Free football betting analysis and tips: Premier League Talking Points | Man Utd, Everton and Jordan Pickford

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Returning West Ham fans make themselves heard

After 271 days without fans attending a Premier League game, the London Stadium opened its doors for 2,000 West Ham supporters to watch their side's home game with Manchester United.

Nothing could possibly make that nine-month wait worthwhile, but wow did David Moyes' team do their utmost to reward the Hammers' faithful for their loyalty and patience with a phenomenal first-half display. The solitary disappointment from the opening 45 minutes will have been that West Ham led only 1-0 having been utterly dominant.

Tomas Soucek eventually tapped home Declan Rice's perfect flick header from a corner shortly before the break, but Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals and Sebastien Haller all went close themselves.

Even with a near empty stadium, those in attendance made a big difference.

Gone was the fake crowd noise, and immediately the atmosphere of the game was lifted. West Ham's players seemed to feed off it, as any home team should.

But the most striking element that is just as important to the theatre of sport, is that their supporters made a conscious decision to boo Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba. That kind of hero and villain style relationship between players and fans has been sadly lacking for far too long.

So when Pogba lashed home a 30-yard equaliser in the second half before cupping his ears to the stands, football was back.

Man Utd maintain inconsistent streak

Paul Pogba's brilliant strike was the start of a quickfire comeback that had looked highly unlikely based on the balance of the game. But based on Manchester United's previous showings this season, they should have been heavily backed at half-time.

Excellent finishes from England strikers Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford completed a 3-1 win, and meant for the fifth successive Premier League away game United had conceded first and won.

If ever there was a team to back in-play, it is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's.

West Ham supporters may very well have been trudging home from their first foray to a ground since early 2020 wondering how their team had conspired to comfortably lose a game that they had looked certain to comfortably win.

But since the start of the 2019/20 campaign, no Premier League team has dropped more points (32) from winning positions than the Irons. It really was a perfect storm.

Is Jordan Pickford a bad keeper?

Short answer - no. But he certainly has a few problems to work through, as do his team-mates.

I felt a little in harsh in midweek when focusing on what I considered to be a weakness in Jordan Pickford's goalkeeping.

Not because of any grandiose idea that someone might read what I was writing and either take offence or take heed of what I'd said, but more because it felt as though I was finally joining the mob. Criticising the Everton and England number one has gone from being a post-World Cup fad, to a long-term hobby of the footballing masses.

Unfortunately, what may have initially started out as unfair criticism has ultimately been warranted. Whether one led to the other, well I guess we'll never know.

And I can't exactly take the moral high ground here when, barely three minutes into the weekend's Premier League action, I jumped out of my chair as Burnley midfielder Robbie Brady lined up a 25-yard shot with his weaker right foot, and punched the air when it nestled into the bottom corner.

Pickford had already conceded more goals from outside the box than any other top-flight keeper. Brady's was the fifth strike to beat him from at least 18 yards, and he is now just three shy of the eight he let in from range in 2019/20.

Five in 10 matches makes for some pretty grim reading; factor in his international appearances and it's eight in 18.

Should Everton change formations?

Everton's weakness in conceding goals from distance is not all Jordan Pickford's fault.

Carlo Ancelotti's side have won once in seven league games, with major defensive problems the cause - they're now 12 matches without a clean sheet and have let in 21 goals in that time. The Italian's brand of attacking football, which has brought huge success to a plethora of major European clubs, is fraught with issues at the other end of the pitch.

That's especially the case if the correct pieces aren't there to complete the puzzle.

The Toffees' record-breaking, early-season success - they won their opening seven matches in all competitions - was largely a result of superb performances from front three Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and James Rodriguez. But the latter's career has stalled over the past decade because a succession of managers haven't known exactly where to play him.

Accommodating the talented Colombian, who is undoubtedly a free-spirited number 10, as a wide man in a front three means someone else must do the dirty work that he is either unwilling or unable to carry out. Even when deployed in his natural role behind a striker, the bare minimum trade-off would be two anchormen holding midfielders.

So far, Everton haven't managed to find a compromise, with the result often being a central midfielder getting dragged out of position to cover Rodriguez's area of the pitch. Hey presto, there is acres of space for players like Robbie Brady or Raphinha to pick their spot from distance under absolutely no pressure.

Ancelotti's constant tweaking between formations has failed to yield the desired outcome of a balanced team. If anything, the first-half injury to Fabian Delph at Burnley helped clear some muddled thinking as he was forced to return to 4-3-3.

The quest for balance has undoubtedly been made near impossible by Everton's injury crisis at full-back, with Seamus Coleman, Jonjoe Kenny and Lucas Digne all missing; Delph now joins them on the sidelines.

I say near impossible, but Ancelotti could have started with Mason Holgate or Ben Godfrey at right-back, and Delph on the other side, but he chose not to.

To at least try and balance off all of this Everton bashing, Dominic Calvert-Lewin just keeps scoring doesn't he. Well done Dom.

Man City move firmly into title race

Manchester City have started slowly this season, and their primary issue has been a struggle to score goals.

But in more Jose Mourinho than Pep Guardiola style, they have laid the foundations for success by becoming very difficult to beat. Almost out of nowhere, they are now only three points off the top after 10 games. Considering how far from their usual standards they have been, that is some achievement.

City have kept four straight clean sheets and conceded only six goals in their past 14 matches. I don't have much more to add that to be honest, just thought it was worth a mention.

Oh and congrats on reaching 700 games as a manager Pep, if you're reading.

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