Premier League: Which players will define the rest of the season?
Last season’s Premier League champions are currently fourth in the league standings, two points behind Unai Emery’s Aston Villa. Their results and performances propelled by a seemingly unshakable confidence at Villa Park.
Jurgen Klopp's chaotic Liverpool sit second, just a point off the top.
Then, sitting comfortably in eighth are West Ham, who have juggled domestic ambitions and European pressures perfectly thus far.
What's interesting about all three is each has made specific tactical choices in terms of personnel to improve results, underlying figures and overall performances.
Choices that could define the second half of the campaign.
Emery's malleable centre-backs
Centre-backs seem to be the prized commodity of tactical systems in modern football and we have seen a lot of experimentation among the Premier League's elite teams over the past couple of seasons.
Under Emery, Villa are doing something similarly interesting with their use of centre-backs both in build-up as well as defending transitions. Most notably, Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres.
"He's put it in our minds that when we build up it is a three. And even when I'm exposed on the right, I'm very comfortable defending one-on-one," Konsa told Sky Sports as long ago as June.
"It's not a problem. It's something defenders have to do. It's a challenge that I always look forward to."
The emergence of the 26-year-old, who now must surely be a leading candidate for England's starting XI at next summer's Euros, as an option at right-back has been partly due to Matty Cash's greater upside as an offensive threat.
And so this season, whenever Cash and Konsa have featured together, it has been Cash playing effectively as a right winger, the position he originally broke through in at Nottingham Forest, leaving Konsa to protect the space behind.
Crucial to high-line tactic
Emery's high line is demanding on his defenders and so, having multiple mobile centre-backs who are always switched on in 1v1 duels is important, and where Konsa and Torres play their part.
This season, Villa have caught their opponents offside 82 times. The second-highest in the league are Spurs with 56, which shows just how effective they are at executing Emery's ideas.
With Torres, Emery has a supreme progressor of the ball from the left, allowing Lucas Digne to bomb forward and provide Villa's attackers with quality service.
The Frenchman is averaging 0.18 expected assists (xA) per90 and receiving 9.29 progressive passes on average, up from 5.29 last season, which underlines his increased offensive impetus.
- A pass is 'progressive' when: Distance between starting point and next touch is at least 30 metres closer to opponent's goal if starting and finishing points are within own half; at least 15 meters closer to opponent’s goal if starting and finishing points are in different halves; at least 10 metres closer to opponent’s goal if starting and finishing points are in opponent’s half.
For all of their threat going forward, it does seem like Villa's success this season will hinge on the continued success of their malleable centre-backs.
Trent is finally a midfielder
After years of toying with the idea, Jurgen Klopp finally seems to be embracing the potential of Trent Alexander-Arnold, not the defender, mind you, but the midfielder.
The German did not think it was worth sticking with in the past, but has seemingly changed his mind now, and the Reds are all the better for it.
Inverted fullbacks isn't exactly a brand-new concept, but the way that Klopp is using Trent as a midfielder is intriguing.
Liverpool signed Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai this summer and bought Wataru Endo as a Jordan Henderson replacement at the last minute.
None of these players are perfectly suited to the role of a deep-lying playmaker. This is where Alexander-Arnold has factored in for Liverpool.
Whereas before you would see him pinging crosses to the back post, Alexander-Arnold is now helping Liverpool progress the ball from central areas.
A quick look at some metrics paints a picture of how things have changed for the 25-year-old:
- Progressive receptions down to 3.75 per90 from 4.28 in 22/23
- Progressive passes up to 8.68 per90 from 7.23 in 22/23
- Crosses attempted down to 6.32 from 7.75 in 22/23
He's looking sharper this season than he has in a while, already beating his goals tally of two from last season, he's likely to finish the season with a lot more.
This change in role for Alexander-Arnold has come with its own compromises, players like Mohamed Salah are having to hold the width of the pitch, whilst Alexander-Arnold drifts into midfield to play as the six.
It may not quite be the perfect system yet, but Liverpool are enjoying the merits of Alexander-Arnold the midfielder, and he's looked better than ever in a red shirt.
Bowen for the win
Jarrod Bowen was instrumental for West Ham's historic Europa Conference League success last season, scoring five and assisting two goals as the Hammers lifted a maiden European trophy.
After 13 goals scored in all competitions last season, Bowen is kicking on this season in a big way, having scored 10 in the Premier League already.
He's doing so in a new role this season, playing up front as the number nine for Moyes in a new-look front three alongside summer signing Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta.
Bowen's personal numbers have been impressive undoubtedly, but what about his impact on the Hammers as a whole? The underlying shooting numbers reveal all.
Last season, West Ham ranked bottom for percentage of shots on target with just 28% overall from 466 shots attempted. This season, that figure has risen to 35%, a hugely impressive boost of 7% which has been possible due to Moyes moving Bowen closer to goal instead of having him cut inside off the right.
In fact, of West Ham's 69 shots on target in the league, Bowen accounts for a staggering 22, the next best in the squad is James Ward-Prowse with just nine.
The Hammers look well set for a deep run in Europe once again and with Bowen firing on all cylinders, it looks like Moyes-ball will go far this year.
- All stats correct ahead of GW18 of Premier League action
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