A point-blank save from Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson didn’t merely turn Saturday’s game for Leicester – it set the entire tone for their victory.
There is no doubt about it, the arrival of Brendan Rodgers has had a tremendous effect on the performance of the Foxes’ senior players – and you don’t get more senior at Leicester than Kasper Schmeichel.
Wes Morgan: Where is Wes Morgan getting his appetite for goals? The Leicester captain’s deft flick past Bournemouth keeper Asmir Begovic was reminiscent of Denis Law.
What a nice way to celebrate what would have been their late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s 61st birthday.
Did you know? Leicester’s Morgan has scored in consecutive Premier League appearances for the first time, also netting three goals in his past four games.
Ben Mee: It was James Tarkowski who made my team of the week after Burnley last victory over Tottenham. Well, this week it’s Ben Mee.
Kurt Zouma: What was that all about? Manuel Pellegrini said it was a bad day at the office? I’ll say. West Ham were shocking. I’ve criticised Everton for their poor defending this season but I found myself applauding their clean sheet at London Stadium on Saturday.
The Hammers could have been two goals down after 20 minutes and were lucky it wasn’t more. Meanwhile, Kurt Zouma is starting to look like a defender who can be trusted.
Patrick van Aanholt: For all of Wilfried Zaha’s clever trickery and ability on the ball, he would score 20 goals a season for Crystal Palace if he could strike a ball cleanly.
Fortunately for Palace, that is what Dutch players do particularly well – regardless of what position they find themselves in.
Patrick van Aanholt put Saturday’s game beyond Huddersfield – and effectively sent them down – with a beautiful finish.
I don’t think I’ve seen a Premier League side make so many mistakes, appear so lacking in confidence and be so terrified of playing the ball forward as Fulham were. They have improved under Scott Parker but is he a manager?
Harry Arter: With 79 minutes gone against Chelsea on Sunday, it looked as though Harry Arter had done his job. The Cardiff man had snapped, crackled and popped his way through Chelsea’s entire midfield.
That said, there was nothing Warnock could do about an undetected offside equaliser for Chelsea, and referee Craig Pawson’s decision to allow Antonio Rudiger to stay on the field when other referees might have sent the Germany international off for bringing down Kenneth Zohore. Warnock will be climbing walls tonight!
Dwight McNeil: This lad has caught my eye before – but when recently retired Burnley striker Jon Walters made the point on Football Focus that Dwight McNeil could score goals as well as provide assists, he was right.
McNeil did both against a Wolves side who seemed to have more than one eye on their FA Cup semi-final next week against Watford. This was a great win for the Clarets – but looking at their run-in, they need another five points from somewhere.
Did you know? McNeil has been directly involved in seven Premier League goals overall this season (three goals, four assists) – the joint-highest total of any teenager (level with Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon).
Luke Shaw: The ball from Luke Shaw for Marcus Rashford to open Manchester United’s account against Watford was sublime.
The pass so beautifully placed that it dissected Watford’s defence and, at the same time, allowed Rashford to destroy them with his pace. Brilliant.
Well, I would like to state for the record that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s appointment, along with the support of Mike Phelan, will be the catalyst for Rashford to become a world-class striker instead of just a top-class player.
The big question is: can they keep him? If I was Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane ,I would pay a king’s ransom for him.
Sergio Aguero: If Rashford is top class – and he is – what makes Sergio Aguero world class? Well, without going into some deep analysis, if you assess the goal Aguero scored against Fulham and consider he does that on most of the big occasions, then you get the answer.
Did you know? Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Aguero has been involved in more Premier League goals against newly-promoted teams than any other player (36 – 29 goals, seven assists).
Kick It Out went on the attack this week insisting that black players should ‘walk’ if officials refused to initiate Uefa’s three-stage protocol in games.
I’ve always wondered what managers thought when they saw their players being racially abused by fans and now we know. They don’t like it any more than we do and would lead their players off the pitch if officials suddenly found themselves suffering a hearing impediment.
Kick It Out has been warning the governing bodies about the threat of such action since Samuel Eto’o was begged not to leave the field of play against Real Zaragoza by his Barcelona team-mates in 2006.