BPL talking points: When will Rio walk the walk at QPR?

The big issues of the weekend Rio Ferdinand, Gus Poyet, Paul Lambert, Alan Pardew and the super-spending Saints.

You know the football season is clicking into gear once the group stages of the Champions League and Europa League return.

But after three nights of continental action, it’s back to the bread and butter this weekend.

There is a blockbuster at the Etihad as Champions Manchester City entertain title favourites Chelsea, while Manchester United’s new array of stars head to Leicester.

But before those games on Sunday, here are five points of discussion ahead of Saturday’s action.

Are there fresh signs of life at Villa?

Aston Villa cannot have had too many better weeks than this in the last few years. They recorded a memorable and deserved win at Liverpool, while manager Paul Lambert has had his contract extended until 2018.

They have ten points from their opening four games and have only conceded one goal. Victory over Arsenal and they will top the Premier League on Saturday night with Chelsea not in action until Sunday.

Are these the first signs that Villa are finally emerging from the gloom that has enveloped the club since Martin O’Neill left four years ago?

It’s probably way too early to start making grandiose such statements but I was at Anfield and was impressed with Villa’s disciplined approach.

They were more streetwise and less callow than in the last couple of years and they looked more equipped to deal with the various demands the Premier League throw up.

It’s now up to new England international Fabian Delph and the rest to show this is more than a flash in the pan.

Is it half-full or half-empty for the Black Cats?

Only lost once or not won in four. Which barometer do you take from Sunderland’s start to the campaign?

It is very difficult to assess because home games against Manchester United and Tottenham were difficult, yet trips to West Brom and QPR offered chances of victory.

There can be no sitting on the fence this time with a match away at Burnley. Lose and they will fall below the Clarets and that means one thing you are not doing well to sit behind the pre-season relegation favourites.

Gus Poyet’s men are a paradox they can make life difficult for the top teams but can’t impose themselves on the lesser sides, and it’s why there has been so little in all their games so far.

Plus, while the Uruguayan insists on his favoured 4-1-4-1 formation, it’s unlikely to see Sunderland really go for the opposition. Maybe taking off the handbrake at Turf Moor would be the boost that gives their season a kick-start.

Can Meyler exact a fitting revenge?

On 1 March this year, Alan Pardew’s future as Newcastle United manager hung by a thread after he butted Hull City’s David Meyler in the heat of a match.

Pardew escaped the sack then, but little has gone right in the intervening six months and he once again walks the plank.

Hull are the visitors to St James’ Park this Saturday with the consensus being that it’s win or bust for the Newcastle boss with his side bottom of the league after four games.

Will Hull manager Steve Bruce be tempted to include Meyler in his starting line-up? The Irishman kept a dignified silence after the incident in March, but this Saturday could be his chance for the ultimate payback.

A crucial goal or a strong performance could make Pardew suffer for the final time on Tyneside.

Can Rio’s football still do the talking?

This week, one national newspaper has been full of extracts from Rio Ferdinand’s autobiography.

His opinion on anything and everything from the racism incident involving his brother Anton and Chelsea’s John Terry to the decision by David Moyes to ban low-fat chips before matches at Manchester United has been well publicised.

That follows on from a summer spent working for the BBC as a pundit at the World Cup in Brazil. Rio is obviously talking a good game but it would be easy to forget he is still playing.

Although, the start of his QPR career hasn’t exactly been one to write home about, and last week’s mauling at Manchester United won’t have been easy for a former United hero to accept.

QPR look like a side destined for a survival scrap and that’s why their home form is crucial.

It is games like this Saturday’s against Stoke that are so crucial, and Ferdinand needs to produce the solid defensive platform from which his new club can grab a positive result.

Is the Saints’ quiet spending spree going to pay dividends?

Which club were the fifth highest spenders in the transfer window with £58 million worth of signings? Southampton. But weren’t they the ones selling all their best players? Correct.

They sold five players for over £90 million, which had doom-mongers fearing for their Premier League future.

Yet, manager Ronald Koeman embarked on a shopping spree around Europe buying from Holland, Austria, Romania and Spain to rebuild his team.

Names like Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic are probably unfamiliar to most, but their part in two convincing Premier League wins, with the team scoring seven goals in the process, has lessened some of the disquiet.

Victory at Swansea would allow the Saints to stake a claim as the league’s early season surprise package for the second season running, and would hint at another good season in prospect on the South Coast.