Chelsea

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League returns this weekend, with each club having played seven matches.

BBC Sport has looked at eight players that have performed better than fans may have expected this season.

What a couple of months it has been for Chelsea winger Noni Madueke.

He was an unused sub for the opening game of the season against Manchester City, but then scored in the 2-0 Europa Conference League win against Servette and been in fine form ever since.

A hat-trick against Wolves, his first in the Premier League, followed before he made his England debut and then scored a special equaliser for Chelsea in a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest.

Did you know? Madueke has four goals in six Premier League appearances this season, just one fewer than he netted in the whole of last term in the competition (five in 23 appearances).

See the other players BBC Sport picked here

Image source, Opta

With the October international break now firmly in the rearview mirror, Opta Analyst, external have turned their attention to the next four Premier League fixtures.

Here, they have given each team a ranking between 80 and 100 and then found the average to determine to difficulty of the schedule.

Liverpool's opening seven matches were ranked the easiest in the league, but their upcoming four are the fourth-toughest in the division. They will face Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Brighton, with an average opponent strength of 91.4 before the next international break.

Fellow early pacesetters Arsenal also have challenging fixtures, playing Bournemouth, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea with an average rating of 90.7, while Manchester City's next four against Wolves, Southampton, Bournemouth and Brighton are ranked the third-easiest by Opta.

Chelsea and Brighton have the second-hardest and third-hardest runs respectively, a real test given the promising starts for their new managers Enzo Maresca and Fabian Hurzeler.

At the other end of the table, Leicester - who recently secured their first win of the season against Bournemouth - have a chance to build with the easiest run in the division. They face Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich and Manchester United.

Fellow promoted side Ipswich will hope to pick up their first win of the season during a run of games that is ranked the fifth-easiest.

Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin outlines to The Football News Show where Enzo Maresca's side have made steps forward this season, specifically praising Nicolas Jackson, Moises Caicedo and a young squad that is maturing.

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Ben Ramsdale
BBC Sport journalist

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Liverpool (kick-off 16:30 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Chelsea have a fully fit squad to choose from, with only Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella missing through suspension.

• Maresca confirmed Reece James is available: "He is back. He worked with us all the international break. Finally he is back."

• More on the return of James: "Reece's body cannot play twice a week so one of the solutions is that we are going to try to manage him the same way we are doing with Romeo [Lavia]. The solution is to go slowly, slowly. In the future we may be able to use him in the week, but in this moment we need to use him once a week."

• He said Malo Gusto has been "fantastic" and for the age he is, the "maturity he is showing is top".

• On Ben Chilwell possibly getting a chance this weekend: "Chilly is one of our players. Unfortunately he has been ill for the past few days so has not had a session. We will see how he is today and tomorrow."

• Marseca confirmed reports that one of his analysts has "been approached" by new England boss Thomas Tuchel and believes there is interest in another member of his staff but with no approach made yet.

• On Liverpool and playing at Anfield: "It's a special game for all the clubs. Liverpool is a nice environment. We are excited to play in this kind of game but, at the same time, all the games we have played until now have not been easy. We are going to try to do our best and prepare in the best way we can to try to get the points."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news