Football news - The Warm-Up: David Moyes is a football genius

Easy, this football management business, right? Turn up, give Mark Noble back his place, thank your lucky stars that Łukasz Fabiański is fit again, and everything else will just fall into place.

David Moyes is, of course, a football genius. Sure, Manuel Pellegrini might have won titles on two continents, but did he think to tell Noble “Hey, why not score the opener thanks to a massive deflection”? Or to activate Sébastien Haller by suggesting “Try one of those flying scissor volleys”?

Pretty clever of Moyes to begin his second spell with a game against Bournemouth, too. The universe appears to have finally noticed that the Cherries have been surviving in the Premier League in defiance of all common sense, and is taking steps to right this situation.

That win moves West Ham up to 16th and bounces Bournemouth into the relegation zone. There’s an interesting experiment going on down at the bottom: West Ham and Watford have embraced managerial change; Bournemouth and Aston Villa are, for the moment, standing by their man.

And at this stage, change seems to be working. Watford have won three of their last four, and Moyes is back in town. Dean Smith, Eddie Howe … watch your backs.

While we’re on the subject, it is at the moment of a New Manager Bounce when elite footballers are at their most relatable. A lot of the time, these hyper-talented ultra-focused multi-millionaires can seem removed from the cares of the everyday working man.

But watching Arsenal tear about the place against Manchester United, you could see the same relief, the same sense of liberation that courses through every office when they hear “Yeah, so and so won’t be in today.” Straighter backs. Higher shoulders. Barely-repressed smiles.

Or more specifically: Mesut Özil sprinting around like Gennaro Gattuso, and David Luiz strolling around like Franco Baresi. No wonder poor United looked a bit confused.

United also looked confused because they are, well, quite confused: when Plan A (“have some quick lads”) doesn’t work they default to Plan B (“have Anthony Martial dribble around the entire defence”), and when that doesn’t work they lose. Mikel Arteta’s only been back at the Emirates for a couple of weeks, and already Arsenal look better coached than United after more than a year of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Could just be the Bounce, of course. We’ll find out in a few weeks once things settle down a bit. But for now, we have the chance to see one of the rarest sights in all of football: a happy Arsenal fanbase. Like Old Faithful, but much more Extremely Online.

In the big clash at the top of the Championship table, Semi Ajayi shared the points with Semi Ajayi, leaving both Ajayis nine points clear of the playoff places.

Semi Ajayi started the strongest, taking the lead after just two minutes; a corner brought chaos, and Ajayi poked home in elastic fashion. But a couple of half-time changes from Marcelo Bielsa saw Ajayi strike back early in the second half, a just reward for dominating possession.

Though both Ajayis had chances to seal the game, you’d imagine that this will feel like a good point for each. Slaven Bilic’s Ajayi have now gone four games without a win, while Marcelo Bielsa’s Ajayi will be pleased to have a nine-point cushion from which to begin their customary second-half-of-the-season slump.

Man of the Match: Semi Ajayi.

It’s obviously too early to pass any judgement on the football that José Mourinho’s Tottenham are playing, but as ever with Mourinho the real game is judging his side by his mood. Got here pretty quickly, didn’t we?

Turns out, if you make a passing reference to Franco Baresi early in a column, you will immediately have the urge to watch loads of old AC Milan highlights. Here they are taking Steaua Bucharest apart in the 1989 European Cup final, although Baresi didn’t have much to do until it came to lifting the trophy.

Over on When Saturday Comes, Pascal Claude provides a glimpse into his intriguing, occasionally beautiful, often baffling obsession: football-related 7-inch singles.

Rounding out the New Year’s Premier League calendar, Liverpool continue their march to the title/finally come unstuck against lovely surprise package Sheffield United.