Finally Manchester United scored, Swansea’s struggles remain and Liverpool still can’t beat Crystal Palace. From the weekend, here’s 5 things we learned:

1 Lingard shows importance of offball movement

In celebration of what is apparently Jesse Lingard week, it seems an apt time to share one takeaway I had from his breakout against West Bromwich Albion: his off-ball movement is more useful to this current United side than anything Memphis Depay can do on the ball. To quote Dutch legend Johan Cruyff:

When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball 3 minutes on average … So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball.

Manchester United have been criticised for their stagnant attack, most recently by Paul Scholes. How do you fix it? Off-ball movement! I talked about it last week with Riyad Mahrez and how it has transformed his game. Depay, I have no doubt, is a more talented player than Lingard and may supplant him by May. But Lingard without the ball is showing a little more willingness right now that Depay hasn’t. It manifests itself in fantasy as well, where we constantly see players who we perceive as more talented struggle to get games. Lamela was one who had this issue when he joined Spurs two years ago but is enjoying a promising campaign so far.

With Rooney’s worrying physical decline in mind, Louis van Gaal needs to look for energy around him to compensate. Lingard was ready and could be set for a prolonged spell in the side as a result.

2 Irrelevant set piece takers

Set pieces matter in fantasy football. This is not newfound wisdom suddenly being bestowed. There are benefits to finding set piece takers, Steven Gerrard accumulated points almost solely based on this in 2013/14, which wasn’t too much of a surprise given that his mobility was, ahem, limited that season.

On Saturday evening Stoke poured some more fuel onto an already roaring fire occurring at Chelsea. This fuel came in the shape of a flowing attack that included Glen Johnson, which is rather impressive given that the fullback hasn’t been associated with the term ‘flowing’ since his Portsmouth days possibly. Nevertheless, Stoke cut through Chelsea in open play. The old myth regarding Stoke’s play has mostly dissipated but they still regularly start 6+ hulking figures across the field which might lead you to think some goals from corners might be in order.

Not so. Since Mark Hughes appointment in 2013, Stoke have finished bottom 3 each season in goals scored from set pieces. It certainly makes you re-consider your budget players, especially around mid-table. Sorry Xherdan Shaqiri and Charlie Adam, but no thanks. In case you were wondering Spurs currently lead the league in set piece goals, such is the power of Christian Eriksen.

3 Leicester astound again, without much of the ball

So, so many fantasy managers were pleased to see that Vardy has seemingly escaped punishment for an uncouth gesture towards a linesman during Leicester’s win over Watford. I know what you’re thinking, “Vardy, uncouth? Never!” Me too, me too.

Leicester’s blitzkrieg attack has shown signs of stumbling though. It was running on fumes at the weekend as Leicester had just 40% possession, but still managed 6 shots on target. Yet they had to be gifted the game by the Tottenham edition of Heurelho Gomes, who let Kanté’s shot slip by before needlessly clearing out Vardy to give away a penalty.

It’ll be very interesting to observe how the entire attack, not just Vardy, fares against the bigger sides that lie in wait for them over the next two months. They’ve proved they don’t need possession to score, but it’s hard to envision Leicester maintaining their 100% scoring record in the league for the next few games. Who knows, perhaps Jamie Vardy is limitless.

4 Newcastle have character issues but are a solid side

The narrative that has enveloped Tyneside is warranted. Mike Ashley is sapping that club of its soul and there is a real disconnect between the club and its fans that is only set to grow. That much we know to be true and worth talking about. Yet I can’t help but feel as if too much of that gloomy pessimism is projected onto the team at times. It’s not helped by the BBC choosing to have Alan Shearer make sweeping comments on Match of the Day whenever Newcastle loses a game.

The performance against Bournemouth would certainly not give cause for an end-of-season DVD to be commissioned. Newcastle gave a dry performance, perhaps industrious if we were being generous. I’m just not sure that Newcastle are a bottom 5 side, let alone in danger of being relegated.

Measuring squad quality on paper is highly subjective and not a particularly accurate barometer of how good a team is. But a quick scan suggests that Newcastle, at a conservative estimate, have a better squad than Aston Villa, Norwich, Bournemouth, Sunderland (even though they can never beat them) and Watford possibly.

All this being said, Steve McClaren is not a Premier League quality manager.

5 Losing Payet kills West Ham

Occasionally, you can make out a schoolboy side from within West Ham’s squad. Andy Carroll the walking header, Kouyate bombing about all over the pitch and Dimitri Payet, the only kid with a bit of talent who the whole team passes to and essentially says, “Do something with it, please.”. Oh Dimitri, you will be missed.

All of that is an oversimplification, of course. West Ham are pretty good all over the park, but the extent to which Payet has to create for them seems greater than any other. Manuel Lanzini has contributed more than anyone predicted and Victor Moses has been ok, but now is when we’ll see just how heavy or light of a load they were really carrying.

There is somewhat of a striking problem developing at West Ham as well, while Diafra Sakho is out. Andy Carroll can’t be trusted while Enner Valencia and Mauro Zarate show flashes from time to time. The challenging Christmas period will give us an idea of how much Slaven Bilic has really improved this team beyond adding Payet.

Harry Wallace is a Leicester City fan and Fantasy Football enthusiast. Both have been known to be unsuccessful at times. Keep track of his football related thoughts on Twitter.