Premier League talking points: Ten Hag woes, Chelsea split, Arsenal absences

We pick out the big issues as the English top flight returns to action

Erik ten Hag will be hoping Manchester United can avoid a third straight defeat when they take on Southampton. Getty Images

The Premier League is back on duty after the international break starting with a hectic Saturday programme of eight matches.

Southampton and Manchester United kick off proceedings at St Mary's Stadium in the early game (3.30pm UAE) followed by five matches at 6pm; Brighton entertain Ipswich Town on the south coast, Crystal Palace take on Leicester City at Selhurst Park, Fulham tackle West Ham United at Craven Cottage, Nottingham Forest travel to Liverpool, while table-topping Manchester City face Brentford at the Etihad Stadium.

Then Aston Villa play host to bottom club Everton at Villa Park (8.30pm) before Bournemouth's home clash with Chelsea (11pm) brings the day's proceedings to an close.

There are two games on Sunday starting with the North London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal (5pm) with Wolves against Newcastle United at Molineux providing the last of the weekend action. We pick out the main talking points heading into Matchday 4.

Will Southampton add to Ten Hag's problems?

The weeks before and after the international break have not been kind to Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.

United followed up their late defeat at Brighton with a miserable 3-0 home battering by rivals Liverpool that increased the early-season pressure on the Dutchman.

After the game at Old Trafford, Ten Hag insisted he was “not Harry Potter” and that people should not expect magical results while key players are still missing and others are building their fitness. “It will take a couple of weeks, maybe even a month. That is the same for a lot of players,” he said.

And in the run-up to this weekend's match, Cristiano Ronaldo decided to stick the boot into his former manager by questioning what he perceived as Ten Hag's defeatist attitude.

When asked on Thursday about Ronaldo'scomments, Ten Hag replied: “He is far away in Saudi, far away from Manchester. Everyone can have and is entitled to have an opinion, it is OK.

“[The external noise] doesn’t impact me, I know in the process where we are, what we have to do, where we are going. We are still in a transition process.”

Can Nketiah give Eagles a lift?

After ending last season in impressive fashion, Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has been given a reality check about life in the Premier League over the summer.

After taking over the reigns from Roy Hodgson in February, Glasner ended the campaign with by winning six of their last seven games to finish 10th in the table.

Over the summer, though, Palace lost defender Joachim Andersen (£30 million to Fulham) and winger Michael Olise (to Bayern Munich for £50m) and the team have taken just one point from their opening three games.

On the plus side, they did manage to hang on to England centre-half Marc Guehi, with Newcastle refusing to meet Palace's reported asking price of £70m, and Eberechi Eze, who scored a stunner in their 1-1 draw at Chelsea before the break.

And, arrivals wise, they have invested in younger talent with Chadi Riad (age 20), Maxence Lacroix (24) strengthening their defence – although the former is currently out injured – and Eddie Nketiah (25) boosting their attacking options.

Glanser will be hoping the £30m signing from Arsenal will give the team, who have scored just twice this season, some cutting edge up front. “I'm really excited for my Selhurst Park debut,” Nketiah told the club's website. “Hopefully, I can make it one to remember.”

Will boardroom split affect Chelsea?

All is not well in the Stamford Bridge boardroom with news emerging of a serious rift between the club's co-owners Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly.

Eghbali and the Clearlake equity firm own a majority 61.5 per cent stake in the club, while Boehly has only a 12.8 per cent stake, but a Bloomberg report last week revealed that the American businessman wants to buy out his rivals.

Boehly is said to have been less than impressed with the club's wild transfer strategy – led by Eghbali – that has seen more than £1.5 billion spent on new players with almost every senior player from the Roman Abramovich era now gone.

The exit of Mauricio Pochettino over the summer laid bare the differences with Boehly stating publicly that he wanted the Argentine to stay on as manager only for him to leave within weeks.

Another manic summer has seen Enzo Maresca take over as manager and a further £185m forked out on new signings, leaving the Italian the unenviable task of trying to keep a bloated squad happy with players being forced to train separately from the first team. Chelsea have lost one, won one and drawn one of their opening league games.

“We need stability,” insisted defender Marc Cucurella while away on international duty with Spain. “We have high-level players, and I hope we can have the patience that is needed, that calm, so that everything goes well.”

Can Watkins find scoring touch at Villa?

Aston Villa have made a solid start to the new campaign, taking six points from three games, but have done so without the goal contributions of striker Ollie Watkins.

The England international scored 19 goals and a league-leading 13 assists last season, also grabbing a dramatic late winner for England in their Euro 2024 semi-final win over the Netherlands during the summer.

But Watkins has yet to score in three games, spurning chances against West Ham, Arsenal and Leicester that the 28 year old would have gobbled up last season. He has now gone seven top-flight appearances without a goal, his worst spell since Unai Emery took over as manager in November 2022.

Watkins was forced to pull out of the England squad for their recent Uefa Nations League games and missed most of pre-season after being allowed a later return to training than his teammates following Euro 2024.

“Ollie didn’t score but I’m happy with him,” said Emery after the 2-1 win at Leicester. “He’s doing his work but he’s getting his chances. He’s going to score.”

How will Arsenal cope without Rice and Odegaard?

Arsenal head into the derby clash with Spurs knowing they will be without two of the key components of their engine room in Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard.

Rice will be suspended at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after picking up a controversial red card during the home draw with Brighton while captain Odegaard picked up an ankle injury playing for Norway that rules him out for the next few weeks.

Odegaard played in 35 of Arsenal's 38 league games last season while Rice was involved in all of them, and they will be huge losses for manager Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard cannot even turn to Mikel Merino as a replacement after the summer singing from Real Sociedad picked up a shoulder injury in his first training session at the club and is likely to be out until November.

It leaves the Gunners short-handed for what is a crucial run of games against Spurs, away to Atalanta in the Champions League and the clash against title rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

At least one bright spot emerged for Arsenal fans on Thursday when it was announced that Arteta has agreed a new three-year contract with the club.