Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action - TWO

6) Hughes demands more from frustrating talent

Marko Arnautovic had a fine game for Stoke City in their win over Aston Villa, scoring the winning goal and having another incorrectly ruled out for offside. He can be frustrating at times but he is an outstanding player when he is in the mood. If Mark Hughes can coax that kind of performance out of him on a more regular basis, Stoke’s attack will surely thrive. “He’s done very well,” Hughes said. “He’s a big powerful guy and when he’s travelling at speed in the box he’s very difficult to defend against. He’s got to continue that and be consistent.”Jacob Steinberg

7) Pardew talks up French lieutenant

Midfielder

Yohan Cabaye

Appearances

8

Free Kicks

29

Corners

20

Crosses

16

Assists

1

Wilfried Zaha’s tormenting of Chris Brunt was the most eye-catching feature of Crystal Palace’s comprehensive victory over an alarmingly passive West Bromwich Albion, but Alan Pardew seemed keener to highlight Yohan Cabaye’s cerebral contribution. Understandable, since the manager went to lengths during the summer to convince his board that breaking the club record to prise Cabaye from PSG would not shatter Palace’s unity. “It was a deal that knocked us out of kilter and the chairman and the board worried about that,” says Pardew of the £12.8m purchase of Cabaye in July. “But I assured them that there’s no player that can knock on my door and say ‘I want the same money as Cabaye’. If you increase the wage structure because someone has come in and they don’t deliver, then you have got a problem. But they can all come and knock on my door on Monday and ask for more money, saying ‘I want Yohan’s money’. And they’ll get a simple answer: ‘You’re not as good as him’.” Pardew went on describe Cabaye as his “lieutenant” and compared their relationship to the one once enjoyed by Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane. Palace’s performances so far have backed that up. It was impossible not to wonder, meanwhile, how much certain Albion players enjoy playing for Tony Pulis. Paul Doyle

8) Pochettino closer to solving Spurs’ post-Europa conundrum

Tottenham’s post-Europa League problems last season were well documented – Newcastle, West Brom and Stoke had all won at White Hart Lane by mid-November in games directly after European nights – and did little to pique their manager’s appetite for the competition. Perhaps it had more to do with Mauricio Pochettino’s mastery of his pack than the relentlessness of their schedule: following this term’s Thursday night endeavours Tottenham have beaten Crystal Palace and drawn at Swansea, the latter a match they had plenty of chances to win, and the Argentinian says that success on all fronts comes with better knowledge on his own part of how to deal with the situation. “Only when you know your squad and your players can you take the right decision,” said Pochettino after an entertaining match at the Liberty Stadium in which he started nine of the 11 who had begun their game in Monaco three days previously. “This is our second season here, we know our players much better and know who can play Thursday and Sunday.” It is heartening that one of those appears to be Christian Eriksen, who has struggled for fitness this season but followed 89 minutes against Monaco with an influential 90 in south Wales. His superb pair of free-kicks showed a string to Tottenham’s bow that they had not been able to fully utilise this season, but the bigger picture is that Pochettino’s team – now unbeaten in seven league games – may just be closer to satisfactorily answering the many and frequent challenges that come their way. Nick Ames

9) Ranieri’s Kanté addition looks astute

The re-assessment of Claudio Ranieri’s managerial worth by some pundits continues, after the Italian’s decision to leave out much-vaunted winger Riyad Mahrez was justified by the victory at Carrow Road. True, his offer of pizza all round remains on the table as once again the Foxes failed to keep a clean sheet, but against a Norwich side which Alex Neil said had been set up to deal with a counter-attacking team, and conspicuously failed to do so, they looked altogether more solid than previously this season, while retaining their threat going forward. The truth is pace, most notably that of Jamie Vardy and Jeffrey Schlupp, and the outstanding tackling of N’Golo Kanté, have been just as important to Leicester’s early success than the impact made by the creativity and shooting ability of Mahrez. Ranieri said Kante’s ball-winning stats were the best not just in thePremier League, but in all the English leagues – and when much is made of Ranieri’s sticking with the players who served Nigel Pearson so well at the end of last season, his addition of the dynamic Kanté in midfield cannot be overlooked.Richard Rae

10) Cherries’ style needs added steel

Bournemouth can acknowledge that the Premier League boils down to those elusive, fine margins but they need to act upon them and fast. “The big difference is that when the opposition gets a chance, they score,” said the Bournemouth left-back Charlie Daniels, before his side’s 1-1 draw with Watford on Saturday. But on the brink of half-time, goalkeeper Artur Boruc gifted Odion Ighalo his fifth goal of the season, after failing to clear a simple back pass from Sylvain Distin. It was another costly defensive lapse for a team that conceded on average less than a goal per game during their promotion from the Championship last season. Later, Glenn Murray, on his full debut, failed to convert a spot-kick to put the Cherries ahead. After the match, Eddie Howe admitted he was concerned about the way his side have been dropping points. Bournemouth are an extremely tight-knit group, on and off the pitch, with a fine fluid style, but they need to re-establish the steeliness that made them champions last season. That challenge is not eased by another injury to another key player, with the captain Tommy Elphick set to miss at least the next month of action with an achilles problem. Ben Fisher