6) West Brom must hope they can hang on to Rondón
West Bromwich Albion’s new Chinese investors have said they will make money available for transfers in January, which is why Tony Pulis set off on a short scouting mission to the continent last week. The manager says he is particularly keen to add creativity and youth to Albion’s squad, and the club’s supporters will surely welcome both. Everyone at the Hawthorns, however, must be braced for inquiries for Salomón Rondón, the striker whose part in a fine team performance at Leicester was merely the latest evidence that he is good enough to enhance practically any squad. The Venezuelan dominated Robert Huth and Wes Morgan, not only eluding them with his movement and deft touch but also outmuscling them, a feat beyond most forwards. He is a relentless and clever worker, a technically deft link man and a sharp finisher both on the ground and in the air. He will score or contribute to at least as many Premier League goals as, say, Romelu Lukaku, if Albion improve their play around him on a regular basis – or if he is bought by a more inventive team. Paul Doyle
7) Karius keeps Klopp smiling
It was clearly not the reason Liverpool are top of the Premier League for the first time since May 2014 but Loris Karius’s performance against Watford ensured the positives were not confined to the front end for Jürgen Klopp. For the first time since usurping Simon Mignolet, and despite the scoreline, the 23-year-old was able to demonstrate why he has Klopp’s backing. “Loris was really busy, which is not usual in a game that finishes 6-1,” his manager said. Karius saved well from Étienne Capoue, Miguel Britos and Troy Deeney, while those training sessions designed to rough up the goalkeeper are clearly paying dividends, judging by the improvement in how he dominated the penalty area. Klopp added: “He can improve a lot but he has all the skills we think we need for a goalkeeper. We all expect 22-, 23-, 24-year-old boys to be ready for everything in the world but he is on the right way.” Andy Hunter
8) Middlesbrough belief gives them positive outlook
A late Marten de Roon header grabbed a share of the points on Saturday as Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough followed Everton and Southampton in City’s previous two home league games by taking a draw. Adam Forshaw outlined how they did it. “Maybe we did surprise them a bit,” he said. “Maybe we were a little bit too passive in the first half, we were a lot more positive in the second half and we’ve got ourselves a point at Man City. The manager said we needed more belief, he reminded us what we did well [in the away draw] against Arsenal, getting forward and creating chances.” The key word here is “belief”. Four days after City downed Lionel Messi’s Barcelona 3-1 at the same venue, Boro walked out for the second half and decided to take no notice of that result and so pressed and took the game to Pep Guardiola’s men – and the Catalan knows the aura of frightening invincibility built by the 10 straight wins at the season’s start is now gone. Jamie Jackson
9) Carrick gives United much-needed control
In many ways the Manchester United team at Swansea was full of square pegs in round holes, yet the inclusion of one player gave them balance. Michael Carrick made his first Premier League start of the season and helped United to take control of the game. He completed 95% of his passes and it seemed a fair point when a journalist informed José Mourinho that United have won all six of the matches in which Carrick has taken part this season and, on the back of that statistic, wondered whether the manager would consider playing the 35-year-old, who is only three months older than Zlatan Ibrahimovic, more often. “I would love to play him every game, but that’s not possible,” Mourinho said. When asked to elaborate, Mourinho replied: “For the same reason I cannot go to the gym every day any more. But [Carrick] started today and he played very, very well.” Stuart James
10) Hughes lets talented Bojan off the leash
Joe Allen has been the key man for Stoke of late, scoring four goals during a five-match unbeaten run. Bojan Krkic, the player Allen has eased out of the side, ensured that run continued at West Ham on Saturday with a deft late equaliser for a valuable away point. Mark Hughes deserves credit for the double substitution that brought Krkic into play. Alongside Peter Crouch, he asked different questions of a wobbly Hammers back four, while Allen dropped out of his new No10 role and back into central midfield. Hughes had cast Krkic to the bench, after a worrying start of only two points from six games. Now, seeing confidence return, Hughes felt comfortable enough to bring the sparkling Spaniard back to his first XI. “Clearly we have a really talented player within our ranks,” Hughes said of Krkic. “I’d suggest that given we’re on a six-game [unbeaten] run, he’s going to get opportunities. But we just had to be a little patient.” Paul MacInnes
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