Five Things We Learned From The Premier League Weekend

1. Prolific City sum up Guardiola’s ethos

Pep Guardiola can seem a very modern manager but Manchester City are making history. Their 7-2 demolition of Stoke made them the first team in 66 years to score at least five goals in three successive home league games and took their tally to 29 in their opening eight fixtures. Not since Everton managed 30 in their first eight in 1894-95 has anyone been as prolific. It was all the more remarkable as Sergio Aguero stayed on the bench, waiting for the chance to equal Eric Brook’s club record of 177 goals.

In his absence, the responsibilities for scoring and creating were shared. Eight of the outfield starters – the exceptions were centre-backs John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi – either got a goal, an assist or both, while substitute Bernardo Silva also scored. Guardiola likes players with a midfielder’s skill-set, rather than specialist predators, and City are proving they can get crucial contributions from across the team. It is also a sign of their potency that they have three of the division’s top six scorers, with Aguero, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling now tied on six goals.

2. Mourinho reverts to type and plays for the point in Anfield stalemate

It was a game and a gameplan to cast Manchester United’s stunning start into a new light. “United came here for a point and they got it,” said Jurgen Klopp in an accurate analysis of Jose Mourinho’s approach at Anfield. United had scored four goals in six of their previous 10 matches. Away against fierce rivals, at a ground where Mourinho has played tactical chess before, United had 38 percent of possession and one shot on target. The Portuguese cited the absences of Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba as a reason why Liverpool, with more midfielders, had more of the ball in midfield.

Equally, it is likely that Mourinho would have reverted to type and gone on a damage-limitation exercise anyway, concentrating on his defensive structure. In a stalemate with few memorable moments, David de Gea’s superb save from Joel Matip aside, perhaps the most pertinent came when Mourinho removed his creator-in-chief Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the less gifted, more athletic Jesse Lingard with half an hour remaining. As Klopp said, he was playing for the point.

3. Zaha and Hodgson deserved to end Palace’s drought

One hundred and fifty-three days. Seven hundred and thirty-one minutes of top-flight football. Whichever way you look at it, Crystal Palace had waited a long time for a goal. When it came, it was debited as an own goal by Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta. If the nature of his deflection suggested Palace got lucky they had been unfortunate in their extraordinary drought, hitting the woodwork, encountering in-form goalkeepers and defenders clearing the ball off the line. They had been mid-table for shots taken and expected goals, but not actual goals. Even after defeating the champions Chelsea, they remain at the foot of the table, but Palace merited their victory.

So did Roy Hodgson, whose input was crucial in his first league win. Perhaps it was inspiration, perhaps desperation, but in the absence of injured striker Christian Benteke, he selected wingers Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha up front in a particularly mobile attack. Both were terrific, with Zaha’s winner highlighting how much Palace missed him when he was out. It amounted to a statement of character from a side who risked being cast adrift and defined by a dreadful start to a season and an endorsement of a manager whose stock fell dramatically during Euro 2016.

4. Everton’s Koeman nears the brink

There is something predictable in the way supporters taunt a beleaguered manager with the sentiment that he will be “sacked in the morning”. Occasionally, they are right, as the Burnley fans were when they pinpointed the time of Frank de Boer’s departure from Crystal Palace. The Brighton faithful are less likely to be proved right, but with every game it feels more possible that Ronald Koeman will be sacked in the near future. Wayne Rooney rescued a point against the promoted team, but Everton have still only won twice in nine games.

A drab draw offered further evidence that, after a £144 million overhaul, Koeman is still struggling to find his best side and system or a pattern of play that involves more pace and excitement. With Lyon and Arsenal next, it is shaping up as a pivotal week. With trips to Chelsea, Leicester and Lyon after that, the Dutchman could be nearing the end unless he can engineer some improvement.

5. Another late show highlights the difference Silva has made at Watford

It is admirable enough that Watford sit in the Premier League’s top four after making their best start to a top-flight campaign since 1982-83, when they went on to finish second. It is all the more remarkable because they finished last season in absolute disarray, losing six games in a row, failing to score in five of them and conceding 16 goals. The first of those losses was to Hull, managed by Marco Silva, and Watford acted swiftly in sacking Walter Mazzarri and appointing the Portuguese before Crystal Palace or Southampton could. It felt a coup then and seems a superb decision now.

Silva has changed much at Vicarage Road, but the most evident change is to the spirit. Watford seemed to lack character under Mazzarri. Now they display it regularly. Tom Cleverley’s injury-time winner against Arsenal made it three consecutive games when Watford have scored late, and five in total. They have already gained six points from last-minute goals.