Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
For Arsenal this is an excellent opportunity to continue harnessing the good feeling Mikel Arteta has built up over the summer. Liverpool lie in wait after this but six points from six would be a strong start. West Ham did cause Arsenal plenty of trouble in the final match before lockdown, feeling mightily unfortunate to lose to Alexandre Lacazette’s goal, but it would take a brave onlooker to predict them doing the same this time. Aubameyang looks to have been further energised by the fluidity Willian has brought to Arsenal’s attack and that relationship should receive further opportunities to flourish here. NA
• Arsenal v West Ham (Saturday, 8pm)
4) Manchester United spreading load beyond Fernandes
The difference between Manchester United and a serious title tilt is probably not Donny van de Beek, but he looks a shrewd acquisition nevertheless. By the end of last season Bruno Fernandes was barely a hologram, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left with no choice but to select him in every game because he was so central to the team’s play. Now, though, there is an alternative – but Van de Beek is much more than that; a clever runner and enterprising passer blessed with the gift of timing, who will be seeking regular starts. Given Fernandes has only just returned to training, there is a strong chance the Dutch midfielder is handed one against Crystal Palace, for a game in which United’s lack of preparedness could easily cost them. But beyond that it will be interesting to see whether Solskjaer will deploy Fernandes and Van de Beek in tandem, with Paul Pogba playing the anchor role – he has the passing, the physicality and, as we saw in the World Cup, the discipline, too. If United can incorporate such talents into a coherent threesome, they are in business. DH
• Manchester United v Crystal Palace (Saturday, 5.30pm)
5) McNeil can show Leicester why they wanted him
Dwight McNeil was heavily linked with Leicester earlier this summer, but the apparently imminent arrival of Cengis Under would appear to fill the Foxes’ quota of young, creative left-footers, with any further arrivals surely jeopardising Harvey Barnes’s place in the team. McNeil created 12 major chances last season – joint eighth in the Premier League, along with Willian, Son Heung-min and Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, but four more than Leicester’s most creative midfielders, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans – even if only half of them were converted. He also set up the goal that put Burnley ahead in this fixture last term, when Leicester came back to win 2-1, and Sean Dyche has said that his development would be best served by remaining at Burnley, where he is becoming “a very rounded player”. It is hard to tell how serious Leicester were in their pursuit, but this weekend McNeil gets a chance to show them what they missed. SB
• Leicester City v Burnley (Sunday, 7pm)
6) Leeds have dazzled, now can they win?
Back in June, Leeds wiped the floor with Fulham at Elland Road. They went top of the Championship with a 3-0 win and their opponents’ woes were compounded when Aleksandar Mitrovic received a three-game ban for elbowing Ben White. The fixture is repeated on Saturday. Leeds dazzled in defeat to Liverpool on the opening day but need to show they can win points at this level when expected; Fulham were troublingly limp in defeat to Arsenal but they may, at least, have extra firepower to call upon now. Mitrovic, who was injured at the end of last season, was eased back off the bench last weekend but started at Ipswich in the League
Cup on Wednesday and headed a trademark winner. Fulham look sorely reliant on him if they are to avoid serious trouble. NA
• Leeds v Fulham (Saturday, 3pm)
7) Reguilón and Bale will help but Spurs still rudderless
There is no doubt that Sergio Reguilón and Gareth Bale would improve Tottenham, but their squad still has major holes. They could use a commanding, ball-playing centre-back with pace – who couldn’t? – and decent back-up for Harry Kane – but it is in midfield that they look, to quote the famous simile, as miserable as Mourinho. Against Everton, Harry Winks and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg played behind Dele Alli in front; Winks and Højbjerg are adequate players, tidy and aggressive respectively, but not good enough to decide how things go. A fit Giovani Lo Celso will help, but because Mourinho is unlikely to field him alongside another attack-minded player, it is hard to see Spurs doing much beyond waiting to counter while hoping not to concede. It is impossible to escape the feeling of liminality. DH
• Southampton v Tottenham (Sunday, 12pm)
8) Albion’s Goodison trip recalls great Pulis heist
West Brom have been much-mentioned around Goodison Park this week, given that in Everton’s one-sided victory over Salford in the Carabao Cup they took 32 shots, which as several statisticians pointed out was the most they have taken in one game since the visit of the Baggies in February 2016. That match must go down as one of the most outrageous pointthefts in footballing history, as a West Brom side that enjoyed only 24% of possession and conceded 33 shots (to five of their own) and 14 corners (to their own one) scored with their only shot on target to earn a 1-0 win in an example of peak Pulis-ball. “It is one of those moments in football sometimes that are difficult to explain,” frowned Roberto Martínez, Everton’s then manager. It was only four years ago but including the managers only three people involved that day are still active in the Premier League: Everton’s Séamus Coleman, West Brom’s Jonny Evans, now at Leicester, and the referee, Michael Oliver. SB
• Everton v West Brom (Saturday, 12.30pm)
9) Villa’s strengthened spine on view
Emiliano Martínez is expected to make his debut for Aston Villa against Sheffield United, capping a whirlwind three months for the goalkeeper. When football restarted after the Covid-19 shutdown, Martínez was widely viewed as a competent if unremarkable deputy to Bernd Leno. This week he was transferred for £20m, to considerably mixed feelings around Arsenal, and those who backed him throughout a difficult decade in north London are convinced that he will quickly become established as one of the league’s best in his position. His arrival should strengthen Villa’s spine significantly and, given they also wish to sign Bertrand Traoré and Milot Rashica, the big signings are unlikely to end there. Villa look bright, ambitious and well poised to push on from last term’s great escape. NA
• Aston Villa v Sheffield United (Monday, 6pm)
10) Saving the best for last?
The capacity of football and 2020 to surprise is much fabled, but excited anticipation of a game between Newcastle and Brighton feels like something beyond even those two giants of the unexpected … except here we are. Newcastle were excellent last weekend, and it was clear from those 90 minutes at West Ham that the responsibility to do something worth seeing no longer rests solely on Allan SaintMaximin. Jeff Hendrick, Ryan Fraser and Jamal Lewis were smart signings who offer varieties of attacking impetus and Callum Wilson is a proven Premier League striker, whose all-round game facilitates their best attributes; a 90minute tussle with him and Andy Carroll feels about as much fun as … football in 2020. Brighton, meanwhile, played really well in defeat against Chelsea. Tariq Lamptey’s purpose and thrust has been a revelation, while Yves Bissouma is growing into a fine player, brimming with energy and quality. Now Neal Maupay and Leandro Trossard are together up front, it is harder to see from where an opponent’s clean sheet might come. This might just be the most entertaining game of the weekend. DH
• Newcastle v Brighton (Sunday, 2pm)
a stage winner in Lyon, of the Sunweb team.
“Two wins in the same Tour de France,” Kragh Andersen said. “I’m speechless. I could never have dreamed about something better.”
The main drama had centred on the battle for supremacy in the green points jersey classification, between Sam Bennett of Deceuninck QuickStep, and the seven-time winner, Peter Sagan, riding for Bora-Hansgrohe, but when the Dane attacked alone, 15km from the finish, the select group with him had no response and the anticipated sprint duel failed to materialise.
Saturday’s time trial covers 30km of rolling road before the tough 6km climb to the finish, but with Roglic leading his compatriot Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) by almost a minute there seems little chance of any radical change.
The two Slovenians locked horns in a mountain time trial as recently as June, with Pogacar beating Roglic by nine seconds in the Slovenian national time trial championships. But the Tour’s leader, already a winner of time trial stages in the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, is unlikely to be dislodged from his position of power.
“I’ve already done some time trials in my career, and I’ve had all kinds of experience, some good, some not so good,” Roglic said. “So, for tomorrow, I’m feeling OK, I’m feeling healthy. I’m excited and just looking forward. Tomorrow it’s all on me. The team has done an amazing job.”
But as Roglic edged closer to final victory in Paris, differing accounts emerged of the bizarre incident after Wednesday’s stage to the Col de la Loze, following which his sports director, Merijn Zeeman, was expelled from the Tour.
Under the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) rules governing technological fraud – or motor doping – bikes are regularly checked or undergo an Xray by UCI staff. UCI mechanics can further examine the bike by taking it apart. After Wednesday’s finish, Roglic’s bike was taken for what was described as a “routine” check during which the crank set was removed.
Zeeman was said by the UCI to have become “very quickly emotional” and “angry” from the start of the bike check, as Roglic’s bike was dismantled in front of him. He is then said to have started swearing and becoming intimidatory towards the UCI mechanic. Crank sets are not routinely dismantled but can, at random, be subjected to examination.
Zeeman and the Jumbo-Visma team later claimed Roglic’s bike was “damaged” during the check. “The bike was damaged and the crank set had to be replaced,” a statement said. According to a UCI spokesperson, however, this was not the case.
“The bike wasn’t damaged, the crank set was removed – that’s all,” the Guardian was told. The UCI also confirmed the whole incident was captured on video for its records and that Roglic’s bike had in fact passed the check without any problems.
The check and X-ray have become as routine as doping controls and the bikes of the yellow jersey and each day’s stage winner are automatically put through this process. Zeeman, already familiar with the protocol, had been offered the opportunity to use his team’s own mechanic but the UCI said he was happy to use its own.
Roglic, who earlier described Zeeman’s absence as “bad news,” took only three questions during his truncated post-race press conference. “We are not happy with it, it’s not a good situation for us,” he said of Zeeman’s expulsion from the Tour. “I heard yesterday evening and for me it was a big surprise. I was not present when it [the bike check] happened so it’s really hard to comment on any of this.”
While rumours of motor doping have long been circulating, there has yet to be a high-profile case in men’s racing, with the most notorious incident involving the Belgian rider Femke Van den Driessche, who was found to have a motor in her bike at the 2016 Cyclocross World Championships.
Speaking in 2017, the current UCI president, David Lappartient, said: “I worry that motors have been used. I have no proof but it’s not impossible. I want to be sure that we deliver a sport without doping and without motors. That’s the job of the UCI, to guarantee credibility.”