Key Points of the Weekend

Are Aston Villa title contenders?

Aston Villa are arguably the in-form team in the Premier League right now after winning 9 of their last 10 league games including their win over league leaders Arsenal on Saturday.

Their brilliant run of form has seen them climb into the top four and sit just three points off the top following a poor start to the season where they failed to win any of their opening five games.

Are they title contenders?

Unai Emery will of course play down any possibility of them being title contenders as he'll want his team to keep their feet on the ground and take one game at a time.

The players will be thinking exactly the same as their main focus will be on securing a top four finish instead of winning or challenging for the title.

But with the form they're currently in, they might quietly be thinking about potentially being involved in the title race because they're a side full of confidence at the moment.

Their win over Arsenal will be seen by some people as a statement win because of the result coming against a big side who have been excellent all season in Arsenal.

It will also give them a lot of belief that they could be involved in the title race as they'll believe that they can beat any team on their day after beating a side like Arsenal.

But whether they'll keep up the current run they're on and stay in touching distance of Arsenal remains to be seen as they're not used to being in this position.

The pressure of being in a title race could get to them because of their lack of experience of being in a title race and a lack of squad depth may get to them also unless they bring in some players in January.

Whether they're title contenders or not will depend on where they are in a month or two from now.

Has Mohamed Salah played his last game for Liverpool?

Mohamed Salah put himself on the back pages of pretty much every newspaper in the country after speaking out about his current situation at Liverpool in an interview following the reds' 3-3 draw at Leeds on Saturday during which he was an unused substitute.

In the interview he stated that he was "thrown under the bus", he has no relationship with manager Arne Slot, "someone doesn't want him at the club" and that he "doesn't have to go every day fighting" for his position in the team because he "earned it".

After reading what he said in that interview, has he played his last game for Liverpool?

When I look back at what he said in that interview, it felt like it was his ego talking as a lot of what he said was about him and not his team.

He got his ego from being one of the best players in the world and when you're in that category, you'll believe that you're better than everyone else.

When he said that he "doesn't have to go every day fighting" for his place in the team, he was being selfish as he feels that he deserves to be in the team because of the player he's been ever since he joined Liverpool.

Him saying that is wrong because no matter how good a player you are or have been so a number of years, you still have to earn the right to start games otherwise you'll be dropped like he has been in recent games.

The reason why he's been dropped is because he hasn't been in good form and I don't think he's accepted that by saying what he said in the interview.

He also mentioned what he's given to the club during his time there and he makes a very good point in doing so because he's been a tremendous servant to Liverpool throughout his time there, and will no doubt go down as a club legend and one of the greatest players to wear the shirt.

He heads of to AFCON on the 15th of December and by the time that tournament ends, he could potentially be at a different club because of him being dropped from the Liverpool team and what he said in that interview.

If he doesn't play in the reds' next game against Brighton and apologise for what he said in that interview, he might well have played his final game for Liverpool.

Wharton to battle it out with Anderson for the no.6 role for England

Adam Wharton has been one of the most exciting young players in the Premier League over the last couple of seasons and his incredible rise has seen him feature in a few England squads and become an important player for Crystal Palace.

He was arguably the best player on the pitch for Palace against Fulham on Sunday as he won his challenges, dictated play in midfield and set up the first goal for Eddie Nketiah. He was in control of the whole game with his passing and the amount of times he won the ball back for his team.

England were lacking an out and out no.6 heading into this season because of Declan Rice turning into a no.8/box-to-box midfielder, and now they have two players who can play that role in Elliot Anderson and Wharton himself and those two look set to battle it out to start in that position for the World Cup.

Anderson has the shirt at the moment started in the no.6 role in five of England's last six games and impressed in every single one of them.

But Wharton will still be looking to stake a claim to start in that position between now and the summer because of the talented player he is and the form he's been in.

He'll definitely be in the squad but whether he'll start will depend on the form he and Anderson are in between now and the end of the season.

Will Wolves break Derby's points record?

Wolves' miserable season continued on Monday night following their 4-1 defeat to Man United which extended their losing run to eight games.

They're still stuck on just two points for the season which is fewer than the amount Derby had at this stage of the 2007/08 season.

Derby picked up six points at this stage of that season where they ended up with a record breaking 11 points and with Wolves having a lot fewer; Will they break Derby's record from that season?

A lot of people including myself were asking this question about Southampton last season and they went very close to breaking the record, only to pick up a few points before the end of the season to end it with just just one point more than Derby did during the 2007/08 season.

There is a strong possibility that Wolves could break that record this season because they're currently a side who are very low on confidence and I don't know where they're going to get this first win from.

They have a tough run of games coming up against Arsenal, Brentford, Liverpool and Man United before the turn of the year and I don't see them getting anything from those games.

Brentford at home may be the most winnable because of Brentford's poor away form. But I still don't see them getting anything from that game because of how low on confidence they are.

There is still plenty of time to avoid breaking Derby's record as we're only in December and they have a January transfer window coming up with bring in some new players to give them the best possible chance of potentially achieving the impossible in Premier League survival.

But if they don't get that first win soon, they could well break Derby's record from the 2007/08 season.