Chelsea 5-0 Everton
Okay so Chelsea in the last few weeks have turned themselves into serious, serious title contenders. At the start of the season I said that I doubted Mourinho, Conte or Pep would have an instant impact on their team and that it would take time to bed in their own systems. With Pep that very much hasn't been the case, but even now Guardiola is still aware that there is work to do and he's still working on fully implementing his own style. But Conte and Jose very much looked as if they had done very little to actively improve their sides by the end of September, when Arsenal dismantled Chelsea and United were floundering after losses to Watford and City. Since then however, Conte's Chelsea have been steadily improving. Wins over Hull and Leicester could be written off, and whilst the 4-0 demolition of United showed massive improvement, United were woeful that day. But since then, Chelsea have continued to impress. I said last week that their performance against Southampton was the perfect away display, and they went one better on Saturday against Everton.
This was a devastating performance, Chelsea as terrific as Everton were poor. Tactically, Everton got it totally wrong, and Eden Hazard was able to exploit the holes in their defence to run riot. Playing with wingbacks meant that Alonso and Moses could pin their opposite numbers, making it effectively 3 on three for Chelsea when they attacked, Hazard, Pedro and Costa all able to expose the back three, safe in the knowledge that Kante and Matic were more than capable of snuffing out any counter-attacks. That's what Chelsea's system gave them, it played to the strengths of its personnel. The back three system, shielded by the exceptional Kante and allowing Matic to do what he does best, defend, ensured that the front three could play with total freedom. And they ran riot. 
Hazard of course was particularly impressive, but Pedro and Costa were both also excellent. Hazard will be getting enough thoroughly deserved plaudits for this performance so you don't need me to tell you how exceptional he was, scoring twice and playing a part in other goals too. Moreover, Costa put in a stunning performance. I'm used to seeing Diego Costa score goals, but his workrate and general play were both supremely impressive against Everton, whose back three had a torrid day at the office. To say things might have been different if Stekelenburg had done better with the first two goals, both of which he should have stopped, would be trite, as Chelsea created chance after chance, bombarding Everton, bamboozling them, and blowing them away. This wasn't so much a victory as a gauntlet. A message laid out to the rest of the Premier League in the blood of Everton's defenders: we're back.
Chelsea are back. Conte has been able to introduce the three at the back that has worked for him throughout his career, and by bringing in the perfect player in Kante, he's stabilised the defence, freeing up his two world class attacking individuals in Costa and Hazard. But a lot of credit has to go to the two wing-backs, as Moses and Alonso have been utterly integral to the system that Conte has created and both have performed incredibly well. On this evidence, Chelsea will take some stopping.
Liverpool 6-1 Watford
And it took less than 24 hours for the gauntlet that Chelsea threw down to be picked up by another challenger. I said before the Watford match that in light of what Chelsea had done to Everton, I would like to see LFC produce a similar message sending performance against an opposition of a similar calibre (just one place and three points separate Watford and Everton this season and just two positions and points separated them last season). And, amazingly, they did just that. I'm not sure Liverpool's performance was quite as complete as Chelsea's, but it was certainly every bit as devastating, and that sheer power and visceral attacking threat saw a similar scoreline to the one that Chelsea produced.
Certainly Liverpool, who moved to the top of the Premier League after slip ups by City and Arsenal, will feel that they are capable of matching the Blues (or anyone in the country for that matter) pound for pound right now, as they tore Watford apart, and probably should have scored at least twice before they did open the scoring against the Hornets. And once Mane flicked in a header from Coutinho's corner, it was full steam ahead, with Coutinho himself doubling the lead, before two brilliant crosses from Adam Lallana secured goals for Firmino and Emre Can, Firmino turned provider for Mane. 5-0, Chelsea's score matched inside the hour mark.
With Daniel Sturridge on, it could easily have been more before Darryl Janmaat pulled one back, but Sturridge forced reserve keeper Pantillimon to palm one straight to other substitute Wijnaldum to ensure the Dutchman got his first goal in a Reds shirt.
And then of course there's the obligatory question of: can Liverpool defend? I'll admit that if I was Jurgen Klopp I'd be quite annoyed that after a blistering, enthralling 6-1 win, which could easily have hit double digits with the amount of chances that LFC missed, everyone is asking about the one that they conceded. I'm going to write an article about this in the next couple of days, focusing on Liverpool's defence but for now I will say that we've conceded five more than Chelsea but also scored four more. A 6-1 win on paper is the same as a 5-0 one and if we only concede when we're winning then I'll be more than happy with that.
Overall, this was a thunderous display from Liverpool and it was all the more impressive because it was a team display. Loris Karius came to the party with two or three great saves, and was again helpless for the goal. Clyne and Milner were excellent by and large, Matip imperious again. Henderson was his usual exceptional self, Can and Wijnaldum chipped in with goals and our front four almost defy superlatives at this point. If Hazard underlined his claim to being the in form player in the division on Saturday then Phillipe Coutinho mounted his on Sunday, with his fifth man of the match display of the season and his fourth in five games. Mane and Firmino were both seriously impressive but there was also a welcome return to form for the electrifying Adam Lallana, who was at the heart of everything good that Liverpool produced.
So, with a long way to go in the race, Liverpool and Chelsea have well and truly stated their credentials this week. I don't have time today to look at the North London Derby or Man City's draw with Boro in any great detail, but again, I'll try and write something in the next few days.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Zlatan and Pogba turned up. Swansea look Sunderland bad.
- Sunderland however, won this weekend. As did Hull. Scenes.
- Andy Murray won the Paris Masters. In style.
- Four test losses in a row for Australia. Ouch.
- Wales were handed a beating by Australia rugby though.
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