The Key taking points:

As we come off another Premier League weekend there have been a few taking points at the top and bottom of the table. In this edition I will analyse the five key taking points of this weekends games.

Mourinho and United get it right:

In the first game of the weekend the lunchtime kick off saw Manchester United take on the Champions Leicester. After a few weeks of bad results and small criticism from the press Jose Mourinho and Man Utd bounced back big time with a 4-1 win at Old Trafford, The first minutes where  cagey but once Chris Smalling scored from a corner United where utterly dominant with more goals from Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and a first goal for world record signing Paul Pogba killed the game before half time. Leicester scored a consolation goal but it wasn’t enough. The talking point will be United showing the old dominant signs and looking great on attack, the other talking point was Mourinho finally dropping Wayne Rooney to the bench. With Rooney on the bench United looked better then ever and this will be a vindication for United fans who’ve waited for him to be dropped. Some will argue that this is the beginning of the end for Rooney but others will say he could be good off the bench. With this big win and the team gelling well the best advice for Mourinho would be to stick with this team especially Herrera and Pogba in midfield and Mata in his No.10 role.

Arsenal triumphant in Wenger anniversary game: 

In the week since he took over Arsenal 20 years ago Arsene Wenger will have been hoping for a convincing win to help ease the usual pressures he has and my god he got it. In a first half display reminded of the old Arsenal the gunners tore apart old rivals Chelsea in scintillating  demolition job with Alexis Sanches, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil all getting on the scoresheet. You can argue that if Arsenal keep this up they can be contenders but then it is Arsenal. For fans the hope is that the team will finally kick on. On the Chelsea front they need to simply sort the defence. For Wenger it will be a huge relief that he has beaten a rival he hasn’t had great pleasure in beating for a long time and with his anniversary this week he will be glad to celebrate it with a win.

Sloppy Hammers: 

For West Ham things just seem worse. With all the hope of and expectation of the new stadium and the potential it has been a season to forget so far for the Hammers. For Slavian Billic a 3-0 home defeat to Southampton just pounded on the pain. With injuries to key players and everything around the new London stadium it’s not what anyone expected from West Ham. What also hasn’t helped is a not so good window where they tried to sign strikers but got turned down. For West Ham fans the hope is once players like Creswell, Carroll and Ayew come back from injury the team will gel but that is the hope. For the Hammers and Billic the best thing to do is see the rough with the smooth and dig results out just to get a winning feeling back into the team otherwise this new beginning could turn into a nightmare.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Liverpool: 

For Liverpool things seem to be on the up after a thumping 5-1 win over Hull. For manager Jurgen Klopp we are starting to see more of his heavy metal press style system, and starting to feel that Liverpool could be on the way back amongst the big boys. New signing Sadio Mane is looking scintillating atm Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino are looking on fire as well. Joel Matip looks like a bargain, and the Brazilian Wonderkid Phillipe Coutinho again produces another great strike. Another wonder is James Milner at left-back which doesn’t look bad and Gini Wijnaldum is looking like a midfield general. If Klopp can continue this then you’d have Liverpool as title contenders come February/March which would have every football neutral interested, for every Liverpool fan the advice would be to just enjoy this period and they perhaps will. The bigger tests lie ahead including Man Utd and Man City but after two victories against three of their rivals you’d start fancying Liverpool for top 4 or a trophy this season.

Sunderland Woes Continue 

For David Moyes and Sunderland things just continue to get worse. After conceding a 2-0 lead the Black Cats went on to lose to a Christian Benteke header in the last minute which put Sunderland bottom of the table. ATM it seems like Groundhog Day for fans who have put up with a relegation fight for the last few seasons now. With manager David Moyes already talking about a scrap for survival the mood around Sunderland might be down but if there is a team better at the survival it is the Black Cats. What they have to improve on is keeping a lead and maintaining it until the final whistle because too many times Sunderland have conceded leads late on, the hope is that when January comes round Moyes will be able to add to his squad and find the exact players he needs. But up until that point Moyes and Sunderland need to either win matches or it could be a worrying state of affairs before Christmas.