1. Can Gunners end poor record against Chelsea?
ARSENE WENGER CELEBRATES 20 years in charge of Arsenal this week and Chelsea visit the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening intent on spoiling the anniversary.
Both clubs have taken ten points from their opening five Premier League matches and come into the London derby having scored four goals in their respective EFL Cup games during the week.
However, the Blues have held the upper hand in recent meetings. In fact, the Gunners are winless in their nine league encounters with Chelsea and they haven’t even managed to muster up a single goal in the last six.
Arsenal summer signings Lucas Perez and Granit Xhaka were both on the scoresheet in the cup win over Nottingham Forest, with the Spanish forward grabbing two goals, and they will be hoping it was enough to earn starting berths.
2. Will Man United persevere with Rooney?
In his pre-match interview ahead of their EFL Cup victory with Northampton Town, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said he was looking for goals from captain Wayne Rooney after starting him as a long striker.
Despite getting the right result, Rooney’s performance didn’t do anything to ease the growing calls for him to be dropped and it was goalscorers Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford who made the most convincing arguments for inclusion in Saturday’s lunch-time kick-off with Leicester City.
They may have got back to winning ways on Wednesday, but the Red Devils are looking to claim their first points of September in the league against the current champions, who were beaten 4-2 after extra-time by Chelsea last time out.
Both games between the clubs ended in 1-1 draws last season, but it’s exactly two years since the Foxes claimed a shock victory over Louis van Gaal’s team in an eight-goal thriller.
3. Is momentum building at Liverpool?
With the exception of the 2-0 loss at the hands of Burnley back in August, it has been an impressive start to the new campaign from Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
As well as overcoming Arsenal, Leicester and Chelsea and drawing with Tottenham in the league, they’ve brushed aside lower league opposition in the EFL Cup and head into Saturday’s fixture at home to Hull City with real confidence.
Reports in the Liverpool Echo today claim Klopp will drop goalkeeper Simon Mignolet in favour of Lorius Karius, meaning the summer arrival from Mainz is set to make his league debut for the Reds after breaking a bone in his hand back in July.
Hull, who have named the same starting XI in all five of their league games, began the season well under caretaker boss Mike Phelan but were picked apart by Arsenal a week ago.
The Tigers bounced back with a 2-1 win over Stoke in the league cup, when six players — including goalscorers Ryan Mason and Markus Henriksen — making their debuts on the night.
4. Are the Toffees genuine contenders?
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are the early front-runners in this season’s title race, but Everton sit just over their shoulder having quietly and efficiently gone about their business thus far.
With four wins and a draw so far, the Toffees are second in the table and look a transformed side — although they were handed their first defeat of the Ronald Koeman era by Norwich City on Tuesday.
Irish midfielders James McCarthy and Darron Gibson continue to be sidelined through injury, but top scorer Romelu Lukaku is expected to return away to Bournemouth on Saturday after recovering from a toe problem.
5. What has gone wrong at West Ham?
Slaven Bilic was widely-praised for the speed with which he adapted to life as a manager in the Premier League last season.
Under the former Croatia boss, the Hammers dazzled at times, largely thanks to the mercurial talents of Dimitri Payet, and qualified for the Europa League with a seventh-place finish.
However, he appears to be suffering severely from second season syndrome right now.
As well as going out of Europe early to Romanian outfit Astra Giurgiu, West Ham have picked up a measly three points in the league — conceding 11 goals in their last three matches, which all ended in defeat.
Teething problems with the move to London’s Olympic Stadium haven’t helped their cause and it’s Southampton who visit in Sunday’s only top flight match.
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