The Top Flight
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Premier League Round Four: The good, the bad and the ugly

By Michael Peters

Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane (18)
Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane (18) /
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Who would have guessed that Crystal Palace would be closer to the top of the table than Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool through four weeks of the Premier League season? Even the most optimistic of Palace supporters, and pessimistic of top four supporters, would not have guessed it.

View image | gettyimages.com

Welcome to the new Premier League, where the influx of money from television deals has closed the gap from the bottom of the table to mid-table, and mid-table to the top of the table.

Without further ado, let’s get straight to the good, the bad and the ugly from the scintillating action from round four of the Premier League.

The Good

Garry Monk

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Swansea City manager Garry Monk managed The Swans to quite an achievement on Sunday. Swansea became just the seventh club in Premier League history to win three consecutive league fixtures against Manchester United. The match was not going so well for The Swans when Juan Mata put United ahead after a superb flick-on from Wayne Rooney with 49 minutes gone.

The Swans were down one goal. Star signing Andre Ayew had barely touched the ball and his side were struggling to make an impact. Monk recognized this and decided to bring on Ki Sung-yueng, a United tormentor from last season’s defeats to Swansea, which freed up Ayew. This allowed Ayew to play closer to Bafetimbi Gomis, which turned the momentum of the match. Seemingly before one could blink Ayew had a goal and assisted on Gomis’ goal.

Swans win 2-1 and that makes Monk a perfect 3 for 3 against van Gaal’s United. The New York Times featured an interesting piece on Monk one day before his Swans would defeat United. Here’s an excerpt:

"In a quiet moment during the English Premier League’s annual preseason meeting of head coaches a few weeks ago, Louis van Gaal of Manchester United shook hands with Garry Monk of Swansea City. “You always beat me,” Louis van Gaal, the veteran Dutch manager, said as Monk smiled. At 36, Monk is the second-youngest manager in the Premier League (and the least experienced as a full-time coach), yet last season he became just the third manager in league history to beat Arsenal and Manchester United home and away in the same season. “You always beat me,” van Gaal said again before adding: “I voted for you for Manager of the Season, you know. You didn’t win that one. But maybe you should have.” Recalling the exchange on Friday afternoon in his office here — two days before another match against van Gaal and Manchester United — Monk grinned. “Of all the things that have happened in this job,” he said, “that was pretty special.”"

Maybe van Gaal will vote for him again after this season? Monk is certainly making a good case for being in the running.

Off the Mat

Southampton and West Bromwich Albion had some rough results leading up to round four of the Premier League. Both managed to pick themselves up off the mat this week.

The Saints were coming off a big disappointment away to FC Midtjylland during Europa League qualifying. The Saints lost 1-0 to the Danish side, which saw them prematurely crash out of the competition 2-1 on aggregate.

Still in search of their first league victory of the season, The Saints stomped Norwich City 3-0 at home to rectify their poor start to the season.

Ronald Koeman’s charges desperately needed a victory and they emphatically earned it by way of a Dusan Tadic double and a Graziano Pelle goal. If these two can get back to their sensational form from last season then The Saints should continue to see an improvement in performances and results.

Tony Pulis’ West Brom were joint bottom of the table with Sunderland when the weekend fixtures kicked off. The Britannia Stadium is looked at as a tough ground to visit, no matter which club is visiting, so when struggling West Brom came through not many gave them a chance to get a result.

31 minutes into the match The Potters saw Ibrahim Afellay and Charlie Adam sent off. 14 minutes later Salomon Rondon, The Baggies’ record signing, scored the only goal of the match. The Baggies collected a much-needed victory, but the match statistics point to a continued problem.

Albion struggled to impose themselves on a Potters’ side down two players. West Brom had 51 percent of the possession, with just three more shots and one fewer corner kick than Stoke City. Albion should not apologize, nor should they give back the points, but they must perform better if they hope to avoid relegation this season.

Next: The Bad

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