Pep Guardiola beats Jose Mourinho at his own game; Liverpool are on a roll; Chelsea remain serious contenders

Six things we learned this weekend: City exposed United's failings as Leicester City suffered a crushing defeat by Liverpool and Tony Pulis placed his Cold War with West Brom on hold

Jurgen Klopp with his players after the final whistle (Getty)

Liverpool and Leicester head in different directions

Jurgen Klopp instructed his Liverpool players to fill the redeveloped Anfield with “life” ahead of the visit of Leicester City. It was the champions’ lack of brio, however, which ultimately proved decisive as the Reds ran riot in front of the extended 54,000 capacity crowd.

Whoever visited Merseyside this weekend would have been on a hiding to nothing as few clubs do pomp and ceremony like Liverpool. But Claudio Ranieri’s side were frail, to put it mildly, and impotent up front; an alarming headache for the Italian to soothe ahead of their maiden Champions League junket this Wednesday to Bruges.

Liverpool trailed Leicester by 21 points last term yet they were far better than their guests on Saturday evening, bullying the Foxes into submission and paralysing them with a raw attacking stratagem. Leicester’s defenders looked like Subbuteo figurines as Messrs Mane, Lallana and Firmino pirouetted their way to a routine victory. Klopp has come to know the pitfalls of English football, mind you, and reacted furiously when the Kop triumphantly sung his name with 20 minutes still to play.

“Please don’t sing my name before the game is decided,” he requested. “It is nice but not necessary.” When his side play like this, it must be difficult for Liverpool’s fans to restrain themselves.

Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola watch on during the Manchester derby (Getty)

Guardiola lets his players take command in derby

Pep Guardiola craves control and yet the Manchester derby was a beast he was never likely to tame. Manchester City were close to perfect in the opening stages as José Mourinho’s grand design fell apart after just 15 devastating minutes at Old Trafford.

United rallied in the second-half, as they were always likely to do, but City were the far superior side, passing with intricacy seldom witnessed before in the English game. Aside from the sparkling football on display, Guardiola's willingness to let the match become an old fashioned English end-to-end thriller was surprising.

The Catalan, or the “Professor” to echo Zlatan Ibrahimović, demands absolute authority but this weekend trusted his players to manage the match largely by themselves. The furious barking of fresh orders and mad dashes from the dugout remained but, tactically, Guardiola seemed to take a familiar leaf from Mourinho’s book.

The groundwork had been done in the first-half but a change of tack was required to see the job through. City abandoned their romantic ideals and played long when needed, dug deep and soaked up pressure. Mourinho’s win-at-all-costs mentality might be rubbing off on his old rival after all.

Arsenal win it merely delays inquisition

Arsene Wenger has learned to savour days like these. This was just enough. The inquest has been delayed until another day after a flawed Arsenal display against Southampton eventually reaped three points, courtesy of Santi Cazorla’s last-ditch penalty.

The Gunners dictated the tempo, bossed the possession statistics and perhaps deserved to win by a far greater margin at the Emirates. The £35m outlay on Shkodran Mustafi, the defender signed from Valencia, indicated Wenger is well aware that Arsenal’s weaknesses lie in defence.

But even with the Germany international in the line-up for the visit of Claude Puel’s side, the hosts were left exposed all too often. First Shane Long plotted a route behind Mustafi and Laurent Koscienly, then it was Nathan Redmond’s turn, but lessons weren’t being learned.

They repeated themselves until the death with Arsenal in very real danger of adding another three points to the five they had already surrendered before the international break. There used to be a time when watching Arsenal at home was one of the unique thrills of English football. This crop have the quality to bring those halcyon days back, but it seems some way off at present.

Pardew now has a springboard to build upon

Alan Pardew’s stock has tumbled quite spectacularly at Crystal Palace in the past five months or so but he was still relaxed enough to watch the Manchester derby from the comfort of the Riverside’s press room. It’s been a rough ride for Pardew this summer.

Steve Parish, the Palace chairman, has stood by his man and backed him with the cash to procure Christian Benteke, Steve Mandanda, James Tomkins, and Loic Remy.

One point from the opening three matches of the season exacerbated anxieties of another skirmish with relegation but the trip to Middleborough was exactly the sort of light relief they needed. Pardew has often commented on the effect signing Benteke and keeping Wilfried Zaha has had upon his team.

Both etched their names on the score-sheet in the North East, either side of a Daniel Ayala equaliser, to propel the Eagles away from the relegation zone. It may still be a fledgling Premier League table, but it makes for better reading at last.

Pulis has done all that was asked of him

Tony Pulis has done all that was asked of him when he joined West Bromwich 19 months ago. The Baggies hired the Welshman to preserve their top-flight status without breaking the bank. Both requirements have thus far been met but the supporters’ unrest has boiled over from bouts of frustration to full-scale civil war at the Hawthorns.

Under Pulis, West Bromwich have finished 13th and 14th but a summer of strife in the transfer market has soured his relationship with chairman John Williams.

A frankly odd saga soon followed with the club releasing a statement which appeared to attack their own manager for pulling the plug on a deal to sign a midfielder. Pulis later branded the suggestion as “wrong” with it being reported that he may leave the club before this last weekend’s trip to Bournemouth.

The subsequent defeat by Eddie Howe’s men, courtesy of Callum Wilson’s majestic back-flick, will do the ex-Stoke boss no favours. The Hawthorns Cold War appears to have reached a cease fire but it won't take much for either side to take up arms again.

Chelsea slip - but the signs are good

Chelsea have already earned five points in the final 10 minutes of their four Premier League matches this season. Diego Costa’s late equaliser couldn’t ease the injustice for Antonio Conte’s side, however, after Gary Cahill was clattered by Leroy Fer for Swansea’s second goal of a 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium.

The England defended launched an impassioned, but dutifully restrained, protest against referee Andre Marriner at full-time but the damage had been done. “It’s a clear foul, so I’m frustrated,” Cahill said. “Come on, seriously … You could be sat on the moon and see it is a clear foul. I took the touch away from him, he came through the back of me.”

Conte’s 100 per cent record has been lost - from a position of sheer first-half dominance in South Wales. Chelsea are now two points adrift of early pace-setters Manchester City and could be curtailed further when Liverpool visit Stamford Bridge this coming Friday.

The Reds’ performance in the capital last October, a 3-1 dismantling of the then-champions, was one of the lasting memories of Mourinho’s final days in charge.