Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Marc Guiu faces Sunderland reunion, Manchester United seek a minor three-peat and Mohamed Salah has to step up

BACK IT UP: Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim during the Premier League match at Anfield. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

1. Leeds in a bit of a jam?

Leeds host West Ham in a Friday night match that, even at this early stage of the season, looks very much like a quintessential relegation six-pointer. Elland Road is a wonderfully atmospheric ground but given the local traffic congestion, getting there, particularly on a Friday evening, is invariably tortuous. The prospect of exacerbating that gridlock dictates that the club’s plans to expand Elland Road to 53,000 appear in potential jeopardy. Leeds city council will make a final, delayed, decision on the project on November 27 but, with 65% of the team’s fans driving to matches, there is concern about the inevitable extra traffic chaos. The club hope to reduce the percentage of match-bound car travel to 51%, but to do that public transport needs to improve; Leeds is the biggest city in western Europe without a metro system. Cycling? Anyone familiar with the area’s topography knows it is not a realistic option for the vast majority of fans. Louise Taylor 

2. Guiu can shine in Black Cats reunion 

Marc Guiu started the season at Sunderland, having found himself out of Enzo Maresca’s plans and needing to learn about life in the Premier League after a slow first year in England. As a teenager arriving from Barcelona’s La Masia, it was not a surprise that the striker needed time to adapt even if he made a few cameos along the way before the Black Cats came calling. Then Liam Delap got injured and Chelsea were in a bit of a vice, so brought back Guiu. Sunderland gave him two substitute appearances in the league and he scored only in the Carabao Cup exit to Huddersfield, suggesting he might not be primed for life at the top of the table. Since then, however, he has shown Maresca what he can do, playing a half in the win over Nottingham Forest and scoring against Ajax. He will want to continue on this trajectory. Will Unwin 

3. On-song Newcastle give Silva much to fear 

Fulham and their manager, Marco Silva, are unlikely to be deceived by the table. It shows that they are only one point behind Newcastle in its bottom half but, as José Mourinho emphasised this week, the latter’s position is hugely deceptive. Granted, Eddie Howe’s side have started the season slowly but they have kept seven clean sheets in 12 games in all competitions and, when the mood takes them, are almost unplayable. In losing 3-0 at St James’ Park in the Champions League on Tuesday night Benfica did not perform badly. They restricted the centre-forward Nick Woltemade to one touch inside their box but, ultimately, they could not handle Howe’s wingers, Anthony Gordon in particular. “We could not compete with their horsepower, their intensity, speed and physicality,” said Mourinho. “This tells me a lot about Newcastle’s true level. They are a team of giants and they have four lightning-fast wingers.” Silva, a compatriot and a friend of Mourinho, has reason to be worried, particularly as Howe says there is “much more to come” from his reshaped side. LT 

4. Manchester United spy a (sort of) treble 

You have to rewind to August 2024 for the last time Manchester United won three league games in a row, when Erik ten Hag’s men carried momentum from May into the new season with a victory against Fulham thanks to Joshua Zirkzee’s 87th-minute winner. After Sunday’s 2-1 downing of Liverpool, which followed the 2-0 defeat of Sunderland, victory over Brighton at Old Trafford would match the feat. It would also suggest the start of a revival (maybe) under Ruben Amorim, but a loss would be morale-sapping and revive the doubts regarding the Portuguese’s skills. Jamie Jackson 

5. A chance for Salah to reassert himself 

After ending their four-game losing streak in Frankfurt, Liverpool need to reignite their title defence. Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Manchester United have secured 2-1 victories in Arne Slot’s past three domestic outings. The most notable change on Wednesday was leaving Mohamed Salah on the bench. The Egyptian has not scored for his club in more than a month, when he netted in the 3-2 win over Atlético Madrid on 17 September. He has not looked at his sharpest since the start of the season and it is understandable that, at 33, regardless of his natural fitness, he will need to be more carefully managed if Slot and Liverpool are to get the best out of him. A cameo in the Champions League kept him ticking over, although the game was very much done by the time he entered the pitch. Slot needs to decide whether to reinstall him into the starting lineup, which seems likely considering Alexander Isak’s injury and the prospect of being able to rest him for the visit of Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. WU  

6. Kroupi can take centre stage for Cherries 

Evanilson looks unlikely to return for third-placed Bournemouth’s match against Nottingham Forest. Instead, Eli Junior Kroupi, fresh from his double at Crystal Palace, will almost certainly keep his place in the side. The 19-year-old has three goals in five league appearances for Bournemouth and looks like another smart acquisition, made somewhat easier by sharing an owner with Lorient, from where the striker was bought. A return to the Breton club on loan last season resulted in 13 goals in as many games; money cannot buy that level of confidence. For a young player, he offers great composure in front of goal and quickly settles into a match when coming off the bench. Andoni Iraola knows he has an asset on his hands and that Kroupi needs minutes to develop. The striker will want to give his head coach reasons to keep starting him, whether Evanilson is available or not. WU 

7. Arsenal succeed in tying down Dowman 

Arsenal have secured the future of one of the biggest talents to have come through their Hale End academy in recent years, with Max Dowman agreeing scholarship terms. The 15-year-old who joined Arsenal in 2015 from local side Billericay Town – where his father, Rob, used to be a director – became the second youngest player in Premier League history this season and is understood to have attracted interest from several other top clubs. But his future at Arsenal was never seriously in doubt during negotiations that were handled by his father, with the scholarship terms due to begin next season after Dowman turns 16 on December 31 before he will be able to sign a professional contract when he is 17. After a busy but successful week for Arsenal, he could make a fourth appearance of the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday. Ed Aarons  

8 Cash showing value at Villa 

How many times have you replayed that otherworldly Matty Cash ping? His sumptuous first-time pass to Lucas Digne proved the catalyst for Emi Buendía’s glorious winner at Tottenham last weekend; Digne’s control and layoff were equally sublime, too. When Villa have struggled, Cash has been an easy target for criticism and there has long been an expectation that Unai Emery will try to upgrade at right-back. But the Villa manager regards Cash as a reliable performer and has found it tricky to identify a realistic alternative who would represent an obvious improvement. Cash was wanted by his former club Nottingham Forest in the summer but Villa recognise his value, with the Poland full-back expected to sign a new contract in the coming months. Morgan Rogers, another player the club are keen to tie down, is the only one of Cash’s teammates to have played more league minutes this season. Ben Fisher  

9. Huge pressure on downbeat Wolves 

It is a good job messages on the WhatsApp supporters channel Wolves launched this week will be permitted only one way. Plenty of fans are angry, others are apathetic, and many are resigned to relegation after taking two points from their opening eight matches. Wolves have failed to win any of their first eight league games for a second straight season, the first team to achieve that unwanted feat since Sunderland in 2015-16 and 2016-17, when the Black Cats finished bottom. Stamford of the Southern League Premier League Central are the only other team in English football’s top seven tiers without a win this campaign. The visit of Burnley on Sunday feels bigger than the proverbial six-pointer for Vítor Pereira’s side. “We understand the frustration, and we just have to take it on the chin as players until we turn it around,” said the defender Matt Doherty. BF 

10. Everton rebuild still a tough task for Moyes 

Sean Dyche’s return to management this week offered a little reminder of how far Everton have moved on since the grimmest period of his tenure. That was not the sequence of one win in 11 dreadful league matches that cost Dyche the Everton job in January but the financial turmoil that preceded it and could easily have resulted in relegation but for the former manager’s calm leadership. Everton are unrecognisable under David Moyes and The Friedkin Group and could go level on points with Tottenham should they inflict a first away defeat of the season on Thomas Frank’s team. Moyes knows improving Everton is an open-ended task but, with a difficult assignment against Spurs after last weekend’s defeat at Manchester City, he believes perspective on the recovery is required. “We are only just out of having 12 players out of contract, with PSR [profitability and sustainability regulations] issues, and we’re just done with that. We’ve moved to a new stadium. I would hope that if it didn’t all go to plan folk would say: ‘Well, there’s a few mitigating circumstances.’ Certainly this year. But I don’t want to use any of that as an excuse. I want us to try and challenge and the players know that as well.”

Andy Hunter

Guardian Sport