Iheanacho has chance to impress against Liverpool
CAN BURNLEY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF UNITED’S SHAMBOLIC DEFENCE?
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Despite not dropping a point or conceding a goal, Liverpool have yet to really hit their stride in the current campaign.
West Ham United took very little beating in their opener, while subsequent victories over Crystal Palace and Brighton were a mite laboured.
An away trip to Leicester City tomorrow, at lunchtime should provide another reasonably stiff test ahead of what is likely to be a more challenging trip to Tottenham Hotspur after the international break.
Leicester clearly missed the searing pace of the suspended Jamie Vardy against Southampton and Kelechi Iheanacho struggled to impress in his role as replacement.
The striker got off the mark for the season against Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday and with Vardy sitting out the last instalment of a three-match ban, he needs a big performance against the — thus far — impregnable two-man portcullis that is Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, if he is to stake any sort of claim for keeping Vardy out upon his return.
West Ham are feeling a bit better about life after their Carabao Cup win over the 10 men of AFC Wimbledon, but it will not be easy for them to back up their first competitive victory under Manuel Pellegrini when Wolves visit the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
While Wolves only have two points from their first three games, they earned plaudits for their brave approach in last week’s home draw with Manchester City, and the newly promoted side could earn their first league win if Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho undermine Pellegrini’s suggestion that Jack Wilshere could become the East End’s answer to Andrea Pirlo.
West Ham have suffered in midfield so far and a fourth consecutive defeat would see them equal their wretched start under Avram Grant in 2010, when they finished bottom.
Amid all the ongoing hoopla surrounding Manchester United’s defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur it is easy to forget that for long periods they actually played quite well.
Defence in shambles
There is, however, little or no getting away from the fact that their defence is a shambles, Mourinho’s first choice rearguard is comprised mainly of defenders playing for other teams.
Of those he has at his disposal, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville could scarcely have been blunter in their assessment of Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof on Monday Night Football, while the sight of Ander Herrera in a back three left them and everyone else — including, possibly, Herrera — totally flabbergasted.
Whether or not Burnley are good enough to take advantage of this chaos remains to be seen, but it will be difficult for Sean Dyche to plan how best to do so when he, like the rest of us, has little idea what or who exactly his players will be up against.
The official line from Arsenal was that Mesut Ozil was absent because of illness when they secured their first win of the Unai Emery era by beating West Ham.
Yet that was accompanied by whispers of Emery clashing with Ozil before the West Ham game and it will be fascinating to see if Arsenal’s manager finds space for the German in his starting 11 against Cardiff City tomorrow.