The fifth weekend of the Premier League season is now behind us, and attention quickly shifts to Gameweek 6. With early narratives beginning to take shape, we take a closer look at what we discovered from the second round of fixtures.

💪 Crucial Win for Ruben Amorim & Man United

Man United v Chelsea was the most chaotic game of the weekend. Robert Sanchez was sent off after just five minutes of action, which resulted in Enzo Maresca having a bit of a meltdown.

I think he lost his head. Maresca is quite an intense manager, but also has very specific plans for games. Think back to the Club World Cup final, where Maresca platformed Gusto and Palmer expertly to exploit the weaknesses in the PSG system. He has plans in place, but when something like this happens, he often doesn’t switch to plan B but tries to force plan A to work.

Bringing off Palmer can be forgiven as he isn’t fully fit, but to take off Neto and Estevao is poor management; it left Joao Pedro running into nothing on his own for the majority of the game. His mistakes became even more evident when United went down to 10 men as well, with Maresca refusing to turn to Garnacho or Guiu, who sat waiting on the bench.

Whilst it was a bit of a disaster in Chelsea’s dugout, Ruben Amorim can take real momentum from this result. United did start the game strongly, even before the red card, and took advantage of the disorganised Chelsea backline, which was desperately missing either one of Tosin or Colwill. 

The second half performance delighted Amorim. Chelsea did get a goal back, but that was their only shot on target in the second half, so it’s not like they carried a consistent threat throughout the last 45 minutes when it was 10v10. This was more down to poor management by Maresca than any stroke of tactical genius from Amorim, but when you are in the state United are, you take wins however they come your way.

⚔️ Sunderland Strengthen Premier League Survival Bid

Sunderland have been one of the most impressive teams in the Premier League so far this season, when comparing their performances to the pre-season expectations of most people.

The Black Cats were reduced to 10 men in the first half against Aston Villa, but still managed to battle back to claim a 1-1 draw after conceding the first goal. Aston Villa are in really deep trouble now and it’s hard to see a way out of it, one goal in five Premier League matches is nowhere near the level that Aston Villa need to be at.

I do think Emery is shooting himself in the foot a bit, there was no reason for Harvey Elliott not to start the game and the lack of pace and creativity in the frontline is a grave concern.

Sunderland were actually pretty comfortable in the game when they went down to 10 men. They only conceded two shots on target and limited Villa to an xG of 0.78, registering 1.04 themselves. Despite having a man less than Villa, Sunderland had more shots (14-12) and shots on target (4-2)

I think it’s really interesting to compare the reactions of two managers to early red cards over the weekend. Enzo Maresca hit the panic button and made three changes in the first half, before making two more in the second period.

By contrast, Le Bris made just one change in reaction to the sending off by bringing on Dan Ballard, before waiting till late on in the game to make more wholesale changes. This kept Sunderland in the game and earned them a point, avoiding the capitulation that Chelsea had at Old Trafford the day before. Sunderland could have even won the game thanks to Le Bris’ intelligence when it comes to game management.

Five games is a big enough sample size to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of a side and I'm really fond of Sunderland’s chances of staying up this season, after another solid performance.

⚠️ Is Arteta Still too Cautious?

If I were an Arsenal fan, I would have been fuming with the lineup that Mikel Arteta put out. For the second big game in a row, Arteta decided to go with a midfield trio of Rice, Merino and Zubimendi. This trio are all talented players and offer a lot to Arsenal, but none of them have real creative ability or a mindset to take the game to the opposition.

The best way I’d describe the Arsenal mentality is that they’re constantly acting as title challengers and not title winners. I think Arteta prioritises safety and control, which is fine in the majority of games, but when you’re playing a game like this, at home, against a City side that isn’t at its peak, why not go for it? 

Arsenal have played Liverpool, Man City and Man United already this season and have looked unconvincing in all three games. You could make an argument that it is early on in the season, but this is a common thing with Mikel Arteta. 

He rarely lets the handbrake off in these big games, when there is no excuse not to anymore. Arsenal have the attacking players and defensive security to win the league, but their mentality is holding them back. If you want to win the Premier League in the modern game, you need much more than set-piece strength and defensive stability.

I’d also highlight Gyokeres’ performance. This is the third big game in a row where he’s been pretty non-existent. I don’t think he’s an elite striker, but he will get goals against sides in the bottom half, which is fine for Arsenal, as those were games they struggled with last season, but I do think Kai Havertz will eventually take his spot in these bigger matches.

Eze, Nwaneri, Saka and Martinelli all started on the bench for Arsenal in this game, and all came on at some point. The second half was a lot brighter from Arsenal, but the initial set-up was way too negative. If it were an away game, I’d be a bit more sympathetic to the approach, but this is a game that Arsenal could have won if they’d played a bolder side.

The overall assessment of this game will be a bit less critical as Arsenal earned a point at the end of the game, but the questions still remain for Arteta. I’m not sure what Pep was doing at the end of the game himself when he reverted City into a 5-4-1 and took off Haaland, maybe trying to give Arteta a taste of his own medicine, but it backfired. 

Arsenal have a kinder run of games over the next few weeks, which may put this performance in the rear-view mirror, but the North London derby at the end of November will be another opportunity to assess how Arteta deals with these big matches.

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