Slow starts are harming Arsenal's progress under Emery

1 Sluggish Gunners need a wake-up call
All eyes were on the Manchester derby on Sunday but in the other Premier League game kicking off at 4.30pm Arsenal made another of their habitual slow starts.

The Gunners went in 1-0 down to Wolves at the Emirates, failing to muster a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes.

After 12 league games under Unai Emery, Arsenal’s first-half goal difference is minus three and they have scored only two goals before the break in their last eight matches – one of them Mesut Ozil’s 45th-minute strike against Leicester.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s late equaliser takes the Gunners’ second-half goal difference to +14 but they were 8-11 to beat Wolves so it has to be seen as two points dropped in the race for the top four.

2 Clarets are creeping into serious trouble
In isolation, Burnley’s 0-0 draw away to Leicester wasn’t a bad effort but results elsewhere left the Clarets fourth in the betting for relegation.

Wins for Cardiff and Newcastle tightened up the bottom of the table while Southampton were unlucky not to beat Watford and Huddersfield picked up four points in a week.

Burnley managed one shot on target and one corner against Leicester and Clarets fans must be concerned after their side failed to score for the sixth time in 12 league games.

3 Lions can pull clear of relegation danger
Millwall have won their last three home games in the Sky Bet Championship but lost their last three on the road, conceding nine goals.

The Lions are outside the relegation zone only on goal difference after Saturday’s 4-3 defeat at Norwich but they can take positives from their role in a chaotic clash at Carrow Road.

Norwich scored twice in injury-time to return to the top of the table after Millwall had come from 2-1 down to lead 3-2. Lions boss Neil Harris was disappointed with the individual errors in defence but his side have shown they can mix it with the best teams in the division and they have the quality to pull clear of danger.

Their first 17 fixtures included games against the current top 11 - they beat Derby and Aston Villa, drew with Leeds, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest, and suffered narrow defeats late on against Norwich, Swansea and Sheffield United.

4 Goals backers should avoid solid Potters
Stoke boss Gary Rowett was under pressure after his side conceded 18 goals in their first ten Championship games but the Potters have since tightened up at the back.

Back-to-back 0-0 draws with Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest extended Stoke’s run to one defeat in eight games and they are a team for goals backers to avoid.

Stoke’s last seven games have all featured under 2.5 goals – five of them under 1.5 – and they have found the net only three times in their last six, including an own goal from Norwich’s Timm Klose.

5 Ancelotti’s men look clinical at the death
Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli claimed their ninth victory in 12 Serie A games, winning 2-1 at Genoa thanks to an 86th-minute own goal in a game that was halted for 13 minutes because of a storm.

That late strike came as no surprise to in-play punters following Ancelotti’s men – in their last four league games they have scored six goals in the 82nd minute or later.

There has also been late drama in Napoli’s Champions League games – they nabbed a 90th-minute winner at home to Liverpool in the before conceding an injury-time equaliser away to PSG.

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