL PALACE 2 |
SUNDERLAND 0 ARSENAL 2 | WEST HAM 2 MANCHESTER CITY 1 |
Sunday 26th October | |
BURNLEY 1 EVERTON 3 | TOTTENHAM 1 NEWCASTLE 2 |
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 CHELSEA 1 | |
Monday 27th October | |
QPR 2 ASTON VILLA 0 |
The Stats | |
Biggest Win | ARSENAL 2-0 v SUNDERLAND (away) EVERTON 3-1 v BURNLEY (away) QPR 2-0 v ASTON VILLA (home) SWANSEA 2-0 v LEICESTER (home) |
Total Goals Scored | 23 (12 home - 11 away) |
Player Scoring Most Goals |
2 - CHARLIE AUSTIN, QPR (v ASTON VILLA) |
Highest Attendance | 75,327 - MANCHESTER UNITED v CHELSEA |
Lowest Attendance | 18,022 - QPR v ASTON VILLA |
Total Yellow Cards | 42 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most Cards in a Game | MANCHESTER UNITED v CHELSEA (9Y 1R) Ref: PHIL DOWD |
Leading Goalscorers (League Only) | |
9 | SERGIO AGUERO (MANCHESTER CITY) - includes 2 penalties DIEGO COSTA (CHELSEA) |
7 | SAIDO BERAHINO (WEST BROM) - includes 3 penalties |
6 | GRAZIANO PELLE (SOUTHAMPTON) |
5 | DIAFRA SAKHO (WEST HAM) ALEXIS SANCHEZ (ARSENAL) LEONARDO ULLOA (LEICESTER) - includes 1 penalty |
4 | CHARLIE AUSTIN (QPR) WIFRIED BONY (SWANSEA) - includes 1 penalty NACAR CHADLI (TOTTENHAM) PAPISS CISSE (NEWCASTLE) MOHAMED DIAME (HULL) NIKICA JELAVIC (HULL) ROMELU LUKAKU (EVERTON) STEVEN NAISMITH (EVERTON) |
Hat Tricks | |
Date | Player & Game |
13/09/14 | 3: DIEGO COSTA - CHELSEA v SWANSEA (home) |
18/10/14 | 4: SERGIO AGUERO - MANCHESTER CITY v TOTTENHAM (home) |
Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) | |||||||||
Club | Y | R | Y | R | Club | Y | R | Y | R |
League | Total | League | Total | ||||||
ARSENAL | 24 | 0 | 26 | 0 | MANCHESTER UNITED | 18 | 2 | 19 | 2 |
ASTON VILLA | 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | NEWCASTLE | 17 | 1 | 20 | 2 |
BURNLEY | 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | QPR | 10 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
CHELSEA | 21 | 2 | 21 | 2 | SOUTHAMPTON | 12 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
CRYSTAL PALACE | 16 | 2 | 16 | 2 | STOKE | 22 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
EVERTON | 16 | 0 | 17 | 0 | SUNDERLAND | 21 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
HULL | 17 | 1 | 18 | 1 | SWANSEA | 15 | 2 | 18 | 2 |
LEICESTER | 13 | 0 | 14 | 0 | TOTTENHAM | 15 | 2 | 15 | 2 |
LIVERPOOL | 19 | 0 | 20 | 0 | WEST BROM | 18 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
MANCHESTER CITY | 21 | 1 | 22 | 1 | WEST HAM | 20 | 1 | 20 | 1 |
The Next Fixtures | |
Saturday 1st November | |
ARSENAL v BURNLEY | LEICESTER v WEST BROM |
CHELSEA v QPR | NEWCASTLE v LIVERPOOL (12:45) |
EVERTON v SWANSEA | STOKE v WEST HAM |
HULL v SOUTHAMPTON | |
Sunday 2nd November | |
ASTON VILLA v TOTTENHAM (16:00) | MAN CITY v MAN UNITED (13:30) |
Monday 3rd November | |
CRYSTAL PALACE v SUNDERLAND (20:00) |