Tom Carnduff's Notebook: Dejan Kulusevski, Joao Gomes, Cardiff City
I really tried to do that footballer thing of not looking at the table until we get around 10 games into the season.
It was fun, an experience full of mystery, and only over the past week or so have I actually studied the standings. I was, of course, keeping up with the form and results of sides.
But it did throw up some interesting things. QPR sit bottom of the Sky Bet Championship table. I knew they'd been bad but it really highlights just how bad when you see it like that.
Leeds are third, which is nice, while Blackburn continue to battle in the top six following a solid enough start.
There's not actually too much to say about the Premier League as a whole because it's largely going the way we expect. Arsenal and Manchester City towards the top; the newly promoted lads towards the bottom (well, not Leicester).
As ever though, the latest round of fixtures highlighted a few things worth discussing.
Kulusevski thriving
It was yet another good performance for Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski as they beat West Ham 4-1 in Saturday's early kick-off.
While traditionally a winger, the Swedish international has been playing in a more central role this season given the form of Brennan Johnson.
That's returned a high volume of shots. Three of his last five Premier League outings have seen at least three, with goals coming against the Hammers and Manchester United.
Some of his creativity is staggeringly good too. Kulusevski created an incredible nine chances in the win at Old Trafford - the fourth occasion this season where he's provided at least three.
He now ranks in the top five for chances created in the top flight this season yet only has one assist on his tally.
This is where the value could be in Tottenham games. His creativity hasn't been matched by actual returns, yet they will surely follow if he continues to post these sorts of numbers.
Backing an assist if he features against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League may be a good price. If not, their next league contest comes against Crystal Palace.
Go for Gomes
Joao Gomes looked incredibly busy in Wolves' last minute defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
This wasn't a huge surprise having seen him a few times this season but I hadn't quite realised the extent of his involvement until I delved into the numbers a little bit.
Sunday's contest meant that five of his eight league outings have delivered at least three fouls; no huge surprise to see four yellows on his tally then.
He's basically nailed on for a suspension at some point because there's no way he's avoiding another booking between now and Gameweek 19.
But it's tackling too where the numbers go big. Five of eight hames have seen at least three successful with the six against City his season-high.
There won't be a huge amount of value flying around on both the tackles and fouls lines yet Gomes has shown repeatedly that he can deliver in these areas.
A trip to Brighton and their expansive style of football has all the potential to go above and beyond what we've seen already.
Foxes hunting
It was quite the result for Leicester on Saturday as they came from 2-0 down at Southampton to win 3-2 thanks to a last minute effort from Jordan Ayew.
Out of the many things that game highlighted, the Foxes' aggressive style out of possession was probably the biggest.
This has been a feature of their approach under Steve Cooper. They're a side instructed to commit in order to win back possession.
That game at St. Mary's saw a huge total of 30 successful tackles, something that leaves them second to Manchester United in that metric this season.
Yet they are well clear when it comes to attempted tackles, averaging 31.3 per 90 minutes. That is nearly a couple more per game than the next-best (United and Crystal Palace are both on 29.6).
The next league game takes them to Cooper's form club in Nottingham Forest, but there is a Carabao Cup game the week after against Manchester United - that has huge potential for a high tackles line to be met.
More and more bookmakers are offering the stats markets, particularly team tackles. It will be worth looking at the Foxes in this area.
Bluebirds flying
I don't think many people would have expected Cardiff to secure a 5-0 victory over Plymouth on Saturday but there we go.
This is a continuity of a more attacking Bluebirds side under Omer Riza's interim guidance though. In fairness, this was something he outlined from the moment he stepped into the role.
"I’m an attack-minded coach. We haven’t got enough bodies in forward areas over the last six games and we’ve been timid with our pressing," he said in his first press conference.
And that has been the case. They've won two, drawn one and lost another in his four games at the helm. They've been far more creative across that period though.
The expected goals (xG) data is perhaps the best way to outline their new approach.
Cardiff averaged 0.56 xG per game under Erol Bulut's guidance this season, but since Riza has taken over, that figure has shot up to 1.71 xG.
There's every chance of another strong attacking performance when they welcome Portsmouth on Tuesday night then. They are another side who have shipped plenty of opportunities across their opening ten fixtures.
Keep this in your Brest pocket
I flagged this up in my weekend column but annoyingly the player I backed wasn't involved. Even then, the theory still applies.
Brest, for whatever reason, have a set-piece problem when coming up against sides who operate with a back-three system.
Games against Marseille, PSG, Salzburg, St. Etienne and Sturm Graz also saw opposition centre-backs fail to post a shot - those teams play with two centre-backs.
Yet games against Auxerre, Le Havre, Lens and Toulouse all saw at least two shots from centre-backs - those teams operating with three from the start. Le Havre seeing two of the central defenders having two each with nine corners taken across the 90 minutes.
Rennes were their latest opponent, a side who played with three centre-backs. It was no surprise then that Alidu Seidu and Mikayil Faye both had a shot each.
This is well worth remembering when they face Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday - I'll be back Jonathan Tah to score in that one.
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