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There were shocks galore in the Premier League as VAR once again dominated the headlines for all the wrong reasons on an action-packed weekend of football.
Brighton were thrashed 6-1 by Aston Villa in the opening game on Saturday. Erling Haaland failed to score. Heck, even Luton managed to pick up their first win of the season.
This weekend’s results
Saturday
- Aston Villa 6-1 Brighton
- Bournemouth 0-4 Arsenal
- Everton 1-2 Luton Town
- Man Utd 0-1 Crystal Palace
- Newcastle 2-0 Burnley
- West Ham 2-0 Sheffield United
- Wolves 2-1 Manchester City
- Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool
Sunday
- Nottingham Forest 1-1 Brentford
Monday
- Fulham vs Chelsea (8pm)
Tuesday
- Luton vs Burnley (7.30pm)
But arguably the biggest talking point of the weekend was at Tottenham, where Liverpool controversially saw an equaliser ruled out for offside before being reduced to nine men.
Read i‘s analysis on every team below (listed in table order).
Man City
After seven years and 12 major trophies at Manchester City, it is unlikely Pep Guardiola has been found out, but successive defeats at Newcastle (in the Carabao Cup) and now at Wolves should prompt some questions about playing football’s smoothest machine.
It is perhaps unsurprising that both opponents harried City, denied them space, took their chances and defended manfully. Unless you are Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, that is possibly the only way to play Manchester City. However, what should concern Guardiola that four times in five matches his side has conceded first.
Not even Manchester City can regularly overcome this kind of self-inflicted handicap. You would have to go back to April 2018 to find the last time City lost three on the bounce -home and away to Liverpool in the Champions League and to Manchester United in the Premier League. Should they go down to RB Leipzig, a team they put seven goals past in March, then maybe, just maybe, somebody might use the word “crisis”. By Tim Rich
Premier League table
Tottenham
For over an hour after Heung-min Son’s opening goal, as chance after chance was denied by the woodwork and a stand-out goalkeeping display from Alisson, it began to look more and more like the ball just would not find its way into the net for Ange Postecoglou’s men, who could only have regarded a draw here as two points lost.
But then Pedro Porro’s cross fizzed in off a helpless Joel Matip, and the Spurs half of north London erupted as Tottenham notched their first win against Liverpool since 2017.
It could be argued that the Tottenham of old might not have found a way to bag all three points, as this side managed with two stoppage-times goals a fortnight ago against Sheffield United, and did once more against a resolute defensive effort from Liverpool on Saturday evening.
And this isn’t to say Spurs did not deserve their win, but Postecoglou will surely wish his side had put this to bed sooner than they did. After all, everyone gets their fair share of luck, but it won’t happen like that every time.
One worry will no doubt be the availability of Son, who appeared to be in some discomfort when he was withdrawn in the 68th minute after scoring his seventh goal of this campaign.
The South Korean forward had already been an injury doubt coming into this match, and this Spurs attack would not have the same bite without him at the head of it. By Alex Dakers
Arsenal
Kai Havertz looked almost embarrassed as he was mobbed by his Arsenal teammates and serenaded by the travelling support after tucking home his penalty in the win at Bournemouth.
The big-money signing from Chelsea had failed to make any meaningful impact in his opening nine games before Bukayo Saka seemingly took pity on his colleague, tossing him the ball to score from the spot.
While the band of Arsenal fans celebrated and Havertz’s name rang from the away end for the next 10 minutes, while Mikel Arteta enthused that this could “change everything” for a man who has scored the winning goal in a Champions League final, Havertz seemed entirely nonplussed by the occasion.
He will be all-too aware that scoring the third goal in a routine 4-0 win – and from the penalty spot no less – will not automatically usher in a run of form to both silence his critics and make him a certain starter for Arteta.
Havertz may only be 24 years of age but he has top-level experience with Chelsea, has played 39 times for Germany and is now looking to bed in at a club with title-winning ambitions.
He is right not to have dived into the fans in celebration, to come out after the game and hail a “turning point” in his fledgling Arsenal career – Arteta praised his hard work and dedication on the training ground and Havertz will want to knuckle down and use this moment as a starting point and will know full well his performances still need to vastly improve if he is to hit the heights he believes he is capable of. By Martin Bedford
Liverpool
What happened to Luis Diaz in the 34rd minute is not just about Liverpool, or the VAR Darren England and assistant Dan Cook, who have been relieved of their next two games for their “significant human error” in disallowing a perfectly onside goal.
VAR is the beast we all had a part in creating, demanding perfection and the eradication of mistakes which are never going to disappear; we know this, but aside from goal-line technology, the offside rule was the one metric which was uncontestable.
The lines were drawn, and trusted, and an incident like this has not just denied Liverpool points; it totally undermines the whole process.
How many other goals must now be looked back on with an uncertain eye? Why are our officials refereeing in the United Arab Emirates but 48 hours before a game? What is the point of even having an assistant VAR if they are only there to mindlessly nod along like the Churchill Bulldog?
Somehow, from all this, Liverpool can still take plenty of heart. This was a tremendous performance with nine men (two more debatable decisions) and in fact, when they were down to 10, it barely showed at all. Jurgen Klopp said he would “remember it forever”.
Moving on will not be easy. Cody Gakpo suffered a knock from Destiny Udogie in the build-up to his goal and left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a brace.
Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones are now suspended and Joel Matip will bear scars from that most unfortunate of own goals in the dying seconds. It is Spurs, not Liverpool, who edge closer to Manchester City – but they can take some comfort in a performance which suggested it may not stay that way for long. By Kat Lucas
Aston Villa
This was a game that drowned in its own statistics. Not since Andy Gray in 1976-77 had an Aston Villa player scored two hat-tricks in a single season as Ollie Watkins has now done. Not since Dwight Yorke in 1996 has a Villa player scored in five successive home games as Douglas Luiz has now done.
Villa’s 6-1 destruction of Brighton was their biggest win since Liverpool were demolished 7-2 in October 2020. There is probably no Premier League team playing as entertainingly as Aston Villa under Unai Emery but those stats need to be put into context. After humiliating Liverpool, Aston Villa lost their next three home games.
The others are more encouraging. Dwight Yorke’s side finished fifth in 1997 and, 20 years before, an Aston Villa side spearheaded by Andy Gray scored more goals than anyone else and finished fourth behind Liverpool and Manchester City and one place ahead of Newcastle. Given that only Pep Guardiola has taken more Premier League points in 2023 than Emery, a repetition seems plausible. By Tim Rich
Brighton
It should be a matter of considerable pride to Brighton that their next four opponents – Marseille, Liverpool, Manchester City and Ajax – have all won the European Cup. Given the ludicrously open way they defended against Aston Villa, it should be a matter of considerable anxiety.
Not since February 2012 at West Ham have Brighton conceded six – it must be the claret and blue shirts. Roberto De Zerbi predicted we would see “a different Brighton” at Marseille on Thursday night and that might be more than the usual “we’ll bounce back” rhetoric after a heavy defeat.
After big losses last season to Newcastle, Everton and Arsenal, De Zerbi’s men won their next match. However, as De Zerbi has pointed out, this season Brighton are now playing two games a week. Last season it was one. By Tim Rich
West Ham
David Moyes has become the kind of manager he was at Everton; a man who sends out well-drilled, efficient teams who beat the sides they are expected to overcome, spring a few surprises and only really fail against the elite of the Premier League.
This season has been a case in point. West Ham’s only defeats have come against Manchester City and Liverpool – and they might have got something at Anfield. Surprises have been sprung against Chelsea and Brighton and Sheffield United were put away as most at the London Stadium would have expected.
The win had shades of West Ham’s display at Liverpool – Jarrod Bowen scored and the first-half display was much better than after the interval. The difference was that the week before they had been facing Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez, players of a calibre Sheffield United simply do not possess. By Tim Rich
Newcastle
The finishing touches are being put in place to ensure St James’ Park is ready to host Champions League football for the first time in 20 years, but Eddie Howe hopes at least one thing is missing when Kylian Mbappe and his Paris Saint-Germain teammates arrive on Tyneside.
“I certainly hope we’re not laying out any mats for anybody,” was the Newcastle manager’s euphemistic way of pointing out the crucial role 50,000 home supporters can play in making Wednesday’s Group F encounter an uncomfortable experience for the French Champions.
Howe has several injury absences to deal with and will have to do without Sven Botman, Joelinton and Callum Wilson in addition to longer-term casualties Harvey Barnes and Joe Willock as his side look to build on their encouraging opening game draw at AC Milan. He insisted: “We’re determined to do well.
“One thing I’m absolutely certain about is the atmosphere will be as good as I’ve ever experienced here. I know the supporters will get behind us and we’re really looking forward to the challenge. I’ve already started my preparation for the game, it’s going to be an extreme test but one we can’t wait for.”
Newcastle go into the game on the back of five consecutive clean sheets after Saturday’s routine 2-0 victory over Burnley lifted them to eighth in the Premier League. The smart money will be on an outcome either way against Paris as the Magpies are yet to draw in 12 previous Champions League home games, winning seven and losing five. By Jason Mellor
Crystal Palace
Leaving Old Trafford with victory has become an easier proposition in recent years, but to win three in a row on the famous old ground is no mean feat, in whatever guise Manchester United appear.
For Roy Hodgson, victory on Saturday, one that never really appeared under much threat, took the wily old campaigner to five unbeaten – the first manager in Premier League history to go on such a run.
This was no tactical masterclass like Robert De Zerbi provided in United’s previous home loss, but a result garnered more pragmatically. There is more than one way to skin a frightened cat.
With his favoured centre-back pairing of Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi back together, Hodgson had his solid base with which to frustrate United from and once the visitors had their goal, a spectacular one at that, they could sit back and see out a famous win without going beyond their limits.
Anderson completed 10 clearances in the match, a number bettered only five times by an individual player in any match this season. Guehi weighed in with eight, too.
And with Eberechi Eze and Jean-Phillipe Mateta carrying the ball into the channels to further frustrate and run the clock down, Palace’s desire to stick to the tried and trusted blueprint for Big Six scalps worked a treat.
It really was textbook stuff. Palace finished the game with a 23 per cent possession figure, the second-lowest figure for a victorious visiting team to Old Trafford in the Premier League (since 2003-04), after West Brom in May, another 1-0 win.
They did not have to over-exert, given the ineptitude of their opponents and Hodgson has been around the block for too long to know what happens to teams who choose a leading position against United to stretch their tactical legs. By Pete Hall
Man Utd
Chasing the game with only a few minutes left, what manager would not want the luxury of being able to call upon £120m of talent to spearhead a last-gasp rescue act.
With 78 international caps between them, the Manchester United cavalry was not lacking in experience for the sodden Old Trafford battlefield on Saturday, but Harry Maguire and Donny van de Beek perfectly represented everything that is wrong about a haphazardly-assembled squad as they plummeted deeper into the depths of despair against Crystal Palace.
A fourth defeat from seven league games that sealed a worst start to a league campaign since 1989-90 was not on them, the damage had been done. But the fact this is all United had to turn to – two big-money acquisitions who don’t even want to be there – sums up just where this excuse for a footballing behemoth are at.
It turns out last season seems to be more of an aberration – this United squad remains in no state to inspire a long-overdue title tilt.
Ill-thought-out transfer dealings have been United’s modus operandi in the post Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Huge names have come in, for record fees, without thinking where they would fit and whether the manager could work them into their respective footballing ethos.
The performances of new arrivals last season, however, helped inspire a mini-revival. Casemiro finally added adequate quality in the midfield anchor role, Lisandro Martinez formed a centre-back partnership with Raphael Varane that threatened to reach Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic levels of cohesion, while Christian Eriksen looked like the bargain of the year after joining on a free.
Fast forward to Saturday’s latest disasterclass, the squad feels as lifeless and crestfallen as at any point since Ferguson left. The other player to come on late in the day against Palace cost £50m, but into his ninth season in Manchester, we are still waiting for Anthony Martial to look like the once world’s most expensive teenager.
As the performances of Casemiro, Martinez and Eriksen have dropped off, and the goals of Marcus Rashford have stopped bailing United out, failure to improve vital areas with suitable signings in the summer is coming back to haunt the club’s hierarchy.
Mason Mount is an exceptional player in his own right, but just like Angel Di Maria or Paul Pogba before him, another ineffective showing against Palace added further credence to claims he is the latest star player unable to find a home in the United system.
Rasmus Hojlund is another example of a luxury United, in their current rotten state, do not have.
Hojlund could well be a superstar in the making, as he has all the attributes to lead the United line for years to come. However, such an embryonic talent, with only nine goals in a top European league to his name so far, is going to need time, and plenty of it, to fulfil that potential.
In reality, having made improvements last year and started to assemble a squad worthy of the name, United needed someone for the here and now and the fact they had one of the best in the business waiting for the call makes it all the more galling for their desperate fanbase.
Harry Kane would not have cost much more than Hojlund, but instead went to Bayern Munich where he has nine goals in seven starts for his new team, compared to the young Dane’s one.
The party line is the club wanted to look more to the future, but the present needs too much work for such an approach to be justified.
United supporters believe Erik ten Hag can be the revolutionary figure the club has been crying out for. Quite how he goes about bringing lasting change, with the misshapen tools at his disposal remains to be seen. By Pete Hall
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest are once more managing to distil genuine Premier League quality from their lucky dip transfer policy. Nico Dominguez and Ibrahim Sangare both showed flashes of brilliance against Brentford, most clearly Dominguez’s first Forest goal.
Helping by a looping cross from Harry Toffolo, the Argentine international whipped the ball over Mark Flekken with incredible dexterity of neck, bringing his 10-man side back into the game.
But as Steve Cooper made abundantly clear after the game, this was another game decided with the help of VAR, although the distribution of decision-making was much more equitable, if not much more accurate, than for Liverpool the day before. Moussa Niakhate could probably consider himself slightly unlucky to receive a second yellow, although Yoane Wissa was unfortunate not to win a penalty having been cleared out by Matt Turner. This was swings and roundabouts, even if both were wrong.
Forest also gave a Premier League debut to 21-year-old centre-back Murillo, or Murrillo, as the club kitman had clearly decided he should be called for the afternoon. Sealed with an off-the-line clearance, this was a first appearance of consummate quality for the Brazilian centre-back, especially once Moussa Niakhate was sent off.
And finally – a nod of respect to Toffolo, making his first Premier League appearance since being charged with 375 betting rule breaches and handed a five-month suspended ban two weeks ago. The commission dealing with his case concluded the bets he placed “were the result, at least in large part, of the significant mental health challenges” and a gambling addiction.
Producing an inch-perfect assist within five minutes of coming on was the highlight of a faultless half-hour which highlighted Toffolo’s immense mental strength and talent. Among the ever-changing chaos of Forest’s line-up, there may be a consistent spot available to him on the back of this showing. By George Simms
Fulham
Play against Chelsea on Monday evening.
Wolves
This was not a fluke but a vindication of the Wolves manager, Gary O’Neil. His team might have drawn at Manchester United. They took the lead against Liverpool and now, at Molineux, they took the lead against Manchester City and this time they held it.
O’Neil came to a club that seemed beset by financial difficulties, emphasised by the loss of Matheus Nunes to City for £53m, a fee the club could not possibly turn down. The surprise was not so much that Wolves took the lead but that when Julian Alvarez equalised they did not cave in as they had against Liverpool. They performed not just with backs-to-the-wall grit, epitomised by Craig Dawson’s goal-line clearance, but they also counter-attacked with pace, verve and discipline.
However, when he managed Manchester United, who dominated the league in a way their neighbours do today, Sir Alex Ferguson used to say that any team that beat him would usually lose the next match because they had put so much into the performance. Aston Villa, who face Wolves on Sunday, would hope this rule of thumb stays true for those who beat Manchester City. By Tim Rich
Brentford
With the likely relegation spots seemingly predetermined by an inherent tactical and financial disparity, a certain class of Premier League club risks treading water for most of the season. They will neither challenge for anything meaningful nor be under grave threat of demotion, yet will still be expected to perform to the best of their abilities and beyond week-on-week.
Perhaps the clearest example of these clubs – Wolves, Fulham, Crystal Palace, among others – is Brentford. As recently as March, they were still darlings of English football, rivalling Brighton for their financial efficacy and strategic ingenuity.
Yet now, seven months on, they’re just here for the ride. They’ve lost David Raya, Ivan Toney, Rico Henry and Kevin Schade for varying time periods. There’s no “but somehow they’ve improved” twist here. They’re tangibly, clearly poorer for it. There’s going to be no overoptimistic talk of Europe. This is what Brentford will have to learn to find enjoyment in throughout this season – Premier League purgatory.
Nothing exposes the banal reality of this more than a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest. Thomas Frank’s side were fine. There’s a legitimate argument the Bees should have had a penalty when Yoane Wissa nicked the ball off Matt Turner so the Turner cleared out his Congolese counterpart instead. They won the great xG battle 1.83 to 0.53. As they so often do, they scored from a set-piece.
But Brentford have only won one Premier League game in which they had more possession than their opposition (at home to Forest last season) since the start of 2022/23, something other teams appear to have worked out. Now, they’ve only won one league game this season full stop. Looking down the table, there’s no reason for panic, but looking up it, there’s no cause for celebration either. By George Simms
Chelsea
Play against Fulham on Monday evening.
Everton
When selecting a first home game for the club’s prospective new owners to attend, the people at 777 Partners must have thought Luton Town at home was an obvious opportunity to bathe in some reflected glory.
However, despite good away wins at Brentford and Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup, Everton at Goodison Park remain a timid, easily beatable side. Luton’s 2-1 win was Everton’s seventh home defeat in eight matches in which they have rustled up four goals.
There has long been a feeling under successive managers that Everton have something of a complex about playing in front of their own, easily frustrated supporters. Given that their next home game is against fellow strugglers Bournemouth that complex will have to be addressed if Goodison Park, like Filbert Street and Roker Park, is not to say farewell to football with relegation. By Tim Rich
Luton
Luton fans with long memories might recall that Everton used to be seen as something of a bogey side. In the 1985 FA Cup semi-final and in the quarter-final a year later, they took the lead against a side that was probably the best in England and lost.
These days, Everton are far from that but the 2-1 win at Goodison would remove some of the unspoken pressure that even in September suggested Luton might go through the entire season without a win. Luton’s strength is in their set-pieces and at Goodison they converted two and then clung on.
Their first away win in the top flight since beating Aston Villa in April 1991 should be celebrated for its own sake but if they can repeat the tactics at home to Burnley and at Nottingham Forest, then Rob Edwards’s side might not be so obviously doomed. By Tim Rich
Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola was brought into Bournemouth tasked with changing the style of play, to modernise the on-field approach in alignment with some of the Premier League’s most successful sides.
The Spaniard has certainly altered the game-plan, charging his players to be brave on the ball and to attack the opposition – results to date, however, suggest it has be somewhat foolhardy to try and make these changes overnight.
Bournemouth have slipped into the relegation zone, some feat when you consider the form of the three promoted clubs in the early weeks of the season, and have yet to win a league game under Iraola – scoring just once at home in four fixtures.
He needs time, of course, and may yet crack the formula that sees Bournemouth play commanding football while also getting results but to set-up in such a manner against the likes of Arsenal – to not have a Plan B in place for when his new system clearly is not fit for purpose, could leave Iraola staring into the abyss sooner than anyone at the club would have desired.
He said after the loss to Arsenal that his team not fallen below the level he expects of them, now it is up to him and his coaching staff to raise that standard – especially with Everton, Wolves and Burnley to come in the next three games.
Against those opponents, Iraola’s tactics could make the difference but he needs to adapt against the bigger and better teams in the division or else 4-0 home defeats to the clubs at the top could become par for the course. By Martin Bedford
Burnley
Is it too early for a must-win game in the first week of October?
Clearly, nothing will be set in stone whatever the outcome at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night, but the trip on Luton already has the feel of a hugely significant fixture and the ramifications of the three points up for grabs are likely to be seismic once the dust settles in May.
Originally scheduled for the second weekend of the season in August, Burnley declined an opportunity to switch the game to Turf Moor when the Hatters were unable to host due to on-going developments to make their modest home Premier League-ready.
Burnley’s reasoning to stymie the potential swap was perfectly valid in that they didn’t want to cause disruption to their supporters. But they might now be rueing that decision, given they travel to Bedfordshire to face opponents buoyed by a first-ever Premier League win at Everton on Saturday, making it four points from their last two games.
The second-bottom Clarets are members of a bottom three all still searching for that elusive first victory of the campaign, and another defeat to match the 2-0 reversal at Newcastle would see them at a six-point disadvantage to one of their main relegation rivals.
That might not sound much after seven games, but given that as few as 30 points could be enough to secure safety, to be 20 percent of that figure behind the Hatters would rightly give cause for concern.
Perhaps better then for Vincent Kompany to remind his players of Burnley’s impressive record at ‘the Kenny’ where they have won on their last three visits, and are unbeaten this Millennia as they aim for a first top flight victory since the 2-1 win at neighbouring Watford in April 2022. The Turf Moor boss said: “Against Luton, everybody knows that we just want to get a result.” By Jason Mellor
Sheffield United
Sheffield United find themselves exactly where they were the last time they were in the Premier League, bottom of the table with one point after seven matches.
Their 8-0 humbling by Newcastle meant that in terms of goal difference, Paul Heckingbottom’s side are worse off than Chris Wilder’s in the autumn of 2020. Wilder did not survive which did not prevent Sheffield United being relegated in last place. Even at Bramall Lane, most would expect a repetition but Sheffield United made slightly more of a fist of it than they had against Newcastle.
If they had not, Heckingbottom might already have been sacked. Their displays against Manchester City, Everton and Tottenham demonstrated they can compete but there was insufficient grit at the London Stadium. Luton’s win at Goodison Park will have made defeat at West Ham even more deflating but in the Premier League’s cold universe a plucky defeat is still a defeat. By Tim Rich
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