1) West Ham struggling for strikers
Anyone with a passing knowledge of West Ham United knew that starting the season with Andy Carroll as their only striker – we'll not be counting Modibo Maïga, thank you very much – was asking for trouble. But Sam Allardyce went ahead and put all his eggs in one basket anyway and, surprise, surprise, they all ended up smashed, leaving quite the mess for West Ham's manager to mop up. Carroll, all £15m of him, has not played since May because of an achilles injury and West Ham have won only twice in the league this season, managing 10 goals in 11 matches. Carlton Cole, the unwanted party guest who simply refuses to leave, and Mladen Petric, who has struggled with a calf injury lately, have done little since arriving as emergency free transfers after the transfer window shut and, although Allardyce thought he had struck gold with that strikerless formation that confounded Tottenham, there have been no wins since that 3-0 victory and only two goals.
Equally worrying is the absence of Winston Reid with an ankle injury. Not the best time to be playing José Mourinho's Chelsea, then. West Ham won this fixture 3-1 last season but a repeat does not appear to be on the cards. JS
2) Room for improvement as eighth host seventh
Eighth hosts seventh at the Etihad on Sunday – and how underwhelming does that sound? So far, the season is not quite going to plan for either Manchester City or Tottenham Hotspur, with so much more expected of both sides after their summer splurges. Early days, of course, and in André Villas-Boas's defence, it is understandable if he is not sure of his best side at Tottenham yet after all the upheaval. Less justifiable is how tedious their football has been: plenty of dominance, but too much of it has been of the sterile variety. They could do with quickening the pace. As for City, they could do with defending properly. Again, Manuel Pellegrini needs time to settle in England, and they have been exceptional at home, but it is astonishing that a club of City's resources should be so shoddy defensively when Vincent Kompany is absent because of injury. Which, worryingly for them, seems to be happening quite a lot. JS
3) Moyes starting to build some momentum
Manchester United did not play especially well against Arsenal. They defended well and ran about a lot to deny Arsenal time on the ball but their attack was mostly ponderous in open play, Robin van Persie's winner coming from a corner. Still, it was effective enough and United are now unbeaten in nine games and five points off the top, which is not good news for their title rivals. Sir Alex Ferguson recently said that no side are better at negotiating their way through the second half of the season than United, which is why he believes their dodgy start under David Moyes did not tell us much. Win at Cardiff, which is no mean feat, and momentum really will be building for the first time under Ferguson's successor. JS
4) Much to ponder on Merseyside
This is an intriguing duel and the fascination will begin with the team sheets. There will be particular interest in the defensive setup that Brendan Rodgers chooses: will he revert to using three central defenders or will he go with a flat back four in order to bolster a midfield where Liverpool may otherwise be outfought? And who will he deploy at left-back in place of the injured José Enrique? Aly Cissokho has yet to really impress and it would be a shame to shift Glen Johnson to the left when, on the right, he could put Leighton Baines on the back foot. Daniel Agger seldom enjoys playing against powerful strikers such as Romelu Lukaku so perhaps he should be shunted to the left to allow Mamadou Sakho and Martin Skrtel to guard the Belgian. Then again, Everton struggled to supply Lukaku with service and support in their last game so perhaps Liverpool need not worry too much about him unless Roberto Martínez decides to drop the out-of-form Kevin Mirallas and Leon Osman and bring back Ross Barkley and Gerard Deulofeu? And regardless of their starting lineups, how will each manager adapt when their team goes down to 10 men? PD
5) Time for Plan B at Fulham
On Saturday we may see the first signs of Fulham's escape plan: will Martin Jol make any adjustments to his approach on the advice of the new head coach, René Meulensteen? Or do the Dutch duo intend to persist with the same system in the belief that better coaching will eliminate individual mistakes? A bit of both is required – they need to defend far more diligently, especially in the air, and defenders might not seem so frazzled if they were not left so exposed – but, beyond that, some personnel changes are in order too, especially in central midfield, where Scott Parker and Steve Sidwell do not seem dynamic enough to ensure solidity for 90 minutes. Shifting Pajtim Kasami or Ashkan Dejagah inside would make sense. Unless tweaks take immediate effect, it is difficult to envisage Fulham getting only their second home league win in more than seven months against a Swansea City side who are more settled in slick ways. PD
6) Stoke need to watch out below
Stoke City's attempt to solve their goal-scoring problems suffered a blow this week when they lost the appeal against the decision to refuse a work permit to the USA international striker Juan Agueldo. So the last thing Mark Hughes needs right now is for one of the teams who looked certain to finish below Stoke this season to get back-to-back wins and spread belief that Gus Poyet is genuinely turning things around at Sunderland rather than just enjoying the familiar symptoms of new manager syndrome. Poyet should certainly see this as a prime opportunity to do just that, and it will be interesting to see whether he sticks with the same side that toppled Manchester City or decides to get a little wild and start with two strikers, partnering Steven Fletcher with Jozy Altidore. Losing to a goal from an American striker would be especially galling to Stoke. PD
7) Schneiderlin on show at the Emirates
Hearing Arsène Wenger, in his punditry role on French TV, enthuse about the performance of Yohann Cabaye during France's swashbuckling World Cup play-off win against Ukraine on Tuesday, made one simplistically wonder whether Arsenal will make another move for the Newcastle man in January even though another classy midfielder is hardy an urgent need for the club. Cabaye was indeed superb for France and so were Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi – that trio now look the country's first-choice midfield in Didier Deschamps' 4-3-3. But if there is one other player who could force his way into the reckoning for Les Bleus before the World Cup, it is surely Morgan Schneiderlin. There has been plenty of focus on the Southampton talent that England can tap into but so far France have failed to appreciate the excellence of Schneiderlin. A typically vivacious display from the 24-year-old at the Emirates would be an ideal way for him to garner further attention. PD
8) Bruce in need of Palace solace
Steve Bruce says that Hull Werewolves, or whatever they're called this week, are entering the "defining" period of their season. They face nine matches over the next 40 days and the first of them could be the most significant: losing at home to forlorn Crystal Palace would set an ominous tone on the back of the tonking at Southampton two weeks ago and before clashes with Liverpool and Arsenal. Allan McGregor has returned from an injury sooner than expected but Steve Harper's form in his absence means Bruce may decide not to change goalkeepers – mind you, unless Palace' strikers find their shooting range to capitalise on otherwise encouraging recent performances then it will not matter. PD
9) Is Joe Kinnear a footballing genius?
Amidst all the gnashing off teeth that still accompanies any mention of Joe Kinnear's position as director of football at Newcastle United, their elevated position in the league table has gone somewhat overlooked. Now in ninth, they could conceivably leapfrog both Spurs and Everton this weekend, to climb up to seventh. Not bad for a club perpetually presented as mired in crisis. Alan Pardew may not have had an influx of new players but, with plenty of fresh faces having come in last January, perhaps it wasn't additions that were needed, but rather time to blend the ingredients. As Villas-Boas is finding at Spurs, a mass influx isn't necessarily the way to improve a team. In resisting the calls for added numbers and instead just bringing in the proven goalscoring quality of Loïc Rémy, maybe Joe Kinnear has demonstrated he does know what he's doing after all. Or perhaps Alan Pardew is just quite a decent football manager. TM
10) Roy Hodgson should check out the Hawthorns
Two teams locked on 14 points, separated by a single goal, the battle for a place in the top half gets up close and personal at the Hawthorns. Both Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion possess the talent that means, barring some catastrophic disaster, they shouldn't be in danger of relegation, but equally it's hard to see them posing any threat to the teams chasing a European spot. So not much to look forward to? Not so. These should be two clubs where the pressure is ever so slightly less, and both possess raw English talent that could flourish outside of the spotlight. Villa have Matt Lowton and Ciaran Clark (although, he, of course, has chosen to represent the Republic of Ireland) steadily improving at the back, while West Brom have the exciting Saido Berahino banging in the goals and attracting envious glances from some of the league's bigger guns. Roy Hodgson may say there's no space for surprises in his World Cup squad – but the England manager could do worse than checking out the talent on show here. TM
