WINNERS
Kurt Zouma
While talk of Diego Costa’s ‘sh*thousery’ dominated the aftermath of Chelsea’s win over Arsenal, the real story of the afternoon was the emergence of Zouma.
The £12m man was bought as a future John Terry, and he is already justifying his inclusion in the first team in the veteran’s place.
Without some timely interventions from the 20-year-old, not to mention his nerve-settling opening goal, Jose Mourinho’s dreadful start to the season could easily have continued.
Winston Reid
Quite a few eyebrows were raised last season when Reid signed a new deal with West Ham amid strong interest from top six clubs, but the New Zealander’s decision is looking like a good one.
Reid was the stand-out performer as West Ham shocked league leaders Manchester City, putting his body in the way of everything as the home side pressed relentlessly for an equaliser.
West Ham moved second with the 2-1 win, their third away victory from trips to Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City – how many of us expected to be saying that back in August?
Odion Ighalo
Striker Troy Deeney was hailed as the star man as Watford clinched promotion to the Premier League, and rightly so, but another Hornets forward has been the main man so far this season.
Ighalo has played for all three clubs owned by the Pozzo family – joining Watford from Udinese after three years on loan with Granada – and looks to be benefiting from having some security about his future.
Two goals away to Newcastle brought his tally for the season to four from six games, and lifted Quique Flores’ side into the top half of the table.
Anthony Martial
It might seem like overkill to include one player among our winners in back-to-back weeks, but without Martial’s impact Man United could easily be three points worse off.
He brought the Red Devils level at Southampton and put them into the lead early in the second half, earning himself an enviable record.
Still, some United fans’ reactions might have been a tad OTT.
LOSERS
Gabriel
There’s simply no excuse for not knowing what to expect from Diego Costa in 2015.
The striker will bully you, try to rile you up, and bend the rules wherever possible.
It’s immaterial that the Spanish international should have been sent off before Arsenal’s Gabriel saw red himself for a petulant reaction – if the Brazilian had left him alone then the result at Stamford Bridge could have been very different.
Tim Sherwood
Aston Villa’s board put a lot of faith in a manager with no transfer window experience, trusting Sherwood to spend big on promising but unproven talents like Jordan Ayew, Jordan Amavi and Adama Traore.
It’s admirable that so much trust was placed in the former Tottenham boss, but like Paul Lambert before him there is a danger that Sherwood could be given too much time at the helm.
Defeat at home to West Brom left Villa with just a home point against Sunderland to show from the five games since their opening day win, and things need to improve sooner rather than later.
Maya Yoshida
With Southampton investing heavily in Virgil van Dijk, centre-back Maya Yoshida’s place in the first team was no longer assured.
The Japan international was moved to right-back against Manchester United in an effort to deal with the threat of Anthony Martial and Memphis Depay on the wings, but you get the sense Cedric Soares may regain his starting place next week.
Yoshida’s backpass gifted a goal to Martial, and allowed United to leave Ronald Koeman’s team rooted in the bottom six.
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