LONDON (Reuters) – Talking points from the sixth round of the Premier League season:
MAN CITY SHOW CHARACTER AS RODRI SEES RED
A red card for midfielder Rodri turned Manchester City’s match against Nottingham Forest into the proverbial game of two halves, but Pep Guardiola’s squad showed great character to hang on for a 2-0 win.
Forest would not have expected much from the game and quickly went 2-0 down, but the sending-off of Rodri early in the second half turned the match on its head.
For once, the usually ball-dominant City were forced onto the back foot as their players abandoned pretty passing triangles for hard running.
Guardiola’s charges proved up to the task, sending a signal to the rest of the league – not even the loss of a key player is likely to derail them as they aim to defend their title.
TOTTENHAM PASS FIRST BIG TEST WITH FLYING COLOURS
For all the accolades new Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has received for his impressive start to life in north London, Sunday’s derby at Arsenal had the potential to be a reality check.
But Tottenham emerged with a 2-2 draw and could have even sneaked a first league victory in the fixture since 2010.
It was a reward for the kind of brave and progressive football that Postecoglou has instilled within the camp after the often sterile tactics employed by his predecessors Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte.
Arsenal’s fans teased their Tottenham counterparts about the sale of record scorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich. But the truth is that Tottenham’s adaptation has been so fast that the England striker is hardly being missed and while it is still early days, optimism is again sweeping the white half of north London.
EVANS PROVES UNLIKELY CATALYST FOR MAN UTD
There were raised eyebrows when veteran defender Jonny Evans rejoined Manchester United on a one-year contract in the summer having been released by Leicester City.
Even he assumed he would be used only in emergencies but on Saturday, given a start, the Northern Ireland international was the instigator as United emerged from a three-game losing streak in all competitions.
He had a goal ruled out, defended with calm assurance and it was his quarter-back style pass that allowed Bruno Fernandes to volley the winner in a 1-0 victory at Burnley.
With injuries to Lisandro Martinez, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Amad Diallo, manager Erik ten Hag might well be relieved that the three-time Premier League champion Evans is back in the fold in the weeks ahead.
FULHAM LACK BITE WITHOUT MITROVIC
Fulham remain stranded in mid-table after a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday and the primary cause of their problems is a lack of goals, with striker Aleksandar Mitrovic no longer around.
The Serbian, who scored 14 of Fulham’s 55 league goals last season, moved to Al-Hilal and his replacement Raul Jimenez is yet to score.
Jimenez was unconvincing in the draw with Palace, twice failing to score from promising positions, while Willian and Andreas Pereira also spurned opportunities, leading to Fulham dropping points in a match they should have won.
CAN PROMOTED TEAMS STAY UP?
Last season, all three promoted clubs — Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest — stayed up. But early results this season point to a campaign of struggles and possibly relegation for Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town.
The three clubs won 78 times between them in the second-tier Championship last term, but they remain winless two months into the Premier League season and have rarely shown signs of challenging top flight teams.
The Blades are bottom with only one point from six games. The 8-0 home loss to Newcastle United — their largest ever league defeat in nearly 5,000 matches — only underlined the gulf in class.
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley have had a tough run of opening fixtures with losses to Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
Luton, meanwhile, finally claimed their first point in the Premier League to end a losing run. Despite showing signs of promise in recent games, they are falling behind and must gather points before they face England’s top teams.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, Philip O’Connor, Aadi Nair and Rohith Nair; Editing by Toby Davis)
