The latest talking points and punting pointers from the Premier League

Premier League Talking Points & Punting Pointers: Man City, Phil Foden and Wilfried Zaha all feature

By Joe Townsend

Football

Mon October 26, 2020 · 5y ago

We have the main takeaways and betting pointers from the latest Premier League action, with focus on Phil Foden, Man City and Wilfried Zaha.

Goal-shy City struggling

It wasn't a good afternoon for Manchester City as they could only draw 1-1 at West Ham, leaving them down in mid-table and with only eight points from their opening five Premier League fixtures. Michail Antonio's overhead kick may have stolen the headlines but the stuttering start that Pep Guardiola's side have made cannot be overlooked.

There was mass panic last season when Man City were beaten at Norwich in their fifth game but their points tally was still two better than it is currently - their three previous campaigns under Guardiola saw between 15 and 13 points collected by this stage.

Teams simply aren't frightened anymore, confident to take City on how ever they see fit. Leicester sat in and countered before going for the jugular, newly-promoted Leeds went toe-for-toe and the Hammers parked the bus in a fashion Guardiola's men used to relish crashing through.

but that was a fool's bet, and prices touching 6/4 are no more tempting now. It's a long season of course, with plenty of time to get players fit and firing again, but there are problems which run deeper than defence, and already they are under pressure.

who despite their struggle for points have one of the best defensive records in the top flight this season. Five of the Blades' opening seven matches in all competitions had under 2.5 goals, and yet across the board it's 2/1 to happen.

Under 3.5 is only a shade shorter than evens in some places - that's happened in every Blades' fixture - a similar price to that on offer for backing City to score a maximum of twice.

Without Jesus and Aguero, Man City look in real trouble.

Fantastic Phil Foden

There was one major positive for Manchester City fans after their disappointing result in east London though: Phil Foden.

Most recently the 20-year-old has made headlines for all the wrong reasons, so it was great to see the midfielder deliver a reminder of just why so many have raved about him for so long.

Despite playing only 45 minutes, and City's failure to win a game they were 1/3 to take three points from, Foden was rightly named man of the match. So significant was this performance that his often bit-part role under Pep Guardiola suddenly felt well out of date.

It went far beyond his crisply struck 51st-minute equaliser, too: he was the beating heart of Man City's team. Even when Kevin De Bruyne came on after an hour it was Foden who looked most likely to drag his team to victory.

regardless of where Guardiola uses him.

But the second half at London Stadium must have been wakeup call for Pep.

Wonderful Wilf Zaha

Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha fires in against Fulham

Crystal Palace's latest win led to a shortening in the odds on Fulham boss Scott Parker becoming the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season, which you can read in more detail here.

The Cottagers' chief tormentor was Wilfried Zaha.

He assisted the opener and fired in the second to take his Premier League goal tally to five in six games this term - already more than he managed in the whole of last season, and halfway to matching his best ever return.

In our first Talking Points on opening day, Zaha was given plenty of focus because of his change in position for Palace's win over Southampton; Roy Hodgson has stuck with it and been richly rewarded.

No longer restricted to giving right-backs a torrid time as the archetypal tricky winger, the Eagles' talisman is now the central focal point of Hodgson's team as an out-and-out number 10. The direct result has been an increased involvement and increased level of responsibility, the latter emphasised by the fact the Ivorian has now been given penalty duties too.

There aren't many offering prices on Palace's next fixture at Wolves - those that are have him hovering around the which feels generous - but the real place to back Zaha when the market opens is on shots. His 2.5 per game average is a huge jump from last term's 1.6, and the highest number he's ever had.

More long term, what is quite astonishing is his position as - plenty have him at odds of greater than 100/1. Backing him each-way would still give you a sizeable 25/1 for him to finish in the division's top four scorers.

That is an astronomical price based on the Zaha we are seeing in 2020/21.

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