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WOW! What a goal. TBH he has been the best RB in the league this season. Been brilliantly offensively and defensively and has 4 goals to his name this season.I don't think he will want to leave Everton anytime soon though and they won't let him go.

Crazy to think that if Everton win and we lose we go fifth and there is me supporting on Lukaku every week But its Arsenal and I hope Mourinho goes for the win because we are more than capable of beating them. We have beaten them countless time at the Emirates.

Judging by the chances he is limited to I doubt he is even going to want to come back if he has the choice. Likelihood is he still can be excellent at another club but we still will have an embarrassment of riches in the attacking midfield.

Expected to be out for 14 days according to many sources. Wenger also said he will be out for a while but looks like he will definitely be out against us. Good news. His partnership with Mertesacker has been excellent and they now have a disruption in a really important game. Hopefully we take advantage.

Not like anyone has been great but you can see that KDB looks like a player who just can't wait till January comes. Looks totally uninterested. Schurrle had the ball and was running down the flanks and KDB was right next to him but instead of offering him support he just walked away to the number 10 position which I never understood. Looks nervous and low on confidence. Shame really! Second half we need to improve. We got a brilliant bench if needed anyway!

You said that a couple months ago then he ended back up in the team and I am sure he will play again soon. In fact I will not be surprised to see him start against Arsenal

If that is the case fair enough but the way in which it was directed was wrong because the comment before in which it was slightly directed was a fair comment. Most members on here are genuine fans and being over critical can work both ways. You like to see your team doing good but you might just want and expect better.

Why is that people are plastics because they don't like certain aspects of the way we play? We are supporters and it is natural to give criticism. It pisses me of, all this 'plastic talk' because people criticize the way we play. I don't know if you were aiming your post at 'starman60' but nothing is wrong with his post. Many of us are inclined to feel we should be playing better football and it does not mean they/we are plastic fans. I am happy with out league position right now considering how we have played and I want a better brand of football and more from our players and no I am not a plastic fan!

Michu is good but he is not a natural striker. He is really a second striker. We would never by Michu to be our no.1 striker because of simply that reason.plus I don't think he will prove to be the CF we need. Lukaku is a better striker than him so no point.

Well you have not been watching him play this season clearly. From the game yesterday shown on MOTD you could see evidence of his strength and acceleration. He lost his balance once against Sissoko but most games this season he has been very solid. He has got most abilities you want in a modern day FB, especially considering he is still a teenager. Excellent prospect!

Well, not just you but I agree. The reality is we are not as good as some people think we are. Man City would win this game by 5 or so while with us it we are a clear work in progress. But still amazing how we find ourselves second place and can go first next week.

This is the reality of the PL. Like I said in the pre-match thread this match was going to be very hard. Predicted 2-1 and that was the score. Some people were very complacent in writing of this game as a walkover while some saw the bigger picture and realised this is not a game where we are guaranteed the three points. Still amazing how we are right in the mix of the title race and playing so shit tbh. So many flaws in our team but our position is good and we got the three points which is the main thing. Shame that the quality of football is not been a joy to watch with the players we have brought in but wins are wins and hopefully in due time, a better brand of football comes along with it. Bring on Arsenal!

I think it will be a tough game and not the easy ride everyone expects. They have got a renewed sense of confidence under Pulis and he will no doubt make his team hard to beat. That is the greatness of the PL. No games are simply easy to state that we will win 5-0 or so like La Liga. Much tougher than that and our players will have to work for victory today.

This is quality:

No. I am sure he will stay. He is not the best CB in the world but I don't get the hate towards him. He is a very decent rotation/back-up player to have and I think the criticism you give him is way too harsh. More times than not since he has joined us he has been quite solid although I accept he has his lapses of concentration and bad games but no way as bad as you make him out to be. I rate him and I would be shocked if we let him go which I am sure will not happen.

I am 100% sure Mata will start this game. Not sure why people have him out of their line up. His creativity will be vital in breaking down Palace and he never played in midweek so I expect to see him start and I am sure Mourinho will know Palace will look to make it difficult so him playing Mata is a must IMO. Not just through his creativity in open play but sometimes his set pieces can be the difference in getting that key goal.

Such a dull game. We showed no effort against a team who has been on poor form recently and need a scrappy goal to win. Got the job done but far from impressed!

Make a change please ffs! This performance has been bloody dire!

Last time I checked, Jose was the manager and Lukaku was the player, not the other way around.

But he was far from poor. We cannot judge from one game of his that "he is not ready to be our main striker". He worked his socks off for a start and while he was not excellent he caused his fair share of problems bearing in mind he played a whole 90 mins at Old Trafford and ran United CB ragged all game long. When Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-0 this season, Suarez was very average so we can't use the Arsenal game to say he is not ready for us as in most Everton games he has proved that he is more than capable of leading the line for us. I still think he looked more threatening on Sunday for Everton than all of our strikers have done against Arsenal since Drogba left and while Koscielny won a few of the tussles I am sure he knew Lukaku gave him quite a tough time. I agree that he is thriving at Everton and Martinez is helping but I always disagree with this notion that he is simply scoring goals because teams are more open to Everton than us. It is partly true but it is not to say that teams go all out against Everton. For a start they have one of the highest rates of possession in the league already if not the highest and the way they play forces teams to sit back because it is hard for opposition teams to get the ball of them. We have to remember he is 20 and has been playing 90 mins for the last few games and taking that in to consideration I thought he done quite well against Arsenal. His decision making could of been better but if you ask me did he look a threat I would say yes and I would take that any day of the week but my main point is we cannot use one game to say he is not capable of leading the line for us when I thought he was actually decent and in most games against lower opposition and the bigger teams he has been more than impressive contributing with goals and assists.

Yes we are stacked up with 3 strikers but that is irrelevant when it is clear that Torres and Ba have their flaws and their was an uncertainty about Eto'o. In Lukaku we had the best striker on form and right now he is proving that he is better than all three. Regardless that he had many striker to compete with, he showed that he should of had the chance to be no.1 striker and he was not given that chance.

Not singling him out for blame but no matter how better he looks this season and the talk of him contributing more to the team, yes that is all good but 1 PL goal from him is absolutely ridiculous considering he has started quite a few this season and that goal he scored was as fortunate as you can get but he was exceptional that game against City and warranted a goal no matter how much luck was involved but he is still missing chances handed on a plate to him and it is still Jekyll and Hyde with him. You are unsure which Torres is going to turn up.

Hopefully Lukaku makes up for what we done wrong in loaning him out by scoring past Arsenal tomorrow or we go 7 points behind. It has got to a point that no matter who the opposition is, when we are away from home I expect the unexpected. Shambles! Conceding 6 goals in two matches against two teams who are not known for their goalscoring rates says it all. Can;t believe we are still letting in these sloppy goals. How Lawrenson said on his score predictions that we have a good defence I do not know and what happened to Moruinho's team who was always known for the reliable defending I do not know but home and way we look prone to concede. Sort it out!

What a performance yesterday night! He finally showed what we all knew he was capable of. Jose seems to persist with Hazard every game and I think Hazard showed why yesterday. Jose must see him as a special player who can come out of anything and he just knew it was a matter of time before he performed something stunning like that, Obviously not in the same caliber as Ronaldo but the same way Mourinho used Ronaldo at Real is what I think Jose sees in Hazard. In our team he is the one who is capale of coming out with just absolute quality and if he can contine to perform like that which I have no doubts that he will get better and better he will be literally unstoppable. He pretty much has everything. Pace, strength, technique, vision, touch, excellent dribbler, you name it. We just need him to continue like this and he will be a joy to watch.

Good win in the end. Have to admit when it got into the second half I thought it would be very hard to beat Southampton's pressing style however we completely dominated second half. Excellent work from Mourinho and the team. Gave them no time on the ball and we thoroughly deserved the victory. Nice to see Mata play the 90 mins and grab an assist. Hopefully he can keep up with more consistent performances. Nice to see Ba get his first PL goal of the season as well. Was a real handful for Southampton when he came on. Don't really have a bad word to say about anyone. Essien was quite sloppy for the goal and looked out of his depth at times but he done some aspects well. Ivanovic was a beast at RB. Looking at there team, just shows the quality of Shaw again. 18 and plays so well. Ivanovic got past him a couple times but thought he was excellent. Hope to see him in a blues shirt one day. Rate him so highly. Also I don't normally do this but just wanted to point out that @Ryan Fong you never got back to me. You stated in the original match thread that Mata should not play and would be "eaten alive" by Wanyama. You also followed it up by stating that "it sounds arrogant but its a fact". I challenged you on both of these posts and surprise, surprise you did not reply to me. I hope you realise it was quite an idiotic statement to make and now you have been made to eaten your words. End of that but think before you speak next time please. Bring on Sunderland!