Key Points of the Weekend
- jonjoward1998
- Sep 15
- 3 min read
More depth improves Arsenal's title chances
Whenever you saw an Arsenal team sheet without both Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard on it, you would immediately think that Arsenal would struggle because of how important both player are for them.
But that appears to no longer be the case for them thanks to their summer signings which have bolstered the depth of their squad and given them a better chance of winning the title.
Squad depth is crucial to any side who are looking to challenge or win the title as you need to rotate your squad over the course of a season in order to keep it fresh.
Arsenal showed against Nottingham Forest on Saturday that they have depth with Noni Madueke once again putting in another good performance in Bukayo Saka's absence, Mikel Merino starting ahead of Declan Rice and impressing and new signing Cristhian Mosquera putting in a solid performance at the back in the absence of the injured William Saliba.
A lack of squad depth has been what Arsenal have lacked in recent seasons and they've been able to go one better because of it.
But with a strong squad this time round with players who can fill in for others, the Gunners will feel that they have a better chance of winning the title this season than they did in the last two or three seasons.
Is Nick Woltemade the right replacement for Isak?
New Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade got his Magpies career off to the perfect on Saturday by scoring and putting in an all-round good performance on his debut against Wolves.
Is he the right replacement for Isak?
When you look at Woltemade, you would immediately think that he's an old fashioned centre forward because of his height and aerial ability.
But against Wolves he showed more than that by dropping deep to receive the ball and linking up with teammates just like Isak did during his spell on Tyneside.
He will still act as a target man because of his height and he showed that with his goal which was headed in from Jacob Murphy's cross.
But he'll still look to be a team player by dropping into the no.10 role and linking up with his teammates.
If he can have more games like his debut and score a good number of goals, he could well prove himself to be the right replacement for Isak.
Is Ruben Amorim under pressure?
Man United have made their worst start to a season in 33 years following their 3-0 defeat to Man City in the Manchester Derby on Sunday which left them in 14th place with just 4 points to their name after four games.
We may be four games into the season and there is still a lot of time for them to turn things around, but is Ruben Amorim under pressure?
Amorim has won just eight league games since he took over last November which is the worst return of any Man United manager after 31 games for many years.
He's been incredibly stubborn in keeping his 3-4-3 formation which in my opinion doesn't suit his team as they've been easy to play against and they don't have the personnel to play in that system.
This season was meant to be the one where he has to deliver after he was backed in the summer to bring in his own players and had a pre-season to get his players fully adjusted to his system and the way he wants them to play.
But there has been very little improvement so far as the problems from last season are still there and Amorim still doesn't know his best team.
He does deserve time to turn things around, but their start to the season has been unacceptable and if they don't win any games within the next few weeks, the pressure could be well and truly on him.


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