Premier League talking points: Man United consistency, West Ham woes, Sterling boost for Arsenal

We pick out the big issues ahead of this weekend's English top-flight action

Erik ten Hag after Manchester United's Europa League draw with FC Twente at Old Trafford on September 25, 2024. Getty Images

Table-topping Manchester City kick off the latest round of Premier League fixtures when Pep Guardiola's reigning champions head north to take on Newcastle United on Saturday.

City needed a last-gasp leveller from John Stones to rescue a point against title rivals Arsenal last week and now face the Magpies in the early game that kicks off at 3.30pm (UAE time).

That is followed by five 6pm games when Arsenal entertain Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium, Brentford play host to West Ham United, Chelsea tackle Brighton at Stamford Bridge, Everton are up against Crystal Palace on Merseyside and Nottingham Forest face Fulham at home. Wolves versus Liverpool at Molineux brings an end to the day's proceedings.

Sunday sees Ipswich Town take on Aston Villa at Portman Road and Manchester United face Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, while Bournemouth against Southampton on Monday ends the weekend schedule. We pick out the main talking points as we head into Matchday 6.

How will Manchester City cope without Rodri?

The joy of Stones' late goal at the Etihad Stadium last weekend was tempered by the serious injury picked up by Manchester City midfielder Rodri.

Manager Guardiola confirmed on Wednesday that the Spaniard had suffered knee ligament damage. “We don't have the definitive [diagnosis] but he will be out for a long time – a while,” said Guardiola. “But there are some opinions that maybe it will be less than we expected.”

However long he is out for, all eyes will be on how the team will cope without a player who has not lost in his last 48 Premier League appearances for City and is one of the favourites to win the Ballon d'Or next month. It seems likely that Mateo Kovacic will partner Ilkay Gundogan in midfield in Rodri's absence.

City might also be without playmaker Kevin de Bruyne with Guardiola admitting the Belgian – who missed the Arsenal game and the midweek League Cup win over second-tier Watford with a groin problem – remains a doubt for the trip to Tyneside.

It was De Bruyne who came off the bench to score one and set up an injury-time winner for Oscar Bobb at St James' Park last season to help City come back from a goal down to win 3-2.

Can Lopetegui lift woeful West Ham?

It has been a grim week for West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui as his team's poor start to his London Stadium reign continued.

A 3-0 home derby battering off Chelsea last weekend was followed up by a 5-1 midweek thrashing by Liverpool in the League Cup which saw Edson Alvarez sent off and Lopetegui leave Anfield on crutches after injuring his calf during the game.

“We did positive things in my opinion and were close to winning the match,” insisted the Spaniard on Thursday. “We did very good things for 75 minutes, but it was a very different end after the red card."

Lopetegui's tactics and team selections are already being called into question, as is the club's summer recruitment process that saw West Ham spend more than £120 million on new players in what was the sixth highest net spend in Europe.

The Hammers are 14th in the table having managed just one win in five games and Lopetegui knows the pressure is building. “In the matches we have lost we have deserved more, but I repeat, we have lost them and we don’t find excuses, and we have to improve,” he said.

Will 'losing mentality' cost O'Neil his job at Wolves?

One of Lopetegui's former clubs, meanwhile, have struggled even more than the Hammers so far this season. Wolves are bottom of the table having secured just a single point as as well as having been knocked out of the League Cup by Brighton.

Captain Mario Lemina admitted the team needed “to change this losing mentality” after their home loss to Newcastle only for Wolves to follow that up with successive defeats against the Seagulls and then Aston Villa last weekend.

The Villa defeat was the second league game in a row that Gary O'Neil's side had failed to hold on to a first-half lead and Wolves have now managed just one win from their past 15 Premier League matches, losing 11.

O'Neil insisted after the Villa game that “there needs to be some realism with the difficulty of the fixtures” Wolves have had so far with the Midlands club having also faced Arsenal and Chelsea so far this season. “We have played an awful lot of teams that are going to finish very high up the league.”

But there is little respite ahead for O'Neil as Wolves take on Liverpool and then Manchester City in their next two home games and also face tricky away trips to Brentford and Brighton.

Can Sterling help Arsenal in their title push?

Raheem Sterling is up and running at Arsenal after scoring his first goal for the Gunners since his surprise summer loan move from Chelsea.

The 29-year-old England forward will be hoping to put his disappointing two-year spell at Stamford Bridge behind him after moving across London to the Emirates Stadium to join up with Mikel Arteta, his former coach at Manchester City.

Sterling's goal touch deserted him as he failed to reach double figures in either of his Premier League campaigns with Chelsea during a spell that saw him play under five different managers.

After the constant turmoil of Chelsea, Sterling has joined one of the most stable outfits in the top flight and he scored one and provided an assist for another in Wednesday's 5-1 League Cup drubbing of third-tier Bolton. Arteta will now be hoping a player who won the Premier League title four times at City, can inspire Arsenal and help deny their former club a fifth crown in a row.

“The moment the game opened up a little bit, you know, what he can do, how he can deliver,” said the Spaniard after the Bolton match. “He was involved in a few goals, so, very positive night for him.”

Will Ten Hag find consistency at Man United?

It feels like one step forward, two steps back for Erik ten Hag's Manchester United this season. After their dismal home defeat against Liverpool, United produced their best show of the campaign so far to defeat Southampton 3-0 on England's south coast before sticking seven past Barnsley in the League Cup.

But any momentum from those victories has been slowed considerably by successive draws against Crystal Palace and then FC Twente in the Europa League.

The latter match against Ten Hag's boyhood club back in the Netherlands means United have now won just one of their last nine European matches after they finished bottom of their Champions League group last season.

“I saw in many games how high our work rate is, but today I have some criticism,” admitted Ten Hag at Old Trafford on Wednesday. “It is not only the team, I have to look in the mirror as well. I am part of it. We have to be more clinical in such situations.”

With United sitting outside the top half of the Premier League ahead of their game against Spurs and facing a tricky trip to Porto next up in Europe, the pressure is building once again on Ten Hag.