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North London is Arsenal’s, as their set-piece prowess and Tottenham’s sterile possession allowed Mikel Arteta’s team to overcome midfield absentees and move up to second in a nascent Premier League table.
Manchester City won again – although Erling Haaland only scored twice this week – but the big surprise came with Liverpool losing their 100 per cent record with home defeat against the early season’s surprise success story Nottingham Forest. Nuno Espirito Santo’s team are unbeaten and won at Anfield for the first time since 1969.
At the bottom, no promoted club has yet won a Premier League match this season but Everton continue to cause their own emergencies, turning a 2-0 lead into 3-2 defeat for the second weekend running…
Scroll down for our verdict on every team (listed in table order).
This weekend’s results
Saturday:
- Southampton 0-3 Man Utd
- Brighton 0-0 Ipswich
- Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester
- Fulham 1-1 West Ham
- Liverpool 0-1 Nott’m Forest
- Man City 2-1 Brentford
- Aston Villa 3-2 Everton
- Bournemouth 0-1 Chelsea
Sunday:
Man City
Has anyone else got an ominous feeling about Manchester City again? Because if you haven’t, you aren’t thinking about it hard enough.
We are four games into their Premier League season and the gauntlet has been thrown down. Pep Guardiola has a lead at the top and we usually know what that means. They have now won 13 league games on the spin and that doesn’t even seem worth mentioning anymore, so routine is it. This time they fell behind and only won by a single goal, so that’s something new.
Interestingly (and daunting for every other club), City have started with supreme dominance this season in an entirely different manner to the one in which they flourished in 2023-24. Phil Foden is not there yet. Rodri hasn’t started a match and John Stones and Kyle Walker have started one each. Rico Lewis, a fringe player last season, is key again, stepping from full-back into midfield.
The form of Erling Haaland is new too, albeit by his own nonsensically high standards. Haaland’s nine goals in four matches represents a third of his total from last season. He had the summer off and, as a result, is imperious.
The biggest shift is in Manchester City’s chance creation. Kevin De Bruyne only started 15 league games in 2023-24 as his body perhaps gave way to time and tear. There was rumoured discussion, not without merit, that this might be the summer Guardiola allowed him to leave for the big pay.
Instead, Guardiola has got the old band back together. With Foden and Rodri missing and Ilkay Gundogan returned, he and De Bruyne have become the same one-two punch and, more importantly, De Bruyne has stepped up as City’s creative force.
He will never again be the same threat; he cannot storm around the pitch in quite the same way and is expected to do less tracking back to preserve his energy. Somehow, that makes De Bruyne better to watch. He’s a strolling, controlling midfielder who plays short passes in tight spaces or long passes into open spaces. Both are beautiful.
In four matches this season, De Bruyne has created 16 chances and no other City player has contributed more than seven. The other marvels will be back soon, and with them bountiful chance creation by committee will return. Until then, De Bruyne is happy being the king again.
Arsenal
Sunday’s north London derby was described in one particular media outlet this week as the toughest test of Mikel Arteta’s managerial career, which half works as a premise if you exclude the existence of Manchester City as a title rival. Losing one midfielder to suspension and another injury doth not a crisis make. Not when you have balls of steel like this Arsenal team.
There were pre-match concerns, as derby day naturally forces in through your pores while you’re desperately trying to forget it’s coming. Declan Rice has been the firefighter of this midfield and Martin Odegaard the firestarter. Mikel Merino would be the first-choice replacement for both and didn’t even get onto the pitch before getting injured.
But then this team has an extraordinary backbone. If they crumbled a little under the pressure of a title race two years ago it made them stronger. Whoever plays, this is a team.
Read more: Arsenal’s balls of steel made ‘biggest test of Arteta’s career’ a doddle
Newcastle
Alexander Isak took a ball to the face but it was Wolves left with a nosebleed after Newcastle fought back to extend their unbeaten start to the season.
Wolves were good value for their lead, Mario Lemina putting the counter-attacking hosts ahead, but after being denied by the post in the second half the momentum quickly swung.
The unlikely figure of Fabian Schar mounted the comeback, his deflected effort sailing past Sam Johnstone, and then came the marvellous winner from the man who surely starts going forward, with half-time substitute Harvey Barnes curling in a beauty and sending the strip of Newcastle fans along the bottom of the Steve Bull Stand into delirium.
With Wolves proving tricky to break down, and winning the midfield battle, Eddie Howe rung the changes at half-time, bringing Sandro Tonali, Barnes and Joe Willock on for the injured Isak, Sean Longstaff and Joelinton, the latter having already been booked.
Initially, the changes appeared to have made an impact, but it was then Wolves who nearly doubled their lead when Lemina picked out Larsen and the striker struck low against the post.
The Lemina-Larsen combo almost worked again, this time the former’s cross resulting in the latter having his header saved by Nick Pope, and it was a sign that Newcastle were under the cosh as opposed to pushing for an equaliser.
A strong forearm from Pope then denied Matheus Cunha, but from there the match turned, with Schar’s shot to nothing bending over Johnstone after flicking off Dawson’s head.
And with Newcastle smelling blood, Barnes took his shot, too, creating his own space before scoring a pearler from 25 yards out.
This was from the Jhon Duran meets Barclaysmen school of just going for it, and finding out what happens. The result was Newcastle scoring two goals from outside the box in a Premier League game for the first time since 2018.
And it summed up their afternoon. It wasn’t pretty against a stubborn Wolves side, but two half-chances ultimately led to three points.
Going forward, then, Barnes must surely start – having also scored when starting against Tottenham before the international break – while the question of whether Tonali warms the bench from the off must surely have been answered.
With Joelinton and Longstaff both off at half-time, quite what trio Howe settles on at Fulham on Saturday remains to be seen, but Tonali must now lead the conversation. By Michael Hincks
Read more: Harvey Barnes puts one Newcastle conversation to bed with sublime winner
Liverpool
Callum Hudson-Odoi’s sensational winner did not only earn Nottingham Forest a sensational first victory at Anfield in 55 years, when Bill Shankly’s side were humbled, but something that almost never happens on the red half of Merseyside.
This was no fluke, no victory ground out by withstanding a late Anfield onslaught.
Forest were good value for their success and deserved to win on the famous old ground, a success that keeps them unbeaten at the start of the new campaign and ends Arne Slot’s perfect start to his Liverpool tenure with a rude awakening.
The culture change from the Jurgen Klopp years has been welcomed, and before Saturday’s bolt from the Nottinghamshire blue all was very rosy indeed, but the Klopp blitzkrieg cannot be completely replaced by ice cool Slot if Liverpool are to keep pace with Manchester City and Arsenal in the Premier League.
What had Liverpool supporters heading to the exits uncharacteristically early was the fact the hosts never looked like finding an equaliser.
In the Klopp years, you could not leave a millisecond before the end, as losses were turned into victories in the dying embers of games with regularity. Last season alone, Liverpool came back from losing positions to win eight matches – the most of the German’s tenure. In their title-winning campaign, Liverpool won a remarkable 13 games by one-goal scorelines, often snatched at the death.
No team can rely on that every week, but falling behind at Anfield needs to rouse more of a response than Forest faced on Saturday.
The likes of Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold can be forgiven for having an off day, but there are certain players who will have to raise their game as if the ghost of Klopp is breathing down their necks in the coming months, none more so than Dominik Szoboszlai, whose struggles for consistency remain a serious cause for concern. By Pete Hall
Read more: The crucial Klopp trait missing from Liverpool’s defeat to Forest
Aston Villa
You just don’t see goals like that anymore, except, well, you just did.
Five of the 10 goals shortlisted for the Premier League’s goal of the season last term came from inside the box. Another was just outside, while among the other four perhaps only Alexis Mac Allister’s for Liverpool came anywhere near as hit and hope as Jhon Duran’s goal on Saturday night.
And at a time when the Barclaysmen trend has been a breath of fresh air for social media, how fitting to see Duran roll back the years with a strike that was more December 2006 (you’ve seen that compilation a thousand times) and ultimately a middle finger to the meticulous precision seemingly required for every goal in this day and age.
“The lad scored a worldie,” said Everton boss Sean Dyche, referencing even a word we have barely heard for a decade. “You could tell from the reaction of the bench. They very rarely happen, but when they do, they hurt.”
Indeed, the reactions said it all. Emiliano Martinez was left open-mouthed, while even opposing goalkeeper Jordan Pickford could not help but watch the replay on the big screens as Villa fans gasped at every angle.
It lacked build-up play, it lacked training-ground routine, and that’s what made it so special. It could take some beating this season. By Michael Hincks
Brighton
Brighton were full value for a win on Saturday. As Fabian Hurzeler said post-game, these things happen. You dominate an opponent, give them only one or two half chances but aren’t able to get past a goalkeeper in superb form.
Still, it’s worth reflecting upon Brighton’s chance creation, not least because it’s something Hurzeler referenced himself.
“We have to create more chances, we have to use the chances that we have,” Hurzeler said. “But I’m sure long-term if you play with this intensity, if you defend like this, then I’m sure long-term it will be successful. We know there will be a tough game, we know that we need to be clean and precise in the final third, then some moments we missed that and therefore we have to use training to improve these things.”
So far this season, Brighton have had more shots than any other team (67, two more than Manchester City). However, only five teams have taken shots, on average, further from goal: Leicester, Southampton, Wolves, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth. The theory emerges: are Brighton just having lots of shots because they are shooting from too far out and thus amassing xG without creating enough high-quality chances.
That may well be true. The Premier League’s official website ranks all teams by the number of “big chances” created, those that meet Opta’s definition of “where a player should reasonably be expected to score, usually in a one on one scenario or from very close range when the ball has a clear path to goal and there is low to moderate pressure on the shooter”.
Aston Villa top the list of big chances created this season, with 14. On that same measure, and despite having the most shots in the division, Brighton rank 15th. Hurzeler has started brilliantly, but that is the balance he must find.
Nottingham Forest
Nuno Espirito Santo has a plan and it is mightily pleasing on the eye.
To win at Anfield is one thing, but to play Liverpool off the park, on their own turf, is something else. Nuno’s team showed no fear, with quality in all areas of the pitch.
Both full-backs put Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson to shame, they left no hint of space in the middle of the park, and when they did get forward, Forest produced free-flowing football Arne Slot himself would have been proud of.
Forest have bought a lot of players in the past few seasons, but to be able to call on players of Callum Hudson-Odoi’s ability off the bench shows just how much strength in depth they’ve got.
We’ve always known there is a player in there with Hudson-Odoi. Extracting that ability has been the challenge. Consistent fine goals, however, are starting to become his trademark. Since the start of last season, only Phil Foden and Eberechi Eze have scored more Premier League goals from outside the penalty area.
His match-winner is just another reason Forest fans can really start looking up rather than down this season. By Pete Hall
Chelsea
The Jadon Sancho redemption arc starts here. OK, that’s being a little facetious (and you can save the “Oh Manchester United should have kept him” angle because that relationship was broken), but this was a deeply impressive debut for a winger with much to prove.
Pedro Neto and Sancho were given 45 minutes each on Chelsea’s left wing. Neto completed 12 passes, Sancho 25. Neto carried the ball forward 14 times, Sancho 22. Neto attempted to take on an opponent once, Sancho four times.
Those contrasts are more reflective of Chelsea’s performance as a whole than the talent of each individual player, but Sancho was certainly key in the ability to turn one point into three. He provided his first Premier League assist since May 2023, for United against Chelsea.
We need a lot more evidence before we can conclude that Sancho’s spirit has been fully restored – Chelsea is, like United, a club where dawns are too often false. But after a horribly difficult period and a failed move, it would be brilliant to see Sancho fly again. He’s still only 24.
Read more: Chelsea continue Brighton raid by hiring new scout specialising in wingers
Brentford
There’s nothing to be deflated about losing by a single goal to Manchester City. In terms of results (losing but only by a single goal and scoring), this was the best effort by a non-Big Six team against City in the Premier League since Newcastle’s 3-2 home defeat on 14 January.
But Brentford did not escape without bad news. Mateo Kovacic’s tackle on Yoane Wissa was wild (although a yellow card was the right call) and forced the forward to leave the pitch before half-time. Before the international break we discussed the brilliant partnership between Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo, but that only works while both of them are fit.
“It could be a shorter one or it could be a longer one, I actually have no clue,” Thomas Frank said. “We need to assess him tomorrow. It was a reckless tackle, I thought, from Kovacic, just going through the man, from behind him. I know it’s probably not a red card, but it’s frustrating that it’s led to an injury.”
Isn’t it just. Wissa started 29 league games last season and Mbeumo just 22. With Ivan Toney now gone, Frank knows how important that combination of forwards is to Brentford’s success this season, particularly given Igor Thiago’s extended absence and Kevin Schade and Keane Lewis-Potter still both a little raw.
If Wissa misses two or three weeks, there’s no reason to panic. Brentford are still in the top half and have played the hardest fixture of their league season. But if Wissa is out for a month or more, the weight on Mbeumo’s shoulders grows exponentially and the ceiling on Brentford’s potential lowers by several feet.
Man Utd
For United, there were two overwhelming positives at St Mary’s, a match which flirted – as Erik ten Hag’s side so often do – with grand embarrassment.
One was Marcus Rashford’s first Premier League goal since 9 March, a low curler which appeared to remind the 26-year-old who is he and what he’s capable of.
Through that goal and the ensuing hour, there was an odd sense of a man rediscovering himself and his own talents, each shot and pass and dancing flick slowly regenerating something which has occasionally felt permanently lost. Even he wasn’t sure he could still do that.
United have long been the footballing home of false dawns, but this was the first sighting of confidence or joy from Rashford this season. Nurturing and protecting that is now Ten Hag’s primary challenge.
The other is the early indication a coherent defence is forming at United, something Ten Hag has not had since he joined.
Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martinez and Diogo Dalot complement and enhance each other as a unit. While Tyler Dibling and Ben Brereton Diaz were allowed space early on, Southampton didn’t manage a shot on target in the second half. This was just the second game this quartet have started together. Every time they do so in the future will only develop and improve their relationships and United’s defence.
Last season, injuries forced United to use Casemiro, Jonny Evans, Harry Maguire, Willy Kambwala and Victor Lindelof in various constantly-rotating, anxiety-inducing combinations, removing any opportunity to build functional partnerships and leading to the fifth-worst expected goals conceded figure in the league.
Yet against Southampton, De Ligt completed 92 per cent of his passes (50/64), won three aerial duels and three ground duels and made six clearances, two tackles and blocked a shot off the line, alongside his goal. While his error against Germany earlier this week demonstrates he’s still not at full match sharpness, as Ten Hag has repeatedly made clear, this was imperious and impressive.
And alongside De Ligt, Martinez won all four of his ground duels, made four interceptions and completed 97 per cent of his passes (57/60). Despite conceding the penalty, Dalot went on to make two key passes and one big chance, completing 94 per cent of his passes and four ground duels. Mazraoui continued his remarkably sound start, sharp in tight spaces.
For all the jokes about Ten Hag only being able to recreate his former glories by signing the same players, it’s worth noting De Ligt and Martinez only overlapped in Amsterdam for 17 days in July 2019, so this isn’t so much getting the band back together as assembling the All-Stars.
The defence’s task should also be made much easier once Manuel Ugarte settles in. Every team needs foundational figures to rely upon and for United, that has often only been Bruno Fernandes. A great defence can only be great as a collective. Ten Hag might finally have found the right individuals to forge into that collective. By George Simms
Read more: Rashford treatment from ex-Man Utd players ‘like bullying’, insiders say
Bournemouth
Evanilson is clearly an adept footballer. He does a lot of running, dropping deep and into the channels. He brings others into play and he picks up positions that enable teammates to find him. All of this is relevant.
The Brazilian badly needs a goal. When a club of Bournemouth’s size spends £40m on a striker, and that striker is replacing a prolific Premier League goalscorer, it creates undue focus on how that striker starts. For all the compliments over his general play, Evanilson will be judged on his goal record.
Everybody misses a penalty from time to time; no huge problem in isolation. But Evanilson has played 205 Premier League minutes (of a possible 360), and when you rank every player this season according to their performance vs xG figure, he is bottom of the pile. That’s the difference between Bournemouth being on five points or nine.
Fulham
Fulham deserved three points against West Ham, whether through Raul Jimenez’s goal which gave them a lead for 71 minutes, an apparently clear penalty Adama Traore was denied or Calvin Bassey’s errant open header with the final touch of the match.
There’s a sense Silva has finally built this squad in his own image, albeit crucially without Joao Palhinha. There is still work to be done on Fulham’s midfield balance, with Andreas Pereira solid on Saturday but still not fully comfortable outside the No 10 spot Emile Smith Rowe has rightly been handed.
Pereira is the best set-piece taker at Craven Cottage and a creative force at his best, yet lacks Smith Rowe’s dynamism. Fulham’s goal came through a combination of inspiration and perspiration from the former Arsenal man, rapidly a fan favourite in a team he is making his own. This is a deal which is working out for everyone and could provide Silva with the star power his sides have desperately lacked.
But with Joachim Andersen the best player on the pitch on his first start back in west London, Sander Berge strong off the bench and Smith Rowe coordinating everything, this could prove to be a remarkable summer window. That trio fit naturally into a team which includes one of the league’s best left-backs in Antonee Robinson and an Adama Traore whose final decision making appears to be improving, although he missed multiple good chances on Saturday. Given some of the chaos around clubs competing for European spots, Fulham have an opportunity. By George Simms
Tottenham
Somewhere over the rainbow it’s there, nirvana, the future the Spurs supporters were promised by the appointment of Ange Postecoglou. As Arsenal walked away with the gold for the third successive season in this fixture another, more familiar vision was dawning.
Effing pathetic, was the thrust of it. In word and deportment the fans gave their verdict as they made for the exits without looking back. It is the most “Spursy” of things, despair splayed all over the floor, hope trampled beneath the feet of devotees who have seen and heard it all before.
This was the match that would prove to the themselves and the supporters that Spurs under Postecoglou were a serious team, a club worthy of the magnificent surroundings they inhabit. The poverty of that ambition was exposed in the worst possible way, by a hated rival displaying the very qualities and character they lack.
In boxing they call it the truth test, the point at which pretence meets pedigree. On Saturday in Las Vegas, Mexican totem Saul “Canelo” Alvarez faced Edgar Berlanga, a challenger who saw before him a man for the taking. He reckoned without the substance of Canelo’s chin, the potency of his left hand, and his experience. For Berlanga read Spurs, a team who not so much flunked the test as failed to comprehend it. By Kevin Garside
Read more: Postecoglou is running out of excuses for Tottenham’s pathetic Spursiness
West Ham
Against Fulham, West Ham had just three shots on target and were bailed out by Danny Ings’s second competitive goal since February 2023. They were incoherent and inconsistent and incomplete, 11 men only vaguely aware they’re on the same team.
Michail Antonio, long the benchmark for attacking consistency in east London, didn’t manage a shot or a dribble in his 45 minutes on the pitch, hooked for Crysencio Summerville having lost possession more than once every four minutes.
Antonio has been one of West Ham’s greatest modern players, yet has also never beaten 10 Premier League goals in any season even at his best. He has averaged as many shots per game in 2024-25 as Casemiro and Kyle Walker-Peters. Now 34, this is clearly not his best.
The part-time podcaster was selected in front of Tomas Soucek, one of three defensive midfielders selected in a clear statement of Lopetegui’s intent.
Most teams would find two of Soucek, Edson Alvarez and Guido Rodriguez over-cautious. All three, at Lucas Paqueta’s expense, is so conservative you half expected Jacob Rees-Mogg to turn up on the right wing.
Mohammed Kudus is among the most euphoric footballers in England, capable of doing anything he sets his mind to, a selection box of freewheeling invention matched by brutal power. That he could now be combined with Summerville, Jarrod Bowen, Paqueta and Carlos Soler should be a sumptuous treat, fusion jazz rather than the dirge fans witnessed at Craven Cottage.
That Ings scored a minute from the final whistle risks papering over what was otherwise an exhibition of footballing tepidity against a Fulham side who also weren’t at their best.
While Lopetegui’s record at Sevilla was excellent, both in La Liga and in Europe, his teams have rarely been free-flowing. His Wolves side managed just 28 goals across 27 games and even in Seville he still only averaged 1.45 goals per game.
Over four league matches under Lopetegui, West Ham have managed the second-fewest shots on target per match, only ahead of Ipswich. Their xG is 5.65 – above the four they have actually scored, including a penalty and an own goal. This suggests some level of poor luck, but on the basis of the Fulham performance it is hard not to think they were lucky to score at all.
It’s easy to make gags about replacing David Moyes with his Spanish equivalent, but Moyes’s success and impact was undeniable. Fans tired of defensive football but it was always fairly simple to justify that the occasional frustration and boredom justified the results, until it didn’t.
But more than £150m was spent this summer, undeniably giving West Ham a squad capable of European qualification and, perhaps more pertinently, capable of inspiring overwhelming joy. Unless Lopetegui starts living up to one of those benchmarks sooner rather than later, starts using his supercars as they were intended, he could be doomed before he has really begun. By George Simms
Read more: West Ham are a rally car being driven by a pensioner
Leicester
There was a story in the media last week about reported unrest amongst Leicester City’s players, presumably using a source within the camp. It claimed that Steve Cooper’s methods of giving them freedom to solve problems on the pitch was jarring after Enzo Maresca’s micromanagement. It also claimed that players were “nonplussed” by Cooper asking for input from the players on tactical matters.
You do have to feel for Cooper, whose appointment was viewed as deeply underwhelming by Leicester supporters before he had even been given a chance. He then had to cope with rumours about points deductions and a summer in which Leicester’s transfer activity was delayed and then resulted in them spending around £30m on two gambles, Oliver Skipp and Bilal El Khannouss.
Leicester have actually started the season pretty well, albeit with caveats. They drew against Tottenham at home, lost by a single goal at Fulham and at home to Villa and now have drawn at Crystal Palace. They are outside the bottom three now and there should be wild celebration while that remains the case. They were favourites to finish bottom before the season started.
Cooper’s problem is that he is fighting against a tide of opinion and has a reputation of making defensive substitutions that invite pressure. Rather than the end result being a cause for cheer, a 2-2 draw away at an established Premier League side, throwing away a lead late on gives everything a negative inflexion.
Both of Cooper’s first two substitutions were like for like and made sense. The third, made in the 83rd minute with Palace applying pressure, was to bring on central defender Conor Coady for Jordan Ayew and go to a back five. It worked until Coady made the rash tackle in stoppage time to give Palace a penalty.
In hindsight, Cooper might have done things differently. But then Coady is Leicester’s most experienced Premier League central defender and has rarely been prone to losing his head. The problem: when the perception is that you cede leads, provoked by your own changes, everything is fitted to that narrative.
Crystal Palace
Palace avoided the worst weekend by salvaging a late point against Leicester, and there is clear value in taking points despite positions of adversity. Oliver Glasner isn’t too worried and nor should supporters be yet. But there are several wrinkles within Palace’s early season form:
- 1) Marc Guehi might have stayed, but his form over the first four league games has left a lot to be desired. After the prolonged saga over a potential move to Newcastle United, and a short pre-season after a major tournament summer, that’s largely understandable. But add in the loss of Joachim Andersen and this Palace defensive unit is creaking a bit.
- 2) Glasner loves his full-backs to attack and create overlaps, thus allowing the wide players to tuck in and support the central striker. Daniel Munoz has been a transformative signing on the right, effective both going forward and back. On the left, and despite slightly angry calls for him to be included in England’s squad for the Euros, Tyrick Mitchell doesn’t quite have the same attacking impetus and it is hampering Glasner’s intended style.
- 3) Palace look very vulnerable to the counter-attack. Jamie Vardy was able to get through far too easily and he’s not the only one. I’m not quite sure if this is an issue of defensive line or central midfield pressing – it’s interesting that Jefferson Lerma has only played 79 league minutes so far when he was excellent last season – but it needs solving. And thus, related:
- 4) Palace have conceded first in all four league games this season. They only did that in one of their final eight league games of last season. It sure makes life harder.
Ipswich
It was merely one of myriad factors, but last season in the Premier League the teams towards the bottom struggled with their goalkeeper situation. At Nottingham Forest, who finished fourth bottom, Matt Turner lost his place to emergency January signing Matz Sels. At Burnley, James Trafford was signed before the season for a significant fee but eventually lost his place. At Sheffield United, Wes Foderingham was dropped in January for new signing Ivo Grbic and it changed nothing.
It’s hardly a hot take, but having an excellent goalkeeper really can make the difference between staying up and going down. You inevitably concede more, and higher value, chances than you did in the Championship and the points you take are invariably earned through adversity and through fine margins.
Arijanet Muric earned one of those points on Saturday. Kieran McKenna has often discussed the power of team defending, and clearly that’s right, but sometimes you need the last line of that defence to save your skin. Ipswich bought Muric this summer because they believed that he could be valuable in playing out from the back, but also because he is a magnificent shot stopper.
Wolves
This one will sting Wolves. With Aston Villa, Brentford and Brighton away and both Liverpool and Manchester City visiting Molineux before the end of October, here was an opportunity that became even more golden after the break.
Already 1-0 down, Newcastle lost Alexander Isak to an innocuous nose injury at half-time, and were second-best for large parts of the second half.
However, Wolves huffed and puffed but could not blow Newcastle over, and the hosts were left wounded when two long-range goals went against them.
Positives therefore mean little when points have been lost, but Gary O’Neil can watch this back and draw on plenty of them.
Jorgen Strand Larsen warmed to the task, bullying Dan Burn for Wolves’ opening goal and developing an understanding with Mario Lemina that could have stretched their advantage further.
Lemina was the bright spark in a more advanced role, and while you could have thrown a blanket over Andre and Joao Gomes for most of the match, their combative partnership looks set to give their captain greater space in attack.
It was all working until Newcastle’s bolts from the blue, and the task for O’Neil will be to build around this midfield trio, and ensure Rayan Ait-Nouri can become the flying full-back required in such scenarios, with Wolves overly reliant on Nelson Semedo and generally attacking from the right-hand side.
Symmetry would lead to greater balance, but as the wait for a win goes on, Wolves will feel shaken by this defeat, and could be left more unstable in the weeks to come. By Michael Hincks
Southampton
And now we panic. It’s not so much that Southampton were poor against Manchester United – although after Cameron Archer missed a penalty in the 33rd minute they really were – but the manner in which they were poor.
In the second half, Russell Martin’s side completely lost all sense of poise or purpose, even losing control of possession and finishing a game with less than 50 per cent possession (43) for the first time this Premier League season. They didn’t manage a shot on target despite being 2-0 down. If this is what Martin selling out his principles look like, he should just stick to them and deal with the consequences.
It’s also worth saying that blame for Archer missing the first spot-kick he’d taken in a professional match has to fall as much on Stuart Attwell for making him wait nearly a minute to take it, and on Martin for putting someone so inexperienced under such great pressure. When Ben Brereton Diaz was stood idle having scored all seven of his senior penalties, this was the sort of mistake Southampton simply can’t afford to make, a goal which would have allowed them to continue asserting their dominance but became a miss which sucked out their soul. They then went on to concede two short corners, following on from a long throw against Brentford. These weren’t defensive mistakes but they need to keep an eye on set pieces.
But within all this, Tyler Dibling deserves huge respect for a wonderfully direct and fearless debut, for 35 minutes making Diogo Dalot look like the 18-year-old. He won the penalty and created Southampton’s best open-play chance on seven minutes single-handedly. Supported by Yukinari Sugawara, already proving an excellent signing, this could be an excellent relationship down the right. By George Simms
Everton
When you’ve witnessed a game’s worth of emotions inside 36 minutes, there can only be one answer for it: Everton Football Club.
The side that lost from 2-0 up after 87 minutes before the international break were once more entertaining the neutral after it, taking a two-goal lead at Villa Park with just 19.1 per cent of the ball.
And then came the fall. Not as dramatic as it had been against Bournemouth, but more drawn out, as Aston Villa’s continued dominance eventually resulted in victory thanks to Ollie Watkins’ double and Jhon Duran’s thunderbolt – the wildest of all 17 attempts from the home side.
It was a remarkable winner, except it very nearly wasn’t, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin – who was impressive in his hold-up play and proved a handful for Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa – smashing the bar just moments later, having already headed in Everton’s second in the first half.
Calvert-Lewin, who also scored against Bournemouth, arguably should have done better there, while he will certainly be ruing an earlier one-on-one, when 2-1 up in the second half, that resulted in Konsa somehow getting back in time to divert the ball wide.
For all the positives of his play, here was a gilt-edged chance, and while Everton have greater problems, this was the moment that could have put the game to bed, and Sean Dyche knew it, too, referencing the opportunity on a couple of occasions and bemoaning their lack of fortune given they lost to a “worldie”.
“The biggest moment of the game, you’re thinking we’re going 3-1 up, we didn’t,” Dyche said.
“We’re making high-quality chances. At the minute, we’ve got to score as many as it takes to win a game. That’s been a challenge since I’ve been at the club. We can’t keep leaking goals like that.” By Michael Hincks
Read more: Calvert-Lewin miss sums up Everton’s dreadful start to the season
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