The English Premier League. Week #10. Five things we learnt this past week.

Does it get any more interesting? Hell yeah, it does. The EPL has hit the 10th week, and the season is starting to take shape. While Arsenal, and Arsene Wenger, continue to rise from downtrodden positions, Everton do not seem to know how to get out of troubled waters, as they lost yet again to a Leciester city team, who are in crisis themselves. Also, at the Hawthorns, it was all thorns for the blue boys from Manchester, but they came out unscathed, much to the chagrin of Jose Mourinho's man united. 

But here are the #5 things we learnt this past weekend.

Stuttering Spurs Should Shadow Serge's swagger.

To the surprise of many, the highly controversial Ivorian had teamed up with Pochettion's Tottenham side in the closing moments of the summer transfer window. Originally, the talented right back was rumored to be heading to the red half of manchester, after reports revealed his agent had met with representatives from Manchester united, but he eventually signed with the new occupants of Wembley. 

The former Paris st. German man had been a regular for the capital club all of the seasons he had been at the club, until this past season when he lost his place to Layvin Kurzawa. Quite comically, the young lad from the Ivory Coast had not lost his place in the club because he had a dip in form. On the contrary, he was arguably regarded as one of the best in his position across European football, but Serge Aurier, during his stint at the french club, had built for himself a bad boy reputation. From regular altercations with referees, to assaulting police officers, the young man's gangsterism had been much heralded. And really, on the field of play, that his what his game is about- strength, force, skill, and consistency.

But maybe that is what stuttering Tottenham needs. They need to be ruthless and consistent, if they are serious about contesting for the English Premier league title this season. On matchday, against a United team that would have obviously been contented with a point, Mauricio Pochettino's lads were the better team. They created better chances but failed to really trouble David de Gea's goal.

They had failed to replicate thier outstanding performance against Liverpool in the preceding matchday. Although many would argue that they did not field thier most potent weapon on the day, but title contenders ought not to make such excuses. It is not a 'kill or be killed' affair. If you seriously want to challenge for the title Pochettino, you have to 'kill always'. And For Tottenham to kill always, there ought to be some sense of bad boy-ism about the way they play.

A little Moyes is what Everton needs.

The merseyside blues, on the back of thier excellent 2016/17 season, qualified for the Uefa Europa league. Consequently, they are now required to play more matches, make more travels etc than usual. A while back, when a certain David Moyes was at the helm of affairs, the club's sole goal was to stay up and avoid the drop. And the man did that so well, and with so much ease that in some consecutive seasons, they actually finished in the top half of the league. 

Fast forward to the present, Maurice Koeman, who had qualified them for Europe, has been sacked after failing to effectively manage the club's fortune positively. But maybe the problem is not with the manager. Maybe the problem is with the club. In recent seasons, the bar has been raised too high at the blue half of merseyside, hence great coaches like Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman etc have fallen short, and have beem shown the door. 

Everton isn't as big a club as the Manchesters, or even Chelsea or Arsenal, so why should they set similiar goals? It is only wise they become more realistic and realize that managers like David Moyes, who would ensure that they always remained in the top flight, is what they actually need. However, they need not specifically appoint the former Real Sociedad gaffer, but their standard needs to get lowered, until they are prepared to take that big step.

There is Hazard when Chelsea Kant(e)...

The french midfield dynamite has been out of action for weeks now, but is expected to make a return when they play host to Manchester United next weekend. However, whilst the young french man is away, the destiny of chelsea has fallen on the shoulders of a 26 year old Belgian, Eden Hazard. 

Against Bournemouth, the reigning English premier league player of the year was  the outstanding performer, a constant menace with the ball glued to his instep, and a provider of opportunities for Álvaro Morata and David Luiz which should have yielded further rewards. The Belgian made it 5 goals in 5 games against the Cherries, as he scored the only game of the match to hand the blues all three points. 

Although Chelsea looked the more likely winner throughout the duration of the encounter, it was Hazard's second half left footed shot that beat Asmir Begovic in his near post. And that happened to be the only goal of the game.

Since joining Chelsea from french club, Lille, the attacker has become pivotal for the blues. So far, he has 58 Epl goals to his name, in just 166 appearnces for the london based club. 

Although his talent is quite obvious for all to see, If chelsea would tick, even when Kante is fully fit and available, Eden Hazard must be at his best always. He also  needs to add goals to his game, and that would be what would catapault him into the league of the Ronaldos, Messis and Neymars.

Bakayoko is so bad, he cannot even  MARK my words.

There was so much fuzz when the young french man was penciled as a potential target for Antonio Conte's Chelsea, and much more noise was made when he eventually signed for the London club. Following his stelar performance for AS  Monaco, the blues had brought him on board to replace manchester united bound Nemanja Matic, and also compliment the efforts of N'golo Kante (not like Ngolo even needs any help). 

The France international flattered to decieve on his Epl debut, and many fans marked him for greater things at the club. And then Ngolo Kante was injured, and the true Timoue Bakayoko showed. First it was the match against Crystal Palace, where he had been paired with Cesc Fabregas, where Yohann Cabaye super-imposed himself on him. Then again, when Watford came visiting, Dacoure had him schooled, as Bagayoko ultimately lost the midfield battle to the Belgian. Timoue Bakayoko loses the ball easily, and quite consistently too. His marking is not any better, as players do not need to do much to glide past him with ease. 

Ngolo Kante can do bad all by himself, but Baga needs to step up his marking game. He should mark my words (i doubt if he can) if he does not step up, fully fit again Danny Drinkwater would confine him to the  substitutes bench.

Never write off the Reds, or you'd walk alone.

The talent that lies in the offensive half of the Liverpool team is one that cannot be denied. So many teams, last season, struggled to deal with the menace that is Saido Mane, Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge, and Felipe Coutinho. Now, add Mo Salah and Ox Chamberlain to the mix, kaaboom! 

However, thier greatest undoing this season would be thier defence. Thier match at the King power some weeks back brought this fact to bare, as they almost conceded as many goals as they put in thier opponents goal post. On the day, they ran out 2-3 winners, but it is evident that Jurgen Klopp has a lot of work to do in January to shove up the defence. Also, their matches against Tottenham and Manchester City, have left much to be desired from the Reds defenders. 

They have a champioms league attack, and a champiomship defence.