The List | 5 Things Learnt From The Weekend - Football News

One thing that you can never say about the Premier League is that it is boring. Shock results, last gasp goals, wonder goals, you name it, England has it. Spain may be a one horse race with Real Madrid already five points behind Barcelona but the Premier League has six title contenders who are all in the mix.

Each weekend there seems to be another thing that we learn; the defensive fragilities of some teams, the star players in others, there is always something to talk about. With the dreaded international break on the horizon, we have taken this opportunity to talk about the five things we learnt from the Premier League this weekend.



Something is happening on the South coast – They spent well in the summer, bringing in some shrewd players and establishing themselves as a Premier League side. Manager Mauricio Pochettino wants more than that however and has steered his side to the upper echelons of the table. Stating that the Europa League is not the aim, the Champions League is, the ambition is certainly there and we're seeing the results to match. Their next game is at Old Trafford, a result there and people will really sit up and talk.  

That boy Januzaj is a bit good – Digging his side out of a huge hole against Sunderland is one thing, but the 18 year olds value goes far beyond that in the eyes of those in power at Old Trafford. The world and its wife may be after the player, both internationally and domestically, and quite where his future lies remains to be seen. One thing is for sure however, that future is very bright indeed. He shares a birthday with Cristiano Ronaldo after all.  



Mourinho is still special – According to the manager himself, he smelt defeat at Norwich and made the changes necessary to counteract that. His Chelsea side might not be as good as it was back in 2004/2005, but the manager himself clearly is. Bringing on Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o and Willian at exactly the right times harked back to his first reign in charge, when it was more about when Jose would make the subs rather than who was actually going on the field. 



It was not a good weekend for England’s keepers – Joe Hart has been having a rough time recently, making some mistakes and predictably, if a little bit unfairly, being crucified by the media. In the wake of calls for Hart to be dropped ahead of the crucial qualifiers, John Rudd decided to gift Chelsea the lead giving Hart absolutely nothing to worry about. Fraser Forster is also a possibility but given Roy Hodgson opted to watch Hart during the UCL games, and not send anyone to watch Forster, it is pretty clear where his loyalties lie.



AVB’s team selection was not very good, Ravel Morrision is – After a tough Europa League game, AVB had a decision to make over his starting eleven. Should he rotate or not? As the result showed, he got it not just a little bit wrong, but catastrophically so. Being booed off at the final whistle and going from harping on about being title contenders to being hammered at home spoke volumes. Manchester United bad boy turned West Ham prodigy Ravel Morrison however was the pick of the bunch, scoring one of the goals of the season.

What did the weekend's action teach you? Let us know your thoughts. Join the conversation on Twitter and on Facebook.