1) Aspas's teething trouble increases weight on Suárez

Iago Aspas has, admitted Brendan Rodgers, been deployed more often than Liverpool imagined when signing the striker from Celta Vigo this summer and, clearly, he needs time to adjust to the demands of the Premier League. But at 26 years of age and costing almost £8m, he does not fall into the category of 'one for the future' or represent an outlay simply for squad strengthening. With Philippe Coutinho injured and Luis Suárez serving the last of his 10-match suspension, Aspas was given another chance to impress against Southampton on Saturday. He was withdrawn at half-time.

"There's no doubt it's been difficult," Rodgers admitted. "When you are the player who scores goals you want that goal to give you that confidence and obviously he hasn't got that yet. It was difficult for him to get in the game. We flipped it about a bit in the first half to try and get him on the ball a bit more. He'll continue to work hard. Iago is a good boy, an honest boy and he's obviously been thrown in a bit quicker than planned. But he's a good guy, he's working hard and trying his best so hopefully over time he'll get his goals and make the impact we think he can."

Suárez's availability would be welcomed by any club at any time but he will return, possibly against Manchester United in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday, with immediate responsibility given Liverpool's problems against Southampton. As Kolo Touré said: "Suárez will strengthen the team. He and Daniel Sturridge will be a very strong partnership, mobile and very strong, but it's important to have a strong group, not just individuals. Suárez has been very difficult to defend against in training lately. Very, very difficult. I'm sure he will be ready to be thrown back in." Andy Hunter

2) Huddlestone could yet be in Brazil next summer

Hull's gameplan is based on playing through Tom Huddlestone and Steve Bruce must hardly believe his luck in landing him from Tottenham this summer. Mysteriously no one else bar Sunderland seemed interested – (and watching Huddlestone shine as Hull won at Newcastle on Saturday makes one wonder if Paolo Di Canio might have avoided the sack had his board paid whatever it took to bring the occasional England international to Wearside) which could prove a collective oversight. Granted, Huddlestone lacks pace but his passing and vision are superb and he intercepts nicely. Much more of this and he might yet make England's plane to next summer's World Cup finals – providing Roy Hodgson's squad qualify, of course. Whatever happens he looks capable of ensuring Hull stay up. Louise Taylor

3) Young is not good enough

OK, perhaps it is slightly unfair to identify one player when Manchester United were so collectively fragile. Ashley Young, however, is in danger of becoming the player the United fans dislike the most. He is a winger whose speciality is not crossing, or passing, or shooting, but diving. He was substituted against Manchester City after losing the ball for the fourth goal and the brilliantly incisive wing play from Jesús Navas and Samir Nasri merely highlighted Young's shuffling efforts. He looks short of confidence and it has been like this for so long now it is becoming increasingly difficult to remember those encouraging early performances after he had signed from Aston Villa. He looks, put bluntly, out of his depth. Daniel Taylor

4) Di Canio's final act

"I will never be a fake Di Canio," declared Paolo Di Canio after Sunderland's defeat at West Bromwich Albion, and what fool would ever expect him to be? His personality and methods have long been well known and Sunderland must have been aware of how he would approach the mission they assigned him. Presumably, in fact, he was hired precisely because the club, which seemed to be spiralling downwards, needed a shuddering jolt followed by a drastic overhaul. The jolt save Sunderland from relegation last season and the overhaul has only just begun – five matches is hardly an adequate sample on which to judge a squad trying to integrate 14 new players. The early signs were not particularly impressive but abandoning the Italian now was an admission not so much of Di Canio's failure as his employers' weakness. Or their ignorance in appointing him in the first place. Paul Doyle

5) Is Baines the new free-kick king?

With Gareth Bale having left the Premier League, is Leighton Baines now the top flight's best free-kick taker? The evidence at Upton Park on Saturday would seem to suggest that, technically at least, he is. Not only did he score two in one match – a feat achieved by such players as Cristiano Ronaldo and Sebastien Larsson in the Premier League in recent memory – but he was able to hit both top corners, left and right, from the same position. Yet Baines's goal-scoring record is not as prolific as his talent would suggest it could be. He netted just two free-kicks last season (one against Newcastle and one for England against Moldova, albeit thanks to a sizable deflection), and only one the previous season (against Swansea). In 2010-11 he scored free-kicks against Chelsea in the FA Cup and Spurs in the league, and in 2009-10 he didn't register any. To put this into context, Ronaldo has scored 18 in that same four-year period for Real Madrid. Jonny Weeks

6) Is Michu the best player outside the top-four?

Great news for Swansea fans: they get to enjoy Michu until next summer at least. "When you talk about interest from other clubs, he most important thing in all of it is what the player wants," said the Swansea manager Michael Laudrup afte watching the Spanish attacking midfielder run the show against Palace. "I know you have a contract and all of that. But it's important what the player wants. Michu wants to stay. He wants to stay after his first season because he wants to participate in this, in his second year, in Europe. What happens next year, I don't know. It's so important what the player wants and I don't think Michu had any doubts that he wanted to stay here this season." His loyalty is very much Swansea's gain. Against Palace he was at times untouchable - if his compatriot, the debutant Alvaro Vasquez, had been more clinical he would've had two assists to go with his early goal. Is he the best player outside of the Champions League clubs? John Ashdown

7) Hughton is under pressure

There has rarely been a sense of Norwich's fans taking to Chris Hughton and there was open mutiny when Nathan Redmond was replaced during the second half of their defeat by Aston Villa, boos and chants of "you don't know what you're doing" floating around Carrow Road. It hardly helped that Hughton once again came up short against his predecessor, Paul Lambert, who has won three times and drawn once against his old side since leaving them for Villa last summer. Norwich's fans will have looked at an exciting Villa side and wondered why their team, which has been strengthened by the arrivals of Redmond, Leroy Fer, Gary Hooper and Ricky van Wolfswinkel, was so predictable.

Unfortunately for Hughton, he will always be compared unfavourably to Lambert, who is hellbent on playing attacking football, tactically innovative, brave with his substitutions and inventive in the transfer market. In short, he is everything that Hughton, a safe pair of hands but a naturally cautious manager, is not. Norwich did play well for 30 minutes against Villa but once the visitors took the lead, the speed with which Norwich ran out of ideas was alarming. Unable to react to Libor Kozak's goal, they lacked guile and inventiveness and it is not hard to find supporters who want Hughton to leave. Jacob Steinberg

8) Swindon away is an opportunity for Chelsea, not a bind

What might otherwise have felt like an afterthought of a Capital Cup tie at Swindon Town on Tuesday suddenly looms large as an audition for those on the Chelsea fringe. José Mourinho intends to select Juan Mata, David Luiz, Ryan Bertrand, Cesar Azpilicueta and Michael Essien for that match, and possibly also Fernando Torres from the start, with each hoping to prove they have a more significant role to play in the Portuguese's reinvention of this squad's style. Suddenly a game against League One opposition feels like an opportunity with the onus on Mata, in particular, to demonstrate he can adapt. The playmaker is not being asked to defend more, but will have to summon greater involvement in those passages of play – potentially rare on Tuesday night – when Chelsea are chasing the ball. This team will be expected to swarm all over opponents just as Barcelona do when they are out of possession, and all must accept that reality before they feel integral. In the meantime, the No10 of the moment, Oscar, is more than justifying his inclusion with goals, invention and industry aplenty. Mata, like the other bit-part players, has much to prove. Dominic Fifield

9) Clean sheets key for Villas-Boas

It took Tottenham Hotspur 26 matches to rack up seven clean sheets last season. This season it has taken them only eight games. Olivier Giroud's first-half goal in the north London derby at the start of the month is the only time that Spurs have conceded in 2013-14. It is a remarkable record. But what's the key to it? The recruitment of two new holding midfielders in the shape of Paulinho and Etienne Capoue has probably made a difference. Maybe André Villas-Boas's decision to play with one up front has also helped – that seemed to be the manager's belief when he was asked after the 1-0 win at Cardiff on Sunday whether he thought the team was stronger collectively post-Gareth Bale. "Last year, with two strikers, probably we left ourselves exposed a little bit," he said. "We have more consistency throughout [this season], we play better football, we are able to control the game, but this can change very rapidly. I'm not going to sustain my argument right now. At the moment we look strong." Stuart James

10) Stoke are improving but still need a tweak

Even in defeat at the Emirates Stadium there was the undeniable sense that Stoke are indeed developing as a team under Mark Hughes. Their play was patient, their passing often short and through the middle, yet for all that the visitors rarely looked a threat. A fundamental reason for this is Charlie Adam, or more specifically his struggles with being the link man between midfield and lone-striker. Adam has certain qualities, but pace, skill and dynamism are not among them, traits which he needs to be a successful No10. The look of frustration and fatigue on the Scot's face as he was substituted on 59 minutes said it all. It would surely make more sense if Adam played in centre midfield alongside Steven Nzonzi and aimed to dictate play with his admirable range of passing, while the lively Marco Arnautovic, who played wide-left against Arsenal, took on Stoke's link-man duties. Sachin Nakrani