1) Chelsea dial up the tempo for their latest title charge
Rewind two years and José Mourinho’s table-topping Chelsea were in the process of retreating into their shells. Scarred by a 5-3 defeat at White Hart Lane on New Year’s Day, a lengthy run-in to the title coronation became a grind, prioritising defensive solidity and counterattacking brilliance. The tactic worked to perfection. They would lose only one of the 18 matches after Tottenham Hotspur, and that was once the league had been won, but it was dour viewing at times. This year, it seems, will be different. “We want to play the kind of football we did against Arsenal,” said Eden Hazard. “We don’t want to sit back, deep, and wait on the counter. We have the players to get the ball, play with it, and we need to use this more.” Spurs are the only team to have beaten Antonio Conte’s side since September, and that loss did not spark a revamped approach. No one else has found a means of stopping them. Continue playing in this bold fashion and the title is theirs. Dominic Fifield
Hazard takes a kicking to highlight Chelsea’s superiority
Michael Cox: Arsenal surprise thwarted by Chelsea’s shape
Jacob Steinberg: Arsenal endure groundhog day
2) Van Aanholt has a long afternoon on Crystal Palace debut
During a torrid home debut for Crystal Palace that Patrick van Aanholt is unlikely to forget in a hurry, the Dutchman suffered the dubious distinction of being booed by both sets of fans following his move from Sunderland early last week. He had not helped himself in the buildup to a Palace defeat that left home fans seething by saying he was moving to “a better team”, despite adding the caveat that he did not want “to disrespect the Sunderland players” even as he conveyed the impression that he did not think they were much good. Although David Moyes claimed the wing-back was well liked by his former team-mates, an assured performance by Bryan Oviedo suggests Van Aanholt may not be missed on Wearside. Invariably better going forward than he is on the back foot, Van Aanholt was given the run-around by Adnan Januzaj. His replacement from Everton was one of Sunderland’s stand-out performers despite not having played since early November. Of course one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but having sold Van Aanholt for £14m and brought Oviedo and Darron Gibson in from Everton for just over half that amount, Sunderland look to have completed the kind of shrewd business with which they are not usually associated. Barry Glendenning
Allardyce calls players in early after chairman speech
Match report: Crystal Palace 0-4 Sunderland
3) Where would Everton be without Lukaku?
Romelu Lukaku shot to the top of the leading scorers’ list with his four-goal haul against Bournemouth. Eddie Howe admitted his defence found the striker hard to handle and Ronald Koeman described the striker’s contribution as world class. “He’s clinical,” the Everton manager said. “He’s got big, big quality – he’s one of the best around.” All of which begs the question, where would Everton be without the big man up front? Given that Lukaku chipped in with an assist as well as four goals against Bournemouth they could easily have been looking at an embarrassing home defeat. Koeman, for one, is willing to confront that possibility. “We got what we deserved in the end but if you allow your intensity to drop in the second half you make life difficult for yourself,” he said. “Maybe at this moment we are not quite as good as we think we are.” Koeman nevertheless believes Everton are good enough to claim one of the Europa League places at the end of the season. They do appear to be the best of the rest outside the top six, but it will not have escaped anyone’s attention that their quest for Europe is being propelled by a striker of Champions League quality. Paul Wilson
Match report: Everton 6-3 Bournemouth
The Dozen: the weekend’s best Premier League photos
4) Niasse finally gives Evertonians something to cheer
The curious case of Everton’s Oumar Niasse took a stranger turn as he raced free to score against Liverpool, showing great composure to seal Hull’s 2-0 victory. Signed for £13.5m by Roberto Martínez but having failed to impress Ronald Koeman, there will undoubtedly have been a few Evertonians toasting the Senegal forward at the weekend. Forced to train with the Everton Under-23s and not given a locker by his parent club, now at least he has the opportunity to show those in England what Martínez saw when signing him from Lokomotiv Moscow. He has already scored twice for Hull and is determined to prove Koeman wrong after the Dutch coach ruled that he was surplus to requirements following one 45-minute appearance in pre-season. Niasse said: “Time will show if [Koeman] was fair or not. I just asked for time. I stayed there for five months, training with the second team, playing games with them and trying to give my best at every chance. That didn’t happen but now I’ve got the chance to stay in the Premier League with Hull so time will tell if it was fair or not. I heard a lot of things [criticism] from social media but I don’t like social media. You have people who don’t love you and people who don’t know football. The most important is people who know football and you listen to them. When I’m fit and on the pitch, time will always show.” Goals have been Hull’s main problem this season. Can Niasse prove the doubters – and Koeman – wrong? James Riach
Match report: Hull City 2-0 Liverpool
Klopp searches forlornly for solution to halt rut
5) Is Ranieri’s position really in danger?
How much goodwill does pulling off arguably the greatest achievement in English football buy? Does leading Leicester City to the Premier League title make Claudio Ranieri unsackable? Would it be unfair to do anything while Leicester are still in the Champions League? These are the sort of questions being asked after Leicester fell to a fourth successive league defeat that prompted Kasper Schmeichel to admit that they will be relegated unless they stand up “to be counted” over the remainder of the season. It is a scenario that no one could have envisaged in the summer and puts Leicester’s owners in a real quandary. They are not the sort of people to make knee-jerk decisions and have showed loyalty to managers in the past, yet anyone who witnessed the way Leicester imploded against United will know just how bleak things are for the champions right now. Stuart James
Rudderless Leicester kindle doubts over Ranieri’s future
Match report: Leicester City 0-3 Manchester United
Schmeichel warns of relegation after ‘unacceptable’ defeat
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6) Manchester City as bad at the back as they are good up front
Manchester City moved up to third with their last-gasp win over Swansea City and with 14 Premier League games remaining and a 10-point gap to Chelsea it really is now or never for an unlikely title challenge. Going forward they can be a dream but what Pep Guardiola has to do is sort out a defence that has difficulty soaking up the pressure that inevitably comes in all games. On Sunday it nearly cost them and fielding Fernandinho at right-back is a telling sign of Guardiola’s issues with the rearguard. Given the forward riches of Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Agüero, Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sané, if City finish as runners-up, as now seems possible, the head coach has to target a left- and right-back plus at least one centre-back this summer or next season City will again fall short. Jamie Jackson
Match report: Manchester City 2-1 Swansea City
Agüero casts doubt over future but club not keen to sell
7) Fonte suggests a change of tack at West Ham has worked
“José Fonte baby, José Fonte, wooah.” That was the refrain, alongside a less charitable one about Dimitri Payet, from the West Ham fans at the end of their victory over Southampton. Of course, it was largely meant to rile the home support who had enjoyed the Portuguese’s reliable defending for seven years. But it was also recognition that here the January signing, after an uncomfortable debut against Manchester City, slotted into Slaven Bilic’s setup, as did another new signing, Robert Snodgrass. After the match Bilic described Fonte, born in Penafiel, as a British player. “Of course he’s Portuguese, but he’s played in League One,” West Ham’s manager said. “In every league, but especially in this league, it’s important to have the core of homegrown players. That’s the reason we signed that quality, that’s why we opted for them.” Bilic spent his money in the summer window on foreign talent, few of whom adapted to the league and the Hammers’ on-field identity was visibly affected. The Payet saga appears to have prompted a change of tack, and on Saturday it worked. Paul MacInnes
Match report: Southampton 1-3 West Ham United
Will deadline day signings be key for relegation strugglers?
8) Boro need their new recruits to go on a goal spree
Patrick Bamford has never had much impact on the Premier League despite loan spells at Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Burnley. Nor has Rudy Gestede, although at least he showed at Aston Villa that his aerial power can bother defences. Middlesbrough need at least one of those January recruits – both signed on permanent transfers at a cost approaching £12m for the pair – to go on a freakish goal spree because, despite having some admirable qualities, it is going to be very difficult for Aitor Karanka’s side to defend their way out of trouble if the team continue scoring at a rate of 0.79 goals per Premier League game. They need that goal spree to start soon because Boro, one point above the relegation zone, face the most daunting run-in of any struggling side, with their final six matches including fixtures against Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. Paul Doyle
Match report: Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Middlesbrough
Pochettino builds base to help Spurs shake flimsy reputation
9) Where will Niang’s career go from here?
Who can say how M’Baye Niang’s career at Milan might have turned out if he had held his nerve when he sprinted through on goal at the Camp Nou four years ago? Facing the might of Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League, Milan were leading 2-1 on aggregate in the second leg when Niang eluded the home defence near the end of the first half and found himself with only Víctor Valdés to beat. An away goal at that point might have been too much for Barcelona to come back from. But the teenager hit the post, Lionel Messi levelled the tie a minute later, Barcelona went through and now Niang finds himself on loan at Watford. The 22-year-old remains a fine prospect, however, and he has made an excellent start at Vicarage Road, opening his account in the win over Burnley. Can he tempt Watford into spending £13.5m to make the move permanent? Jacob Steinberg
Match report: Watford 2-1 Burnley
10) Conspiracy theorists Stoke need to get Berahino firing
There is talk of conspiracy in the Potteries. After Mark Hughes’s post-match press conference was ended swiftly, following his arch suggestion that it was West Brom who leaked news of Saido Berahino’s ban for recreational drug use, Ryan Shawcross got involved too. “I was a bit disappointed with the stories coming out the day before which were obviously no coincidence,” said the Stoke defender after the 1-0 defeat. “Someone from West Brom’s side must have been speaking to the papers. I didn’t think it was needed.” All of which is very entertaining but more pertinent to Stoke is ensuring their new signing is actually worth having. Berahino came on with 30 minutes left but it took him 20 minutes to even touch the ball, and when he did he was broadly ineffectual. He clearly lacks match fitness, which will come in time, but the suspicion that the forward often flatters to deceive will remain until he justifies the trouble a couple of clubs have gone to for him. Nick Miller
Match report: West Brom 1-0 Stoke City
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