Son shines again for Tottenham, Chelsea and Leicester need defensive shake-ups, Palace signings prove their value and Southampton are ticking over againThe moment that summed up the discord in the Chelsea defence came on 64 minutes, when Gary Cahill wanted Thibaut Courtois to come to collect; the goalkeeper stayed on his line and Branislav Ivanovic bludgeoned the ball into touch. Cahill and Courtois argued. But errors had disfigured the performance to leave Chelsea 3-0 down at half-time: it was shocking, for example, to see how easily Mesut Özil accelerated away from the defensive midfielder N’Golo Kanté before he scored Arsenal’s third. Antonio Conte did not cancel his players’ day off on Sunday but they can expect a video inquest when...
As he reaches his 1,000th match as a manager with West Brom’s trip to his old club Stoke, Tony Pulis is wearily accustomed to people denigrating his management style but says the secret of his longevity is his ability to adjustAutumn 1992. Tony Pulis is a rookie manager at Bournemouth setting out on the long road that has brought him to the point of his 1,000th match. His first company car, a gift from the chairman, Norman Hayward, has already been to the garage after smoke started pouring out of the dashboard on the M3 and Pulis is getting an early lesson in the economics of lower-division football.“The chairman has bought me a car that’s about 20 years old,” Pulis...
A crunch London derby as Arsenal host Chelsea, Michael Carrick could be key for Manchester United, and Vincent Janssen gets his chance to shineOn a weekend when much will be made of Arsène Wenger’s 20th anniversary as Arsenal manager, the Frenchman would not be human if he didn’t recall the manner in which Chelsea ruined the occasion of his 1,000th game in charge. It was March 2014 and on a strange afternoon at Stamford Bridge, Andre Marriner sent off Kieran Gibbs in a case of mistaken identity, as José Mourinho’s side hit their visitors for six without reply. Arsenal had already lost 6-3 at Manchester City and 5-1 at Liverpool that season, capitulations that rendered Wenger’s team and any aspirations...
Antonio Conte may need to trust Cesc Fàbregas, Arsène Wenger is putting faith in Theo Walcott, and Nacer Chadli could be the league’s renaissance man Related: Manchester United’s midfield left in a mess by Wayne Rooney’s deeper role | Paul Doyle Related: Mark Hughes calls on Stoke City to turn around disastrous early form Related: The Dozen: the weekend's best Premier League photos Continue reading...