5 things we learned from the weekend's Premier League action

Daniel Storey reflects on the weekend's Premier League action.

Leicester tragedy brings game together

Football and tragedy are never supposed to meet. Football’s great attraction, as with everything that is ultimately meaningless, is that it acts as our escape from the rigours of everyday life. Therein lies the great contradiction: Football’s meaningless is what gives it such meaning.

But football cannot escape tragedy ad infinitum. On Saturday evening, shortly after Leicester City’s home draw against West Ham, the helicopter owned by Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha developed a mechanical fault and crashed into a car park close to the King Power stadium. Leicester City had suffered its darkest day. Football felt cheap.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha

Cheap, but still important. Leicester City is a community in itself, one which will now rally round one another as they come to terms with such a horrific incident. Together they will be stronger, and through football they will heal their wounds. Srivaddhanaprabha will never be forgotten, remembered for the incredible impact he had on this club. And so again, football will mean nothing and everything.

Arsenal finally punished for their calamity

Supporters of West Ham, Watford, Leicester and others might not take much solace out of Crystal Palace taking points off Arsenal, but they will conclude that Unai Emery’s team have had this coming to them.

For all the plaudits Arsenal earned during their 11 straight wins, few came without significant panic.

Arsenal have far more resolve under Emery than during Arsene Wenger’s final months, but their new manager has not been able to magic away their haphazard defending. Shkodran Mustafi is not always the guilty party, but he does seem to stand in the dock more than most.

Granit Xhaka might be the second most regular attendee.

It is only Arsenal’s defending that restricts their ambitions to retake their place in the Champions League next season.

Investment in January will be essential to change that. More likely is that Emery is asked to do the best he can and go again in 2019/20.

Southampton’s finishing could cause their relegation

The figures get more ludicrous by the week. Only six teams in the Premier League have created more chances than Southampton. How many teams have scored more goals? Just the 17. Their shot conversion rate this season is 4.1%.

Worse news for Mark Hughes is that the problem is getting worse. In their last five league games, Southampton have had 69 shots without scoring. The signing of Danny Ings has improved the situation from last season’s nadir, but not enough.

It depends entirely on your assessment. An optimist might conclude Southampton will eventually improve their finishing, and move up the league.

A pessimist might conclude that their chance conversion will stay the same and the number of chances created will slip. If that happens, Southampton could well be in serious trouble.

Shaqiri already proving his value to Liverpool

Moving to Liverpool was a no-brainer for Xherdan Shaqiri, even if he might not have expected to start many matches. Having been relegated to the Championship with Stoke City, Shaqiri’s priority was to return to a top-flight team ASAP.

He landed a move to the second favourites for the Premier League title.

Now, Shaqiri is making a difference too. If he emphatically remains backup for a majestic front three, Jurgen Klopp has used his new signing either as an auxiliary midfielder against weaker opposition, or as an impact substitute. On Saturday, he scored his first Liverpool goal. Klopp is impressed.

“Signing him was a logical thing to do. He’s still not the finished article. He still has a lot of space for improvement and that’s really good,” said Klopp on Friday. “He gives us something different. So far we haven’t really used his set-pieces but they are outstanding.”

Shaqiri is motivated to make the grade at the highest level and, if he does, Liverpool have got themselves a bargain who provides even more competition for places. So far, £12m (€13.5m) looks very well spent.

Jokanovic could be the first to fall

It is highly unusual for the clocks to go back without a Premier League manager having lost their job. In a division in which several managers are perennially only three poor results from crisis, owners have had a little more collective patience this season.

But perhaps not for long. Slavisa Jokanovic began 2018/19 with a great deal of goodwill in the bank, having unexpectedly taken Fulham back into the Premier League in his second full season and preferring an expansive, attractive brand of football.

Jokanovic is now coming unstuck. There are conflicting reports about just how much influence he has over Fulham’s transfer activity, but the manager’s constantly changing team selection and bizarre tactical calls have left the club’s defence continuously vulnerable.

Fulham have conceded 15 goals in their last four league games. None of their four opponents in those four matches (Arsenal, Everton, Cardiff, and Bournemouth) may finish in the top four. It is a damning indictment of Jokanovic’s ability to organise a defence.

He claims he is not worried about losing his job, but he probably should be.