Can Mourinho inspire Tottenham defence like he did with Dele? Man City low on confidence ahead of derby?

Everything you need to know about this weekend's Premier League action, all in one place.

Jump to: Has Jose Mourinho got a defence problem? | What now for Freddie Ljungberg? | How high is Manchester City's confidence? | Man to watch | Game not to miss | Stats of the weekend | Team that needs a bit of luck | One thing that will definitely happen | Predictions

The weekend's big questions

Has Jose Mourinho got a defence problem?

There is, of course, a big difference between a defensive manager and one who has good defences. Jose Mourinho has been the latter: in his two full seasons at Manchester United, they conceded the second fewest goals both times, and in his full campaigns of his second spell at Chelsea they conceded the fewest. But whatever he does to tighten up those back lines isn't working yet at Tottenham, where they have conceded two goals in each of his four games in charge, winning three but losing to Manchester United on Wednesday in a game which -- Dele Alli's stunning goal notwithstanding -- recalled the most insipid performances of his worst recent days.

Of course he didn't exactly inherit a watertight defence, a team who have kept one Premier League clean sheet all season and shipped seven to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. But he nonetheless needs to correct the problem as quickly as possible, and although time is required, he's also making some curious decisions such as persisting with 32-year-old Jan Vertonghen at left-back. In theory, Burnley, scorers of 21 goals in 15 games, will not be the most fearsome opponents, but a clean sheet would nonetheless be extremely welcome.

What now for Freddie Ljungberg?

As auditions go, one point from two games against teams in or near the relegation zone isn't the best. A constant hum in the background of all the talk about the Arsenal job is that Freddie Ljungberg is rated very highly in the Arsenal corridors of power and is thus a live candidate for the permanent job, but failure to beat both Norwich and Brighton hasn't exactly helped his chances.

His post-Brighton declaration that he had told his players "this is not Arsenal" does have a significant whiff of the Solskjaer approach, leaning heavily on some nebulous idea of the club's identity as a motivational tool. Perhaps it will work, but he now almost certainly knows he will need a win against West Ham on Monday to stand any chance of sticking around.

How high is Manchester City's confidence?

You can always read too much into these things, but it was pretty interesting that Rodri felt the need to comment on how emphatically Manchester City celebrated their win over Burnley on Tuesday. "After this victory we were really having a party in the dressing room," he said, "because we needed it to bring up the mentality and confidence of the team."

If nothing else, it displays what a fragile thing confidence can be, if even this City team can lose it after a few adverse results. So the question then becomes whether that victory over Burnley was enough to raise it back to the required levels to win the Manchester derby: in theory City should pulverise United, but if the self-belief in their dressing room is shaky, we could see a surprise.

Man to watch

Fred (Manchester United)

It's taken the better part of 18 months, but Fred is finally looking a little bit like the player Manchester United thought they were paying £47 million for last summer. The Brazil international was terrific against Tottenham on Wednesday night alongside Scott McTominay, whom Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described as "undroppable."

Getting the better of Spurs is one thing, given their struggles this season, but this weekend against Manchester City will be another matter entirely: against a team that wins games by controlling them from midfield, the roles of Fred and McTominay will be absolutely vital.

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The game you're not planning to watch but should

Norwich City vs. Sheffield United

English football is littered with slightly unlikely rivalries, two teams that have no real business caring about each other excessively, but do anyway. One of those is Norwich City vs. Sheffield United, an enmity that stems from a curious affair in the Championship a couple of years ago when the Canaries turned up late to a game at Bramall Lane, which made Daniel Farke late to a prematch meeting.

Then, after some perceived time-wasting during the game, Chris Wilder sounded off quite emphatically, railing against the "disrespect" shown by Norwich and advising their bus driver to check the traffic reports more closely. Presumably his tantrum had a little to do with Norwich winning that game 1-0, but either way that episode lends this fixture a little extra edge.