Man United are serious title contenders and four other things we learned from the Premier League

28 September 2015 11:21

We highlight five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend:

1. Daniel Sturridge can rescue Brendan Rodgers

There is little question that the Liverpool manager remains under intense pressure, and little question that he deserves to be, the club having spent so much money but failing to improve their team.

Should Sturridge, having recovered from his lengthy injury problems, remain fit and continue to rediscover the exceptional form he has previously demonstrated, however, in a promising front three alongside Philippe Coutinho and Danny Ings, he has the potential to score the goals to keep Brendan Rodgers in his job.

Rodgers will know he needs him to do so immediately, because without a run of results as promising as it is lengthy, one defeat will mean the past week's pressure will instantly return. In Sturridge he possesses a striker of the highest calibre capable of inspiring a challenge for the Premier League's top four; without him, he will soon be unemployed.

2. Erik Lamela can finally justify his £25.7million transfer fee

Tottenham forward Erik Lamela was the most eye-catching recruit purchased with the £86million they received when selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in 2014, but so far he has largely failed to convince.

However, having impressed in last week's 1-0 Premier League win over Crystal Palace, he further improved in Saturday's 4-1 defeat of Manchester City and finally appeared confident in an attacking triumvirate, alongside Christian Eriksen and Hueng-Min Son, behind Harry Kane.

Scoring Spurs' fourth goal, Lamela, playing in a settled team for perhaps the first time in over two years at the club, is gathering the momentum to express his true ability. If he fails hereafter, future injuries aside, there can be no excuses.

3. Manchester United are serious title contenders

It can no longer be ignored. United may be far from the fine team managed by Sir Alex Ferguson, but after seven fixtures they are top of the Premier League, albeit by only one point, and appear as though they will soon be capable of more.

After such an inconsistent approach to team selection, manager Louis van Gaal appears close to discovering his strongest team. This, coupled with the fact that David de Gea remains at the club, Anthony Martial's promising form and the combination of Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Memphis Depay as three forwards behind a lone striker, unquestionably makes them a serious threat to rivals Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.

4. Alexis Sanchez is back to his best

Alexis Sanchez was consistently among Arsenal's finest players throughout the course of the past season and played a significant role in them retaining the FA Cup.

That triumph came towards the conclusion of a particularly-demanding schedule, however. At the end of a season with Barcelona, Chile's Sanchez played at the 2014 World Cup before joining Arsenal and playing a full season ahead of the 2015 Copa America.

His disappointing start to the season was therefore understandable, but despite their exceptional quality Arsenal have unquestionably missed his influence. Saturday's hat-trick, in a 5-2 win at Leicester, represented the rediscovery of his finest form and could yet prove the catalyst for a sustained title challenge.

5. Rotation should be used in moderation

Manchester City's 4-1 defeat at Tottenham may have owed much to the hosts' equalising goal wrongly not being ruled out for offside, but the suspicion remains that their strongest team would regardless have secured victory.

Six of those selected to start their opening fixture of the season, a 3-0 victory at West Brom, did not start on Saturday at White Hart Lane. Some changes were forced upon Manuel Pellegrini by circumstances beyond his control, such as a late injury to Vincent Kompany, but others he decided upon.

Rotation systems work and are necessary to challenge over the course of a demanding season, but changes need to be made in moderation, and ideally not throughout the spine of the team, to be effective. Pellegrini changed too much and City suffered as a consequence. They do, however, remain favourites for the title.

Source: PA-WIRE