We’re back with our Monday dose of ill-thought-out reactions to the Premier League‘s weekend action on Matchday 6.
Every week, we react to the weekend’s Premier League football by coming to the kind of hastily made conclusions that we, as a sports data company, shouldn’t really be making.
But everyone deserves a bit of fun, so indulge us. We’ll even use some data to (try and) back up what we’re saying.
Here’s this week’s helping of knee-jerk reactions to the weekend’s action.
Fernandes’ Red Card is a Blessing in Disguise
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes hasn’t been at his best at the start of this season, and Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Tottenham was the nadir.
Even before the game, he had attempted more shots (17) without scoring than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues this season. Then, his petulant ‘tackle’ on James Maddison was punished with a straight red card that left his team up a very specific kind of creek without a paddle.
Whether or not it was a red-card offence – something Fernandes made clear he felt wasn’t the case after the game – the decision to take his opponent down when absolutely nowhere near the ball was not one of a top-class leader.
He often lets his frustration get the better of him, but usually that is limited to harmlessly throwing his arms up in despair when his teammates make a mistake or fail to pass the ball to him, but this time he did something that all but ended his team’s chances of getting back into the game.
Spurs were already well on top, 1-0 to the good having dominated with 12 shots to United’s three, and Fernandes’ red effectively ended the game as a contest with only 42 minutes on the clock.
The Portuguese midfielder can be brilliant, but he hasn’t been this season, and it was arguably time to rotate him out of the team anyway. With Joshua Zirkzee dropping into the spaces that Fernandes likes to take up, he has found it harder to affect games, but leaving him out would have been a colossal call from Erik ten Hag. Now, with his captain banned for three games, United’s under-fire manager has to try something new, and he should see it as an opportunity.
Palmer is the Best Player in the World
Cole Palmer is a ridiculous footballer. On Saturday, he became the first player in Premier League history to score four goals in the first half of a match with a genuinely astonishing display against Brighton. It was the second-fastest four-goal haul on record (since 2006-07) after Jermain Defoe for Spurs vs Wigan in 2009, with just 19 minutes and 57 seconds separating his first and last goals.
He also became only the second Chelsea player to score four goals in two different Premier League games alongside Frank Lampard, and moved joint-first among Chelsea players for Premier League hat-tricks, with three, alongside club legends Lampard, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Didier Drogba. A quick reminder that Palmer is only six games into his second season at Chelsea.
Palmer now has 10 goal involvements for the season (six goals, four assists) and looks utterly unplayable. He needs to keep up his current form over a longer period of time than six games at the start of this season to be considered among the best players in the world, but on recent showings it’s impossible to rule him out of the conversation.
He ran the show against Brighton, and with seven shots and four chances created, he could easily have had more to show for his work. Is there anyone on the planet scoring and creating goals like him right now? Arguably not.
Man City Can’t Win the Title Without Rodri
There is much more to Manchester City than their main man in midfield, but they are unquestionably a lesser team without Rodri. The way they have played since he got injured suggests that they could be in for a long, long season with him on the treatment table.
Both after he went off in the draw against Arsenal and in Saturday’s 1-1 stalemate at Newcastle, City struggled to create chances, passing the ball around in front of their opponents impotently, unable to break down a low block. They generated chances worth just 0.91 xG this weekend.
That will also have something to do with Kevin De Bruyne’s absence, and the Belgian should be back in the next few weeks, which will certainly help things in attack. In some senses, Saturday’s draw was a positive result – City had lost their last four Premier League games when both Rodri and De Bruyne were missing from their starting lineup.
But without Rodri they are also far too porous at the back. Arsenal scored twice against them before being reduced to 10 men and Newcastle had the better chances at St. James’ Park. There’s a very long way to go, but City will be without Rodri for the whole season, and that could be a worry for their title hopes.
Fulham Are This Season’s Dark Horses
Since a scarcely deserved opening-day 1-0 loss at Manchester United, Fulham have gone five Premier League games without defeat, and Saturday’s 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest took them up to sixth.
Only the unbeaten pair of Manchester City and Arsenal have gone longer without losing in the Premier League (six games each), and only Liverpool have conceded fewer goals this season (two) than Marco Silva’s impressive side (five).
The win at Forest was far from simple, but it came in difficult circumstances against another underrated side who have started the season well. This was Forest’s first defeat of the campaign.
Fulham’s defence is their biggest strength, but they also have plenty of attacking talent in the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Alex Iwobi and Raúl Jiménez, who scored for a third consecutive Premier League game – only the second time he has ever done so, and the first since 2019.
If Jiménez can hit the kind of form he showed before the life-threatening head injury he suffered while playing for Wolves, with the defence Fulham have, there’s no reason they can’t challenge for a European spot.
It’s Time to Start Worrying About Crystal Palace
When Crystal Palace have struggled in recent times, it’s often been because Michael Olise wasn’t available. That wasn’t always a problem before this season but – for obvious reasons – there is now less in the way of light at the end of that particular tunnel.
Olise is, of course, now tearing it up for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and Champions League. Palace, meanwhile, are in the Premier League relegation zone, still without a win after throwing away a lead to fall to a 2-1 defeat at Everton on Saturday.
There had been some signs of improvement in recent weeks, with their three draws in a row including decent results against Chelsea and Manchester United, but this weekend they had a huge opportunity to beat another winless side and they let it slip.
Goals have been a problem, with their five so far higher than only Southampton (two) of all Premier League teams, and that’s prior to Saints’ clash with Bournemouth on Monday. Palace’s expected goals total of 7.6 is higher than eight other teams, though, suggesting they are creating enough chances, but their underperformance in front of goal compared to their xG (-3.6 – as one of their goals was an own goal with no xG value) hints at either a lack of confidence or possibly quality that could be telling in their battle to avoid the drop.
Manager Oliver Glasner needs to see some improvement, and quick.
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.