Manchester City march on and Mark Hughes could be in trouble after getting hammered

Each week, ‘In On Goal’ co-hosts Colin Murray and Dion Dublin give your their expert reaction and analysis from the weekend’s Premier League football. Don’t forget to tune into ‘In On Goal’ every Friday for your weekly football fix with previews and predictions of the weekend’s Premier League action.

Harry Redknapp was our guest on the show this week and when asked who he felt were best equipped to challenge Manchester City this season, he said Tottenham.

In fact, he said he had a sneaky feeling that Tottenham wouldn’t get beaten this weekend when they travelled to the Etihad to play Pep’s invincibles, and it was a decent prediction on paper.

Spurs have all the makings of being a top side, so why not? Surely the Man City winning streak couldn’t extend this far could it? Well, yes it could, and Spurs weren’t just narrowly beaten, they were comprehensively beaten. Week after week Manchester City just look to be head and shoulders above everyone else and getting better and better.

Despite Harry’s loyalty and wishful thinking for his old club, I suppose it’s not a result that shocked too many people. It certainly wasn’t one of the results that stood out on Saturday, and there were plenty that did.

There would have been many coupons ripped in two at 4.45pm on Saturday, such were the amount of results that wouldn’t have been predicted. You’re always going to get the odd result that shocks you and doesn’t follow form, but there was more than the odd one this Saturday.

I don’t know many people that would have had Crystal Palace to win in any shape or form away to Leicester – never mind keeping a clean sheet and putting three past them! Leicester have looked really impressive lately under the leadership of new boss Claude Puel. While you fancied there to be goals in this game because of the players that both sides have got, you wouldn’t have predicted that Leicester would be on the end of a thumping.

Watford v Huddersfield is a game that you could imagine being fairly close and most would have had this down as the match where Marco Silva and Watford would have returned to winning ways at home after a little winter wobble, but it was another coupon buster I suspect. Watford 1 – Huddersfield 4!!! Never saw that coming, despite Huddersfield being impressive lately, and very much punching above their weight.

West Ham’s victory away at Stoke on Saturday was also a bit of a turn up. What a difference a few weeks make. West Ham look a totally different side under David Moyes. He’s got them organised defensively, but he’s also got them playing for each other, fighting for each other and scoring goals. After the problems that Moyes has had since he left Everton in 2013 after 11 years at the club, West Ham wouldn’t have been an obvious choice for him. In fact, when West Ham travelled to Goodison a few weeks ago with Moyes wearing his claret and blue tie, and Sam Allardyce in attendance as the new manager of Everton, it felt strange, and almost as if the two men were sat in the wrong seats.

However, both have done extremely well and had an almost immediate impact, with very similar game plans. They sure up the defence and make their sides hard to beat first and foremost and then work on matters at the other end of field, and in the case of David Moyes and West Ham, all seems to be going well. They beat Chelsea last week which is no mean feat, and then Stoke away is never easy and they’ve gone and put three past Mark Hughes men.

When the question is continually raised about why clubs keep appointing the likes of Allardyce or Moyes rather than giving a chance to young British managers like Eddie Howe, this weekend’s results say it all. There’s a lot to admire and like about Eddie Howe and his Bournemouth side play some nice, flowing football when they’re allowed to, but they were comprehensively beaten by Liverpool at the Vitality Stadium yesterday.

Charlie Daniels was the latest left back to be run ragged and turned inside out by Mo Salah who looks to be the buy of the season so far. Add to that the small matter of Coutinho, Firmino and also Mane when fit, and Liverpool are the closest thing to Manchester City in terms of the speed and numbers that they attack with. If Liverpool could sort their defence out, they would surely become a top side capable of winning trophies, but for now that will always be their Achilles heel. Fortunately, Bournemouth didn’t pose enough of a threat to them, despite Jermaine Defoe striking the post with an effort that should have gone in and would’ve made it 2-1, and could have made it a different game. In this case though, ‘should’ve’, ‘would’ve’ and ‘could’ve’ had no bearing on the match, and Liverpool romped home victorious with 4 scored and none conceded.

The result has moved Liverpool into fourth, and Eddie’s Howe’s team dangerously close to the drop zone. In fact, the wins for West Ham and Crystal Palace, have not been good for Eddie Howe or Mark Hughes with their sides both stuck on 16 points and only 1 point above the dotted line.

Mark Hughes looks to be in trouble at Stoke with the pressure mounting on him and his underperforming players. The fans are also getting on their back now, and the worry is that the board may be forced to make changes unless Hughes can arrest the slide and quickly.

If Swansea were to win at Everton tonight, they could shake things up at the bottom and get themselves off the foot of the table, and while there’s a lot of games still to be played and no doubt many twists and turns yet to come, the relegation scrap at this moment in time, looks to be between Swansea, West Brom, Newcastle, Stoke and Bournemouth. Three from 5 will be going but which 3?

This season, the battle at the bottom is looking far more interesting than the battle at the top.

Don’t forget to tune into ‘In On Goal’ every Friday for your weekly football fix with previews and predictions of the weekend’s Premier League action.