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Five talking points from this weekend's Premier League action

Five talking points from this weekend's Premier League action
© Reuters
Leicester went top of the table with victory over Wolves.

This weekend saw fierce complaints over fixture scheduling, Leicester move to the top of the Premier League table and a truly awful penalty cost Fulham a point.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at five things we learned from the action.

Seething over scheduling

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer labelled the scheduling of Manchester United's game against Everton as "a joke" (Clive Brunskill/PA).

The scheduling of fixtures was in the spotlight as Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made their dissatisfaction clear. After the pressure on Solskjaer eased with United's 3-1 win at Everton on Saturday, he branded the 12.30 kick-off time, three days after their the Champions League loss away to Istanbul Basaksehir, an "absolute joke". Klopp, whose side drew 1-1 at Manchester City on Sunday, then pointed to his side's 2-2 draw at Everton on October 17 – also a 12.30 Saturday kick-off – as he said "these kind of things should not happen". He and City counterpart Pep Guardiola both criticised the Premier League clubs' decision not to adopt the five-substitute rule this term, with Klopp, whose full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold suffed a calf injury on Sunday, accusing the competition's chief executive Richard Masters of "a lack of leadership".

Leicester lead again

While last season's top two battled out the draw at the Etihad Stadium, Leicester went top as their impressive return to form continued. Having led the table in late September following a stunning 5-2 win at Manchester City, Brendan Rodgers' Foxes then suffered two defeats on the bounce. But they have subsequently put together a winning run, the third league victory of which came on Sunday as Jamie Vardy's penalty saw them beat Wolves 1-0 at the King Power Stadium. Certainly they are looking in decent shape ahead of a trip to Rodgers' old club Liverpool after the international break.

Villa bounce back in style

Aston Villa demonstrated their own resilience on Sunday as they recovered from back-to-back losses by registering their latest eye-catching win, a 3-0 triumph at Arsenal. While Dean Smith's men have had quite the mixed bag of results this term, including a 7-2 victory over champions Liverpool and 3-0 loss to promoted Leeds, they are well-placed after seven matches of their campaign, lying in sixth position, three points off the top, with a game in hand over the sides above them.

Latest landmark for Kane

Harry Kane delivered another milestone moment as he registered the winner in second-placed Tottenham's 1-0 win at West Brom on Sunday. After reaching 200 Spurs goals earlier in the week during the 3-1 Europa League win at Ludogorets, the England captain headed in late on at The Hawthorns to make it 150 in the Premier League, bringing to the fore the question of where he might get to on the all-time list. He sits joint ninth, 110 behind leader Alan Shearer.

Lookman's Panenka pain

Ademola Lookman served a reminder on Saturday that, while a Panenka-style penalty can be a thing of beauty, it is quite the opposite when it goes wrong. The 23-year-old fluffed his attempt from 12 yards deep into stoppage time on Saturday as Fulham lost 1-0 at West Ham, leaving an angry Cottagers manager Scott Parker to say: "You can miss a penalty but when you take one like that you have to hit the back of the net." Certainly Lookman appeared embarrassed and he said in a tweet on Sunday: "I vow to put the next one in. I will not let one failure hold me back."

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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


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