1. Is Brendan Rodgers talking nonsense?
SPEAKING AHEAD OF this weekend’s match, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers says: ”West Ham at home will be our toughest game of the four [so far].”
Considering that Liverpool have already played both Stoke and Arsenal away, this claim is debatable at best.
That said, West Ham did travel to the Emirates and win 2-0 on the opening day of the season, though the Hammers’ home form has been considerably less convincing since then, losing 2-1 and 4-3 to Leicester and Bournemouth respectively.
Though perhaps Rodgers has a point — maybe Slaven Bilic’s side are more comfortable playing a pragmatic, counter-attacking style on their travels, rather than having to attack teams they are expected to beat at home.
2. Can Tottenham pick up first win of the season?
It’s been a less than encouraging start to the season for Tottenham.
After three Premier League matches, the White Hart Lane outfit are still without a win, having blown leads against Leicester and Stoke respectively, in addition to a 1-0 opening day loss against Man United.
For Saturday’s late kick-off, Spurs face an Everton side who have been similarly inconsistent, beating Southampton 3-0, but losing to Man City and drawing with Watford.
Tottenham will be without key midfielder Christian Eriksen, while Harry Kane has had a quiet start to the campaign, though the recently announced arrival of new striker Son Heung-min should take some of the pressure off the 22-year-old England international.
3. Will Herrera be given number 10 role?
(Herrera impressed in the Champions League during the week)
Plenty of attention will paid to the Man United teamsheet ahead of Sunday’s clash with Swansea.
The Red Devils finished much better than they started in the Champions League this week against Club Brugge, with Ander Herrera impressing after being moved to the number 10 role following Adnan Januzaj’s half-time substitution.
However, Swansea are an entirely different prospect to Club Brugge, with the Welsh side enjoying an impressive start to the season.
Garry Monk’s men are unbeaten so far, and caught the eye in particular when they earned a 2-2 draw away to Chelsea.
In Belgium during the week, Herrera looked sharp, but it was against a tiring team who had all but thrown in the towel. Whether the 26-year-old is a long-term solution at number 10 for United remains to be seen.
4. Can one of the biggest shocks in Premier League history happen?
Should Watford pull off a victory away to Man City on Saturday, it would surely be one of the biggest shocks in Premier League history.
Despite only three games having been played, Man City are starting to look a class apart from their rivals already.
David Silva is as good as ever, pulling the strings in midfield, Yaya Toure appears rejuvenated and Raheem Sterling has added some much-needed pace and youthful enthusiasm to the side.
That said, Watford have surprised a few people already with their performances, enjoying an unbeaten start to the Premier League season, so it would be foolish to write off their chances entirely.
5. Will Chelsea’s defence tighten up?
Chelsea’s defence has looked unusually vulnerable this season.
After three games, they have conceded seven goals this season — that’s over 25% of the total tally they let in the 2013-14 campaign, and just two less than the amount of goals they conceded last season at home.
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, have got their campaign off to an encouraging start — they are currently in fifth place having won two of their opening three matches.
Yet despite their recent problems, anything other than a win for Chelsea would be a major surprise — Saturday will be Mourinho’s 100th home Premier League game in charge at Stamford Bridge, and of those matches, he has won 76 and lost just one.
Originally published Friday at 7.15pm
Hard to be much worse than last season, but it there merit on focusing entirely on youth when U21′s and minors have been so poor in recent years.
This years minor team lost by 5 points to all Ireland champions Tipperary. This was closer than any team got to tipp this year and Cork were 6 points up at one stage of the 2nd half.
Closer than the Waterford team that beat Tipp?
@Stephen Casey: that was u21
Both Sean.
http://munster.gaa.ie/fixtures/minor/
The Waterford team that were beaten by cork in the 1st round
Yes they were. Cork had a good minor team this year. But to say they came closer to Tipp than a team that beat Tipp is incorrect.
Surely brosnan and moylan will be involved when there involvement with the glen is finished
Not arguing that there aren’t some talented young hurlers in Cork, things can’t be that bad, but given the lack of success at underage for an extended period it seems unlikely there are bunch coming through to revive the senior team. Just seems like some managers do out of desperation and an easy answer, just bringing some young lads onto a sinking ship won’t do them any good.
So, basically he’s getting his young lad on the team!
His young lad who’s widely considered one of the best young hurlers in Cork….
His young lad I have seen since u 14. A very good talent
His young lad is a serious talent.
Pa Callaghan is the fella he should be after…
Ye a very good player and putting him senior can bring him on more look forward to seeing him in the league
@John S: @John S Truth the last thing we need now is nepotism further hurting our chances of becoming a side that can even be competitive with the likes of the top tier teams such as Wexford and Clare.
From what I seen of him last year I taught Cronin was a good player
@ John S. – to be fair to him, shane Kingston is a handy enough hurler; he hasn’t come out of nowhere & is there on merit. Plenty of younger players from the Dev squad – time will tell
Pa O’Callaghan should be in there…refusing the invite again, what his beef i wonder?
Pa callaghan is a good prospect
Pa callaghan much better