Danny Mills
Ex-England defender on Final Score

West Brom fans need to be a little realistic.

Tony Pulis will keep them in the Premier League.

Will it be great to watch every week? No.

He does need to make it more attractive to watch, but the results have to come first.

Image source, Getty Images

West Brom have played just 2,601 passes this season - the lowest in the league.

Direct balls to Salomon Rondon? Pep Guardiola mentioned the striker several times in Friday's news conference.

"They use his style marvellously and we have to adapt," said the City boss.

Guardiola also said he has been told by staff about Tony Pulis, adding: "They informed me that it is a special, special team. He did a huge job at Stoke City - it was almost impossible to win there. It will be tough."

In the tunnel at the Hawthorns West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster is sniffing some sort of smelling salts. I've not seen that in the tunnel before. Ilkay Gundogan stands behind David Silva. Maybe the sight of Silva has left Foster feeling dizzy. Out they stride onto the perfect pitch, City in their away colours. 

At White Hart Lane Claudio Ranieri and Mauricio Pochettino embrace near the dugout. It's a real love in. Smiles, cuddles. Back to The Hawthorns and Tony Pulis is less loving to Pep Guardiola. A handshake, a two-second chat and off he bounces in his peak cap. No nonsense.

Not much love for David Moyes out there, but plenty for Big Sam Allardyce...

James Bisrat: Sunderland does not have any chance to stay in this league under Moyes. They can turn their season by bringing Big Sam back.

Yinka Afolabi: Big Sam got this Sunderland side fighting last season! David Moyes surely doesn't have the belly for a premier league battle.

Sam Budhdev: Finally, a scoreline for Arsenal that reflects the match. Sunderland terrible, how has Moyes managed to destroy a Big Sam side?

A monumental stat this. 

Which Monsieur Auclair, France Football's England correspondent, dutifully credits the Times for highlighting in today's paper.

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Players are disappearing down tunnels across the country and getting some final words of wisdom. Next up, a stat which will blow your mind and possibly ensure Jack Rodwell goes into hiding...

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Old Trafford

Burnley’s players are out on the pitch and warming up at a dank Old Trafford and, if they are not practising their shooting soon, they really should be. The Clarets have had just three shots on target in their three away league games so far this season, and have managed just one goal - a penalty. 

Unsurprisingly they are yet to muster a single point on the road - will that change today?

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Dele Alli has become a bit of a fan favourite, not just for Tottenham but with England too.

He's a superb talent for sure, but is he really the main man in the Spurs midfield? 

A look at the stats shows Christian Eriksen has a case.

The Dane has played eight league games compared to Alli's nine but has 570 touches, while Alli has 488. Eriksen has three assists, Alli none. So perhaps it's Eriksen making Spurs tick.

It's goals - Alli three, Eriksen zero - where the ex-MK Dons man has a key edge. Alli has also been involved in 119 duels, winning nearly 40% of them. Eriksen sees less duel action on the pitch with 79. So it seems Alli is the man for hustle and goal glory, Eriksen the creator.

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It's worth remembering that Leicester's four away games have included trips to Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea but the champions are struggling on the road in the league.

Their counter-attacking style of last season has maybe been sussed out and they still aren't seeing a lot of possession.

They average 43.9%. Only Hull (43.89), Watford (42.99), Sunderland (38.1), Burnley (36.49) and West Brom (36.04) average less.

From the Midlands to the capital. Last season's champions against a side who ran them close. Leicester's stats before Champions League games this season are ugly to say the least...

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And then of course there's Manchester City. Pep Guardiola, the embodiment of passing football. He said on Friday though that he's been told all about the job Tony Pulis did at Stoke and how hard his sides are to play against.

This is a big day for City, six without a win of course.

"For the players, they don't deserve this," said Guardiola. "We are in this period like it is but it will make us stronger in the future, I am sure about that.

"I need time to learn, to improve. I'm still in that process. We have to learn as quickly as possible."

West Brom have played fewer passes than any side in the league by some margin. But who needs passes when you can use your bonce? Get it in the mixer.

And from Old Trafford we will head south again, to the Midlands and perhaps a fixture where managers with the two most contrasting styles in the league meet...

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Old Trafford

Image source, BBC Sport

The beaming face of Zlatan Ibrahimovic is hard to miss on the merchandise stalls outside Old Trafford but, on the pitch, the Swedish striker has had rather less to smile about recently.

Ibrahimovic has had more shots than any other Premier League player this season - 58 in total - but the 35-year-old has not found the net in his last five league games, and has scored only one in his last nine games in all competitions.

His shooting is off-target and so is his passing - his accuracy of 76.8% is the lowest of any of United's outfield players this season.

Add all that up and, for most players, you might wonder if their confidence might be affected. Somehow I don't think that will be an issue for Zlatan though...

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic likes to mix it a bit it seems. The big Swede has committed 22 fouls this season, the most of any player in the league. The strikers' brigade are all at it, with Callum Wilson on 20 and Troy Deeney 19. When will they stop kicking defenders?

And Zlatan seems to love giving a free-kick away as he's been flagged offside 13 times - again a league high, with Alexis Sanchez and Christian Benteke on 12.

But Zlatan and his naughty striker friends are getting away with it a little as the three players with the most yellow cards in the league are Jordan Henderson, Jonny Evans and Claudio Yacob.

From Middlesbrough we head south-west to Manchester. Jose Mourinho has talked glowingly about Manchester United's fans, but did you know United have the 'dirtiest' player in the league?

"Who" I hear you say...

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Adam Smith is one of those guys barely anyone picked in their Fantasy Football team to start the campaign but now he's a popular choice.

He has one goal, a couple of assists and two clean sheets on his record, enough to see him in 12.8% of teams in the Premier League's official Fantasy Football game.

That makes him the 10th most popular defender in the game. If he earned points for being fouled he'd be an even better pick it seems.

Middlesbrough make two changes from the team that held Arsenal to a goaless draw last week with Calum Chambers and Stewart Downing in for Daniel Ayala and Marten de Roon.

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For Bournemouth, Andrew Surman comes in for Dan Gosling.

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One word Bournemouth fans in Middlesbrough: Respect.

If you have taken on a round trip of over 600 miles then in my book, you deserve three points. Remember, no need to rush home for Match of the Day tonight, you can watch it on your phone while on the bus back. 

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Keep your tweets and texts coming. David Moyes is very much a popular topic and the term 'Moyes' is trending in the UK in Twitter. It's like 2014 and his ill-fated spell at Manchester United all over again.

Aside from Moyes, are you happy with your line-ups today? Let us know.