The Premier League returned with a bang after the latest boring international break, and it didn’t disappoint.
The drama began to unfold before a ball was even kicked, with Ange Postecoglou replacing Nuno at Nottingham Forest.
The former Spurs boss had a baptism of fire with his team visiting the Emirates to face Arsenal in the opening fixture of Matchday 4. Here's how the weekend unfolded.
𝐀𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝟑-𝟎 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭
After their defensive display at Anfield ended in a 1-0 defeat, the 'Spanish Southgate' (that may be harsh on Arteta) slightly eased the handbrake off for the visit of Nottingham Forest.
It was an emphatic win for the Gunners. Especially given their squad is without the likes of Saka, Havertz and Saliba.
Furthermore, after all the rubbish written about Noni Madueke in preseason, he’s starting to look like one of Arsenal’s best signings of the summer.
𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝟐-𝟏 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐨𝐧 & 𝐇𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐧
Bournemouth have enjoyed a solid start to the new season. Saturday’s 2-1 win over Brighton has left them with nine points from four matches.
Their only defeat was away to Liverpool on the opening weekend, and they were only minutes away from claiming a point at Anfield.
One of the main reasons for the Cherries’ excellent form is Antoine Semenyo.
He capped another fine display with Bournemouth’s winning goal from the penalty spot.
Semenyo now has three goals and two assists in the Premier League this season.
𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝟎-𝟎 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝
Not a match to go down in history as a classic, but from a Sunderland perspective, this was a great disciplined defensive display.
Black Cats’ boss Régis Le Bris will no doubt take plenty of positives from the defensive aspect of the match, but on the flip side, his team didn’t manage one shot on target.
Nevertheless, Sunderland have picked up seven points from their opening four matches.
The Black Cats would definitely have taken that return at this stage if they had been offered it at the start of the campaign.
𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝟎-𝟎 𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚
How long can Villa’s goalless run go on for?
This was the Midlanders fourth successive match without a goal, and with the Europa League beginning on Thursday, things aren’t looking great at Villa Park at the moment.
On a positive note, the Villans did keep a clean sheet. This was mainly down to two top quality saves from Emiliano Martínez, who is doing his best to win back over the fans he wanted to dump for a move to Old Trafford, and some poor Everton finishing.
The Toffees had 20 attempts on goal - only two were on target. It’s not hard to see what they need to improve on.
𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝟏-𝟎 𝐋𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝
It’s not just Villa who can’t score, Leeds United have only managed one goal in 360 minutes back in the Premier League, and that was a penalty!
The Whites were within seconds of a second successive Premier League clean sheet, but a 94th-minute own goal from Gabriel Gudmundsson handed Fulham the three points.
On a positive note, Leeds did have ten efforts on goal compared to Fulham’s five.
As for Fulham, this was their first win of the season after two draws and a defeat.
𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝟏-𝟎 𝐖𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬
Newcastle finally got a win, with new signing Nick Woltemade scoring the only goal of the game on an impressive debut.
The German looked the part. Not only did his header from Jacob Murphy’s cross in the 29th minute secure all three points, his all round game showed that even though he was probably well over priced, the Magpies do have a top quality forward to work with.
Wolves may be bottom of the table, but they still don’t look like the worst team in the Premier League (sorry West Ham fans). They did have their moments at St. James' Park.
There is surely better to come from Vítor Pereira’s team, however, they won’t want to fall much further behind than they already are.
𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐦 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝟎-𝟑 𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐩𝐮𝐫
Tottenham bounced back from a home defeat to Bournemouth with a convincing win over a poor West Ham.
The Hammers will have hoped to have built on their 3-0 win away at Nottingham Forest in their previous match.
However, this ended up being more like the performance that saw them lose 5-1 at home to Chelsea, than the one they turned in against Forest.
Could the pressure of playing at the London Stadium not be helping?
It probably is, but that is no excuse for again conceding soft goals from set pieces. This time the first goal from Pape Matar Sarr came from poor defending at a corner.
West Ham just look leaderless at the moment and unless there is a major turnaround, the writing is already looking on the wall for Graham Potter.
𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝟐-𝟐 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐚
First up, well done to Brentford. When the Bees went 2-1 behind late on, it looked like another case of chucking away the points from a leading position.
However, unlike in their 2-1 defeat to Sunderland, Keith Andrews’ team kept going and they were rewarded with Fábio Carvalho's scrappy 93rd-minute leveller.
As for Chelsea, that’s another two points dropped and they are already four behind leaders Liverpool.
Furthermore, after all the hard work to clear out the dead wood and create a settled team, is Enzo Maresca almost back at square one with his team selection again?
After another hectic transfer window of comings and goings, does anyone currently know who Chelsea’s strongest eleven is!!!
𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝟎-𝟏 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥
Somehow Liverpool still have a 100 percent record. However, this is the third time in four matches they have needed a late winner to get the three points.
Along with the win over Newcastle, it is also Liverpool’s second poor showing on the road in the Premier League this season.
So the question is this; Are Liverpool a good side that have learnt how to win while not at their best or have the summer changes set Liverpool back, and this team - that didn’t need rebuilding - is going to take time to settle?
Either way, Arne Slot’s men can thank Burnley defender Hannibal Mejbri for his reckless handball that handed Mohamad Salah the chance to wrap up the three points from the penalty spot in stoppage time.
Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United
Manchester City produced a statement victory, United looked like they went back to square one.
Former United skipper Roy Keane stated before the match that Bruno needs to turn up if the Red Devils are to get anything from the game. He didn’t, and United got what they deserved.
Furthermore, Erling Haaland looks back to his best. And even though City are in a period of transition, the striker can score enough goals to get City by when they are not quite firing on all cylinders.
It will be interesting to see how they get on against Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday.
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