Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

1) Liverpool leave Klopp worried to the end

Jürgen Klopp was asked to describe his emotions during stoppage time in the 2-1 victory at Tottenham. His dominant Liverpool team had led 2-0 going into it but they conceded to Érik Lamela in the 93rd minute to set up a nervy finale. “I would love to say it is the first time in my life I have been in a situation like that but it happens so often,” Klopp said. “My wife hates it.” The Liverpool manager would not have gone through the wringer if some of his players – Sadio Mané, in particular – had played in a teammate when they ought to have done. If there was one criticism of Liverpool’s best performance of the season it was the lack of ruthlessness and, even, traces of greediness. “It’s not greedy,” Klopp argued. “I want them to score and encourage them to do so. But there are moments when they have to pass.” David Hytner

READ MORE: Defensive steel means Lverpool are City’s biggest rivals

• Match report: Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool

2) Dyche has deep-rooted problems at Burnley

No more “little old Burnley”, Sean Dyche exuded calm after the defeat against Manchester United before the international break, but there was a shift in the manager’s tone after this latest setback. Reeling from a fourth successive league defeat, in a season that has seen Burnley’s European adventure come to an end before it had a chance to really get started, Dyche admitted “we’ve got a bit of a fog around us at the moment” and implied his players need to change their mentality. “I told them after the game, every year it has been ‘little old Burnley’, but they’re now recognised because of last season. You have to grow with that. It should be something to be enjoyed.” Dyche has his work cut out to turn things around, not least because the malaise is more deep-rooted than some might think – Burnley have won only five of their last 26 league games. Stuart James

• Match report: Wolves 1 -0 Burnley

3) Fraser makes a mockery of Leicester’s big guys

One of football’s simplest joys is the little guy making undignified fools of men twice his size. Ryan Fraser’s majestic display on Saturday was a custard pie in the faces of Wes Morgan and Harry Maguire, who spent the afternoon running through the gamut of defensive clumsiness: sliced passes, botched first touches, clanging mistimed tackles. Maguire should have been sent off for a pair of lumbering lunges; Morgan was handed a red card for exactly that. The Leicester captain could claim both bookings were harsh but his dismissal added to the suspicion that he is on borrowed time, especially with Jonny Evans waiting in the wings. Morgan’s heroics during the title-winning season make him an immortal figure at Leicester but, in a rather more immediate sense, you wonder how much more life he has in him. Alex Hess

READ MORE: Begovic - Bournemouth’s front three as good as Liverpool’s

• Match report: Bournemouth 4-2 Leicester

4) Warnock not ready to suffer fools at Cardiff

There were times when Cardiff City had Chelsea worried at Stamford Bridge. They never stopped trying and Neil Warnock was right to say that his players were not intimidated by Maurizio Sarri’s side. Yet Cardiff were punished for minor lapses in concentration after taking an improbable early lead through Sol Bamba. Chelsea punished their mistakes, with Eden Hazard scoring a hat-trick, and Warnock knows that survival will depend on his team shedding their naivety. Hazard equalised when he dodged a poor challenge from Joe Bennett and the game was over as a contest when Bamba conceded a penalty by fouling Willian. “I can’t accept it,” Warnock said after the game. “I’ve got to say to the players: ‘You can make a mistake once, but if you do it twice I’ve got to leave you out.’ If you want to be in the team you can’t make the mistakes. Not at this level.” Jacob Steinberg

• Match report: Chelsea 4-1 Cardiff

5) Everton’s Digne must prove he is worth money

In some respects Lucas Digne had a very good game. He had four shots, more than any other Everton player apart from Gylfi Sigurdsson, and he effected four key passes, when no teammate managed more than one. Nor did any Everton player win more than his two aerial duels. Even a quick glance at his defensive stats – seven tackles, four more than any teammate, and two interceptions – suggests a player who was dominant. But the question rapidly becomes why the £18m signing from Barcelona was making so many tackles, and the answer is probably that he was repeatedly caught out of position, his attacking thrusts rendering him vulnerable to Andriy Yarmolenko’s pace and direct running. It’s no coincidence that two of West Ham’s three goals came down his flank. The suggestion was Digne lacked the technical capacity for Barça; here it is the defensive side of his game that is being examined. Jonathan Wilson

• Match report: Everton 1-3 West Ham

6) Young gives United valuable left-back option

You knew when Ashley Young got the ball in Manchester United’s win over Watford even without watching the game. The boos that rang out from the home crowd when their former player touched the ball were enough to alert you, which was pretty frequently in the first half, at least. No longer the spry winger of his days at Vicarage Road, Young is a full-time full-back now, and his fine performance in defence meant United didn’t miss the rejuvenated Luke Shaw, concussed on England duty, especially as both goals came directly or indirectly from Young’s set-piece delivery. Still, after the game Jose Mourinho quickly confirmed Shaw would start United’s Champions League opener against Young Boys on Wednesday: a sign of his fresh faith in Shaw, but also proof that while United might have plenty of problem areas, left-back isn’t one of them. Nick Miller

• Match report: Watford 1-2 Manchester United

7) Zaha and the issue of protection

“Wilfried Zaha needs more protection from referees,” is a regular grievance from everyone associated with Crystal Palace, including the player. It is a fair complaint because he tends to suffer particularly rough treatment, although not from Huddersfield on Saturday, apart from one late tackle by Mathias Jørgensen. Afterwards Roy Hodgson said Zaha deserved “enormous credit” for insisting on playing so soon after the groin injury that forced him to miss the defeat by Southampton, explaining “he is so determined to get back on the field that the doctors and physios can’t keep him back”. Maybe so, but the manager could keep him back if there are concerns about his fitness. Instead Hodgson said he was “concerned” about the player throughout the game and would have substituted him if Huddersfield had not been pressing for an equaliser. Perhaps it is not only referees who need to protect Zaha more. Paul Doyle

• Match report: Huddersfield 0-1 Crystal Palace

8) Fulham and Bettinelli aim for top-seven finish

Marcus Bettinelli’s fine display ensured Fulham left Manchester City having lost only 3-0 yet the goalkeeper believes the promoted side should not just target survival. “We have to aim higher than that,” the 26-year-old said, pointing to Burnley’s seventh-place finish last season. “If our only aim is to stay in the league then we won’t do ourselves justice. You look at Burnley last season as to what you can achieve if you believe and put the hard work in. We’re a good side, we showed that against Burnley [winning 4-2] this month. The owners have invested in the squad and we are here to do well. Hopefully we’ll be mid-table. That’s what we need to aim for.” Bettinelli was selected for the England squad for the first time by Gareth Southgate for the games against Spain and Switzerland. “The call-up was fantastic – I was really proud of myself and everything I’ve done to get it. I have to keep trying to play well and try to get in the next squad.” Jamie Jackson

• Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Fulham

9) Benítez needs to plug gaps and pick up points

Rafael Benítez has problems. After trying to sneak counterattacking wins courtesy of smothering tactics, he switched to a high press against an Arsenal defence acclimatising to the stress placed on Petr Cech by Unai Emery’s insistence on routinely playing out from the goalkeeper. Newcastle still lost. They have collected one point – at Cardiff – from five games, equalling their worst start to a Premier League campaign, under Ruud Gullit in 1999. Admittedly they have faced four top-six teams and Benítez’s blueprints ensured no defeat was comprehensive. But Newcastle lack sufficient quality to convert enough chances. Although Arsenal were frequently shaky, individual talent airbrushed their collective structural flaws. Tellingly, Granit Xhaka altered the narrative with a game-changing free-kick before Mesut Özil’s goal sealed things. “If you have players with quality they can win games,” Benítez said. “Even if something’s wrong.” Louise Taylor

• Match report: Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal

10) Gracia admires Watford’s fight in defeat

Watford’s unblemished start may have come to an end with the 2-1 home defeat against Manchester United, but Javi Gracia is still feeling the positivity that four successive victories bring. “I am sure all of them will stay angry,” the manager said after his side were denied a point by David de Gea in stoppage time at Vicarage Road. “If we lose we have to do it like today – fighting until the end, trying to score until the end, competing until the end. This is our attitude. We don’t have to change anything.” With the rejuvenated Troy Deeney leading from the front, Gracia has every reason to think that his Watford side can maintain their momentum when they travel for the first of three away games to Craven Cottage on Saturday to face Fulham before meetings with Tottenham, in the Carabao Cup, and then Arsenal. Ed Aarons