Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

1) Agüero is the main man at City again

Sergio Agüero has had a curiosity of a campaign. He has been injured, benched and below par at times. He has been outscored by Raheem Sterling for much of the season. Yet his hat-trick on Saturday meant he has scored 20 goals for a fifth successive campaign. Further milestones await: Agüero is nine away from becoming the first man to score 200 for City. He is 11 behind his career-best tally of 33 and, with successive cup ties against Championship opponents, Bristol City and Cardiff, he has the chance to make further inroads before Gabriel Jesus is fit again. Besides the numbers, the encouraging element for City is that, after an autumnal slump, Agüero looks to have regained his sharpness. He produced purposeful, elusive dribbling, often a sign he is at his best. The sense is that he is relishing the responsibility of being the only available striker while Jesus is out. Richard Jolly

Match report: Manchester City 3-1 Newcastle
Richard Jolly:
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2) Lukaku is showing there is more to life than scoring goals

Romelu Lukaku can be criticised for a perceived clumsy touch and an agricultural all-round game yet he was the key to Manchester United’s hard-fought win. When Phil Jones picked him out near halfway the Belgian bulldozed into space along the right before looking up and delivering a pass that curved into Anthony Martial’s path, the Frenchman smashing home. This supreme piece of creativity turned the contest United’s way. It was also Lukaku’s fifth league assist, five behind Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sané, whose prime role is to make goals. Lukaku’s is to score them and he has 11 in the competition, a yawning nine behind Spurs’ Harry Kane and only one ahead of Everton’s Wayne Rooney, who he replaced in the summer. Lukaku has only one goal in his past five appearances – but José Mourinho is correct to point to what else he contributes. Jamie Jackson

Burnley 0-1 Manchester United
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3) Benteke fails to impress but doesn’t look like he’ll leave

With just one goal in nearly 1500 minutes of league action this season, Christian Benteke is not exactly justifying his status as Palace’s record signing and highest-paid player. The Belgium striker endured yet another frustrating afternoon on Saturday as Arsenal ran riot, missing the perfect opportunity to double his tally for the campaign in the second half. Roy Hodgson is keen to add another forward to provide competition and Palace remain interested in either Fiorentina’s Khouma Babacar or Oumar Niasse of Everton, while the manager confirmed the Polish defender Jaroslaw Jach is set to join on a three‑and-a-half-year contract along with the Swedish loanee Erdal Rakip. But asked whether he could be tempted into selling Benteke given reported interest in the 27-year-old from Chelsea, Hodgson insisted he would stay, “whether they’ve got an interest or not”. Ed Aarons

Match report: Arsenal 4-1 Crystal Palace
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4) Batshuayi gets his head down as rumours continue to swirl

This contest ended with both managers discussing No 9s. Antonio Conte praised Michy Batshuayi for an improved display, claiming he was very satisfied with the effort put in by a striker making only a fourth top-flight start in two seasons. Sevilla are among a handful of clubs hoping to secure the Belgian on loan. “In my mind we will to continue to work with him,” Conte said. “But I don’t know if the player decides to take other solution or if he wants to play with regularity.” Brighton will already be pinning their hopes on Jürgen Locadia, their £14m record signing from PSV Eindhoven, who has nine goals and six assists in 15 games and should have recovered from hamstring trouble next month. “He’ll give us that ability to stretch teams,” Chris Hughton said. “He’s been in good form this season. The levels will be completely different here, but we bought him to make a difference.” Dominic Fifield

Match report: Brighton 0-4 Chelsea
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5) Despite McCarthy’s injury, Rondón is enjoying himself

West Brom have not quite become freewheeling entertainers under Alan Pardew but their revival is gathering speed. The most encouraging part of their performance at Goodison was, perhaps, their response to Everton’s equaliser. It seemed a fair assumption that the home team would besiege their goal in search of a winner but instead it was the Baggies who pushed hardest and almost scored spectacularly when Salomón Rondón hit the bar. Rondón, who performed superbly despite his distress at witnessing James McCarthy’s leg break, has only three goals this season but is clearly enjoying the fact that, under Pardew, he is not ploughing as lonely a furrow. “We’re getting more bodies around him and it’s making him enjoy his football a little more,” Pardew said. “That’s showing in his performances, he’s fighting for everything and things are breaking for him.” Nick Ames

Match report: Everton 1-1 West Brom
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6) Puel goes back to basics as Vardy and Mahrez thrive

Supposed premature sackings are not always a bad thing, as Claude Puel will tell you after lifting his Leicester team to seventh in the league. When Craig Shakespeare left the club in October, Leicester were in 18th but Puel has returned the team to their robust, counterattacking best as they use Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to their maximum. Vardy is making the runs that built his reputation, earning a penalty by being a split-second quicker than Molla Wagué, who suffered so much due to the England striker’s relentlessness that he went off injured. Mahrez, meanwhile, is well and truly back to his peak, wandering where he likes from the wing to create and showing his desire with his injury-time goal. Puel does not have Claudio Ranieri’s charisma but he certainly has the same simple idea at Leicester, knowing that Vardy and Mahrez are still the key to success. Will Unwin

Match report: Leicester 2-0 Watford
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7) Spurs caught cold as Eriksen’s absence is keenly felt

The day began with reports of Real Madrid sparking up their interest in Harry Kane. There is talk of the European champions making a £200m bid for the Tottenham striker, who demonstrated why they might want him when he scored his 99th Premier League goal in his team’s tough 1-1 draw with Southampton. However, Tottenham’s performance against Mauricio Pellegrino’s side was a reminder that they are not a one‑man team. Kane’s goals tend to grab the headlines, yet it was noticeable that they struggled to create chances without Christian Eriksen, who was missing because of flu. The Dane’s influence cannot be emphasised enough. He is the man who makes Tottenham’s attack tick and that will remain the case until Pochettino believes that the Argentinian Érik Lamela is ready to start on a regular basis after his return from a lengthy injury. Jacob Steinberg

Match report: Southampton 1-1 Tottenham
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8) Lambert has galvanised Stoke and their fans

When Paul Lambert was appointed last week as Stoke’s new manager, the best thing many fans found to say about him was that he is not Mark Hughes. But more grounds for optimism were in evidence on Saturday during the Scot’s first game in charge, as the 2-0 win against Huddersfield rewarded Lambert’s tactics, team selection and expert use of a metaphorical cattle prod. Stoke played not only with more balance than they have done for most of this season (thanks partly to the arrival of a proper right‑back, Moritz Bauer) but also with more intensity. Even players who had looked creaky – Darren Fletcher, Ryan Shawcross and Charlie Adam – seemed electrified. That stimulated the crowd. If Lambert manages to sustain that even for a few more weeks, then Stoke could charge close to safety, with Watford, Bournemouth and Brighton their next opponents. Paul Doyle

Match report: Stoke 2-0 Huddersfield

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9) Moyes to make midfield a priority after encouraging display

This was a match of maybes. Maybe both sides could have done a bit more to win. Maybe Eddie Howe might have got away with three points had his side not conceded an equaliser straight from the restart after Ryan Fraser’s punchy opener. Maybe West Ham also gave a glimpse of how they could develop under David Moyes. The opening 25 minutes were – according to the Scot and endorsed by roars from the crowd – the best his team have played. There were no goals but lots of fast, precise attacking play, especially between Marko Arnautovic and Manuel Lanzini. But there was an inability to recover and recycle the play when it broke down. More midfield numbers to help are now clearly Moyes’s January priority. He claimed a move for Inter’s João Mário was unlikely but the Scot was rumoured to be heading to Italy to watch the Portuguese play on Sunday. Paul MacInnes

Match report: West Ham 1-1 Bournemouth

10) Burnley’s lack of firepower could see them slip down the table

It almost seems churlish to point it out given their brilliant first half of the season and the fact they are still eighth, but quietly Burnley are on an absolutely terrible run of form. They last won a game on 12 December, have lost four of the subsequent seven league games and went out of the FA Cup. It can be excused given their fixtures: that run has seen them play Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United twice, with the Cup defeat coming to Manchester City. But the loss to Crystal Palace and stalemates with Brighton and Huddersfield aren’t quite as easy to brush off. If nothing else it highlights how impotent their attack can be: seven of their nine wins have been 1-0, they have scored more than once in only three games and only three teams have scored fewer. So when their defence isn’t watertight, they are in more trouble than most. Nick Miller

Match report: Burnley 0-1 Manchester United

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