Manchester United’s revival continued thanks to a reborn English star as Mohamed Salah’s struggles get worse by the week.
Also, Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers is under increasing pressure to get a result and two sides were done dirty by everyone’s favourite piece of technology in football.
Review the weekend that was in this week’s Premier League Talking Points!
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UTD STAR’S ‘THROWBACK’ PERFORMANCE LEADS RED DEVILS RESURGENCE
How the mood has shifted at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils endured a nightmare start, conceding six goals in two losses to start the season, as Erik ten Hag was handed a brutal reality check of life as a Premier League manager.
But now, Manchester United have won four on the bounce and in a major warning to the rest of the competition, the side is playing with some serious swagger as the 3-1 win over Arsenal demonstrated.
The decision to shake up the back four has been pivotal to United’s resurgence, but so too has been the form of English international Marcus Rashford up front.
The 24-year-old struggled badly with form last season and has had to deal with several niggling injuries that prevented him from getting a proper run of games.
But a fully fit Rashford is not just scoring and playing with a smile on his face.
He’s also keeping superstar Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench and justifiably so.
Rashford had a hand in all three of United’s goals against Arsenal, scoring twice and assisting $AUD138 million man Antony for his debut goal.
Such an eye-catching performance had many fans and perhaps even previous United managers wondering the same question: where has this Rashford been for all this time?
“Two goals and an assist and a game of aggressive, positive running as he led the attack felt like a throwback for, unfortunately, more than a few seasons as the 24-year-old took the game by the scruff of the neck,” The Telegraph’s Jason Burt wrote.
“Rashford will argue that this is the first time in those two, maybe even three years, that he is injury-free and he certainly looks liberated with Erik ten Hag reaping the benefit.”
Rashford’s run of form couldn’t come at a better time either, as England have Nations League matches against Italy and Germany on the horizon.
If the 24-year-old brings his club form to his country, Rashford will almost certainly have a spot on the England plane to Qatar in November.
THE DAMNING NUMBERS BEHIND SALAH’S DISAPPEARANCE
After six games last season, Mohamed Salah had five goals to his name.
After six games this season, the Egyptian star has just two.
That’s not a bad haul by the usual standards, but by the lofty ones set by Salah himself from previous campaigns, it’s not good.
Things aren’t going quite right for Liverpool’s star man at the minute, but it must be asked: is this just a Salah issue, or is the goal drought down to Jurgen Klopp’s side not functioning as usual?
The answer is almost certainly hidden in between.
The departure of Sadio Mane, Salah’s forward partner for several years, has not helped.
Mane and Salah had grown to know each other’s games so well, the connection was almost telepathic in the final third.
This season, Salah has had to adapt and learn the games of Luis Diaz and big-money summer signing Darwin Nunez.
Becoming in sync with the South American duo will not happen overnight, especially because Nunez and Mane are two very different types of players.
But it’s not just Salah who is individually struggling in this Liverpool team.
Virgil van Dijk no longer appears to be the imperious figure at the heart of the Reds defence we’ve come to know him as and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defensive limitations have been exposed on a worrying regularity this season.
But when it comes to Salah on an individual basis, a comparison of his numbers this season compared to last paint a worrying picture.
According to The Athletic, Salah averages 47.7 touches of the ball per 90 minutes this season.
In the 2021/22 campaign, he averaged 56 touches per 90.
Additionally, Salah has attempted a meagre 2.8 shots from open play per 90 this season, a downgrade from the 4.3 shots last season.
Again, there are several underlying factors which explain the downward trend, but it’s safe to say Salah is a shell of himself this season.
If Klopp wants his Liverpool side back to their best, he must find a way to get Salah more involved or the season will quickly slip away from their grasp.
LEICESTER HAS BECOME ‘TOXIC COCKTAIL OF ANGST AND SLOPPINESS’
Bottom of the table with just one point and 16 goals conceded, it’s going from bad to worse for Brendan Rodgers and Leicester City.
The Foxes slumped to a fifth-straight league defeat as Brighton condemned the visitors to a 5-2 defeat at the Amex Stadium.
The last time Leicester lost five in a row saw Claudio Ranieri lose his job at the King Power Stadium and sentiment is growing that a similar fate is looking for Rodgers.
Goalkeeper Danny Ward and midfielder Wilfried Ndidi argued with one another during the defeat, so too did star man James Maddison and Daniel Amartey.
As The Guardian’s San Dalling notes, Leicester under Rodgers have now become “a toxic cocktail of angst and sloppiness.”
Despite the trainwreck run of form, Rodgers remains adamant he can turn things around and refuses to give in.
“I’ve always come in early and finished late at night,” Rodgers said after the loss.
“Until somebody tells me differently, I’ll continue to do that.
“We have to embrace the challenge. I’m certainly not going to shirk it.”
If there is a silver lining in Leicester’s struggles, it is that Tottenham Hotspur is the only top half team Rodgers’ side will face in the next five league games.
But a failure to beat fellow strugglers Aston Villa in the next fixture and Rodgers might not be around to pit his tactical nous against Spurs boss Antonio Conte.
AUSSIE BEHIND ‘ONE OF THE WORST DECISIONS’ AS VAR STORM ERUPTS
What would a weekend in the Premier League be without some VAR drama?
Let’s be honest, West Ham United and Newcastle were robbed of results against Chelsea and Crystal Palace respectively.
The Hammers thought they scored a late equaliser via Maxwel Cornet against Chelsea but the VAR at Stamford Bridge, which just so happened to be Australian referee Jarred Gillett, instructed ref Andrew Madley to reassess the incident on the pitchside monitor.
Madley, who originally awarded a goal to West Ham, then decided to overturn his decision on the basis Jarrod Bowen had fouled Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy in the process.
Bowen had to jump over the on-rushing Mendy and the Hammers winger’s leg barely brushed Mendy’s shoulder, but the Chelsea man was left writhing in pain rather theatrically.
West Ham boss David Moyes was left furious and branded Madley’s decision to overturn it was “scandalous” and “absolutely rotten”, as the Scot also believed “it doesn’t say much about whoever sent him over from VAR as well.”
Hammers skipper Declan Rice also blasted Gillett’s call to instruct Madley to review the incident.
“That’s up there with one of the worst VAR decisions made since it’s come into the game,” Rice said.
“Shambles. Can’t believe the referee has even been asked to go take a look at the monitor! Cannot see how they’ve come to that decision.”
Up at St James’ Park in Newcastle, Eddie Howe’s side thought they had secured the breakthrough not long after half time when Palace defender Tyrick Mitchell put the ball into the back of his own net.
However, VAR intervened and Willock was adjudged to have fouled Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
But the footage shows Mitchell essentially pushed Willock into Guaita, giving the Newcastle star nowhere else to go.
Eddie Howe was nowhere near as openly furious as Moyes was, but made a valid point that if Newcastle weren’t given a goal, perhaps they should have received another form of compensation given Mitchell’s push on Willock in the box.
“I didn’t think it should have been allowed personally,” Howe said.
“I did think it was a foul or a push on Joe Willock in the build-up. Joe’s momentum is fixed at that point by his opponent and that then carries him into the goalkeeper.
“Without that push, there’s no way Joe would have gone in with that force, so for me it’s not a foul. If anything, it’s a penalty, if it’s not a goal. I was very surprised by the outcome.”
In a surprising twist, the Professional Game Match Officials’ Board (PGMOL) acknowledged the incidents and will ensure a thorough investigation to understand why the VAR interventions occurred will take place in an unusual step for the group.
“PGMOL acknowledge the incidents to disallow the goals in the Chelsea v West Ham and Newcastle v Crystal Palace fixtures,” read a statement. “We will fully co-operate and collaborate with the Premier League and their request to review these two particular incidents, using the outcome as part of the ongoing assessment of weekly performances and the development of our match officials going forward.”
