By Euan Moore

The curtain draws to a close after another exciting weekend of premier league action, with twists, turns and lots of drama at both ends of the table. Here are two things we learned and one thing we have heard this weekend.

The Odegaard Effect

Arsenal made a strong start to the season which was expected by pretty much everyone, losing their first game away to Bournemouth in game-week eight.

Odegaard was ruled out after picking up an ankle knock on international duty in September. In the period the Norwegian star was injured, Arsenal won 7 games (2 in the carabao cup) drew 3 and lost 3. A disappointing run of form that has seen them fall to fourth in the premier league table. Odegaard made his return late on in Arsenal’s faltering 1-0 defeat against Inter Milan in the San Siro.

Since Odegaard made his return to the starting eleven against Chelsea, he has two assists in two games. Not only is it his assists that he has offered since his return, but the difference he makes to Arsenal is so noticeable. He leads the press so effectively, he is a leader of men and overall, the best way to describe him is as the conductor of the Arsenal Orchestra.

When you watch Arsenal without the Norwegian, you would be forgiven for offering similarities between them and a Sean Dyche Burnley team. As good as individual players such as Saka, Saliba and Rice are, it is incredibly difficult to logically argue anything other than Odegaard being Arsenal’s best and most important player.

Odegaard celebrates win against Nottingham Forrest by Justin Setterfield via Gettyimages

What we heard from Amorim’s debut in the dugout

Manchester United have been punching well below their weight since Sir Alex Ferguson left his role as club manager at the end of the 12/13 season. The reason for this is most likely a mixture of mediocre appointments and rash use of funds on players who both aren’t good enough and not suitable for the manager’s style of play.

The most recent manager on the chopping block at Old Trafford was Dutch manager Erik Ten Hag. The former Ajax coach came in with a great reputation having much success from his time in the Netherlands and an identifiable style of football. That went out the window and despite winning two cups, Ten Hag was relieved of his duties in October. INEOS [the company that has a stake in the ownership of the club] faced pressure to make the right appointment and get a man in to steady the ship, make use of the players available to him and more importantly put Manchester United back to their perch.

The man appointed. Ruben Amorim, one of the most promising upcoming managers in Europe. Like Ten Hag, Amorim comes with the reputation of his teams playing a certain way having success, all the while developing and producing young talents, something in the United DNA. Amorim took charge of his first match against Ipswich on Sunday drawing 1-1, at face value a disappointing result however, the Portuguese’s idea of football was evident for all to see.

In his post-match press duties Amorim said: “We have two ways. We forget about the new idea and try to cope so next year we have the same problem. Or we start now, risk a little bit and in the next year we will be better at this point” these words will have fans of the Manchester club ready to believe again and will have patience with Amorim while he beds in his style of football.”

Like Amorim said, there will need to be a lot of improvements in this squad in order to be successful. The new system will take time to be mastered by what was and still is an Eric Ten Haag team.

Manchester United manger Amorim after draw to Ipswich Town by Stephen Pond via Gettyimages

West ham claim a result to build on

In a lot of experts’ opinions before the season started, West Ham had one of the most successful windows. Making signings that were expected to take the squad up levels, that has been far from the case with the London club having an unsuccessful start to the season. They find themselves in the bottom half of the table and on the receiving end of some terrible results with fans calling for manager Julen Lopetegui to be sacked.

On this week's Monday Night Football West Ham travelled to Newcastle in a fixture where the home side were expected to make light work of the Hammers, that was far from the case. West Ham setup to hit Newcastle on the counter and it worked to perfection with Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka scoring to secure a 0-2 win. As toothless as Newcastle looked, West Ham looked strong in all areas, and it leaves fans begging the question of where has this been all season?

As much as it is frowned upon by fans of the south London club, it is hard to look past Michail Antonio being one of West Ham’s most important players. The Jamaican frontman isn’t easy on the eye but he is certainly effective and has a knack for being able to involve and link up with his more dangerous teammates. If West Ham continue to play like they did, they are bound to start climbing the league table

What we learned from Premier League this week