Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend - two

6) Time for Hughes to give Stoke’s youth a chance?

It is a common complaint that teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City are reluctant to give youngsters a chance, but when a mid-ranking Stoke City show similar reticence it is even more depressing. Against Chelsea last weekend, Mark Hughes was faced with the absence of the defenders Kurt Zouma, Ryan Shawcross, Kevin Wimmer and Geoff Cameron for one reason or another. Rather than give the teenage defenders Josh Tymon or Harry Souttar some valuable minutes, he left them on the bench throughout, chose to start Ramadan Sobhi and Mame Biram Diouf instead and watched his team ship four goals in a heavy defeat. With Bruno Martins Indi now injured and doubts surrounding the availability of Shawcross and Wimmer for Stoke’s match against Southampton, Hughes could face similar selection problems this weekend. Whether or not he considers the youngsters for even a cameo role remains to be seen. BG

7) Unlikely villain Nyom faces Watford fans again

Though this fixture might not leap off the page as being one of the weekend’s more appealing, there has been just one goalless draw in 39 meetings between these teams – and none ever at the Hawthorns. The last three times the teams have met there have all been memorable: the Midlands side sauntering to a 5-0 win in the Championship back in 2009, Heurelho Gomes saving two Saido Berahino penalties as Watford won 1-0 two seasons ago, and Roberto Pereyra being controversially sent off as West Brom eked out a 3-1 victory last December. As it happens the referee that awarded those two penalties in April 2016, Michael Oliver, will be wielding his whistle again on Saturday. Visiting fans won’t know who to boo louder – Oliver or the mystifyingly unpopular former Watford full-back Allan Nyom. The Cameroonian started 29 league games for the Hornets two seasons ago, performances of unwavering effort and commitment if only intermittent quality, before moving to West Brom. Despite his hard work in the Hornets’ name, Nyom was booed by some of the away fans at last season’s meeting at the Hawthorns. As a result of this unwanted attention he enthusiastically celebrated his new side’s eventual victory, and was subsequently booed by almost all of the home fans when he turned up at Vicarage Road in March. Quite how unpopular he now is in Hertfordshire will become clear on Saturday. SB

8) If West Ham fail to beat Swansea, Bilic could face the axe

Swansea’s last visit to the London Stadium proved a godsend for West Ham and Slaven Bilic. The Hammers won 1-0 back in April and arrested a run of five straight defeats that had sent them plummeting. Their recent form is not quite that bad but nor is it far off; this really feels like a game in which Bilic cannot afford to drop points and, if Swansea come away with something this time, you sense the axe may be hovering. Clear, strategic thinking will be required – not the kind that saw Andy Carroll brought on to replace the injured Michail Antonio, who will miss this game, which disrupted the balance of a strong start last weekend against Tottenham. Paul Clement has his own problems, even if the Swansea manager is still operating amid a healthy dose of goodwill. He needs to find an attacking threat that his team has lost since selling Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente, otherwise they seem set for a very hard winter. In truth it is hard to see anything different for either of these sides at the moment – will Bilic get many more chances to alter the pattern? NA

9) Shakespeare now needs results to back up performances

Considering the speed with which a sizable proportion of Leicester City fans turned on Claudio Ranieri – who masterminded the most unlikely Premier League title win of all time on their behalf – it can’t be too long before the man who replaced him incurs their wrath. Craig Shakespeare’s side have won and drawn one of their opening six matches and have conceded more goals than 17 other teams in the top flight. It could legitimately be argued that Leicester have not played particularly badly against particularly strong opposition in defeat this season, but many of the fans who wanted Claudio Ranieri gone justified their impatience by pointing out that football is a results-based business and Premier League survival is all important. Results so far this season have been largely poor and the same logic must dictate that another bad one against Bournemouth, one of only three teams below Leicester in the table, may well prompt unrest among the more entitled in the club’s fan base. BG

10) Balanced Burnley aim to complicate things for Koeman

It would be interesting to see what sort of side Sean Dyche would produce if entrusted with £150m. But we are unlikely to find out any time soon so we will have to make do, for now, with seeing how Burnley go about trying to sabotage Ronald Koeman’s plans. The visitors will go to Goodison Park with confidence, having already returned with points this season from Stamford Bridge, Anfield and Wembley. And they are a better balanced team than Everton, who may have more quality in patches but still are not working well as a whole. PD