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Newcastle vs Arsenal might be the best Premier League fixture for the neutral these days and its late drama evaporated any talk of Liverpool having a free walk at the title, Gabriel’s header sparking jubilation one mile up in the Geordie sky where Gunners fans celebrated.
Crystal Palace were the other big winners of this weekend, magnificent and monstrous in their win over the champions to sit third in the table. Sunderland come next because they are defensively resilient and won away.
At the bottom, Aston Villa kickstarted their season, Nottingham Forest lost again and Wolves finally got their first point. If the promoted clubs keep winning, relegation is going to actually be interesting in 2025-26.
Here is one piece of analysis on each of the top flight clubs who played this weekend (in reverse table order)…
This weekend’s results
- Brentford 3-1 Man Utd
- Chelsea 1-3 Brighton
- Crystal Palace 2-1 Liverpool
- Leeds 2-2 Bournemouth
- Man City 5-1 Burnley
- Nott’m Forest 0-1 Sunderland
- Tottenham 1-1 Wolves
- Aston Villa 3-1 Fulham
- Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal
Familiarity breeds contempt at Wolves
“The difference is now we are working together,” Vitor Pereira said after Wolves’ best performance of their league season so far. “Before, we didn’t have time to work together. Now, everybody knows what we want, we can play in different systems.”
That is obviously true, but it was also interesting to see how Pereira has rolled back time a little to spark this improvement. Last weekend against Leeds, Wolves’ 10 outfield starters included six players (Emmanuel Agbadou, Yerson Mosquera, Jackson Tchatchoua, Ladislav Krejci, Fer Lopez, Tolu Arokodare) who were not at the club a year ago.
Santiago Bueno is in the perfect place to stab the ball home for his first Wolves goal!
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 27, 2025pic.twitter.com/GYLeCEdojq
Against Tottenham, the seven most defensive players who started for Wolves were all there a year ago bar Krejci. Cue a great deal more defensive organisation and a first point of the season.
West Ham
Play Everton on Monday night.
It’s not all bad news for Burnley
Let’s not worry about the result: over the last 11 meetings between Burnley and Manchester City at the Etihad, Burnley have lost all 11 and conceded goals at a rate of more than four per game. These are the established chasms in the Premier League.
So instead let’s give some love to Jaidon Anthony. Burnley’s top remaining goalscorer from last season was handed a huge amount of responsibility to carry the team’s attacking threat.
We are six games into the new season and Anthony has already surpassed his highest goals total in a Premier League season (three) and is a counter-attacking threat far beyond any of his teammates. Burnley have the second top scorer in the division – fun!
Nottingham Forest are in a relegation battle
Don’t let anybody tell you that Nottingham Forest aren’t in a relegation battle. They have not won since the opening day and that now feels like a different era after their inability to take chances against Sunderland.
The problem is this: Forest were excellent last season at keeping clean sheets and being efficient in the final third; now they can’t keep clean sheets and have become frustratingly inefficient in the opposition penalty area.
The style has changed completely, but Forest have never been competent with possession. Of the 26 times they have had more than 50 per cent possession since promotion, they have only won four times. Their possession figure on Saturday (64.9 per cent) was their highest since promotion, beating last weekend’s record. From those two games they have taken a single point against promoted sides. Problems.
Aston Villa’s season is up and running
As Aston Villa’s players ran out onto the pitch at Villa Park on Sunday, Elton John’s I’m Still Standing blared out over the PA system, an unsubtle message that the events of the last month had not changed the ambition or potential of this team. Over the next two hours, Villa’s players proved it.
A goal down and with Tyrone Mings injured, things looked bleak. But then Ollie Watkins scored his first goal of the season, Emi Buendia became the first half-time substitute in Premier League history to score and assist within 10 minutes of coming on and Villa’s full-backs finally played with verve to supplement the attack.
TWO goals in TWO minutes for Aston Villa!
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 28, 2025pic.twitter.com/XUHH5KbYHy
This was the first time that Villa have come from behind to win a league game since February, a result that sparked a run of eight wins in nine games. Unai Emery’s team are up and running again.
Newcastle pay an emotional price
On 80 minutes, I jotted down on a notepad that Nick Pope had been the best player in the match. The lingering threat of Aaron Ramsdale had been firmly extinguished by the then best defence in the Premier League and Pope’s magnificence with three fine diving saves.
And then Pope erred. With Mikel Arteta urging his side forward and Eddie Howe pleading for calm, Pope gathered a ball and attempted a high-risk through pass to Anthony Elanga that fell short by roughly thirty yards. Arsenal regained possession and immediately won a corner, from which they scored the winner. Howe looked distraught and angry on the touchline.
Man Utd’s lack of aggression sets the tone
We are surely entering the end game. Erik ten Hag was almost sacked (and should have been sacked) after finishing eighth in the league. So here is a fun fact: Manchester United have never been in the top eight under Ruben Amorim. He has had 10 months, been backed and everything has got worse. That is a sackable offence now.
The pathetic performance level on a consistent basis is summed up best by how United start their games. Last season, they ranked 18th in the Premier League for their first-half performance, leading only five of their 38 matches at half-time and scoring more first-half goals than only Southampton and Leicester City.
That pattern has dogged Amorim throughout and it suggests that his players are not comfortable in what they are doing and how they are being set up. Since his first game in charge, no Premier League team has conceded the first goal in more matches than Manchester United (21 times).
Read more: The photo that sums up Amorim’s latest Man Utd humiliation
Brentford show long balls can work
Last season, with Thomas Frank liking his team to play on the counter and with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa at the club, Brentford were really good at creating chances from longer, direct balls. Only two teams completed more passes of 30 yards or more – Everton and Bournemouth.
Bruno Fernandes is denied from the spot by Caoimhin Kelleher to keep Brentford in the lead
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 27, 2025
@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/AsW0ewPSnC
Keith Andrews has tried to change that style; Brentford only rank 10th for that long pass statistic. But in each of their last two home games, Brentford have taken the lead through Jordan Henderson playing a long pass from his own half to a striker running onto the ball. Kevin Schade and Igor Thiago are not as good as Mbeumo and Wissa, but this can still work the same.
Everton
Play West Ham on Monday night.
Why Longstaff is a game-changer for Leeds
Firstly, bear in mind that Sean Longstaff has only started four of Leeds’ six league games so far. Secondly, I am happy to accept that he is being included here largely because he scored one goal and assisted another against Bournemouth.
But it is Longstaff’s energy in midfield that makes him a potential game-changer for Daniel Farke. He ranks second in the Premier League (behind Tyrick Mitchell) for tackles won and top for tackles in the midfield third of the pitch.
He is also the highest contributor at Leeds for shot-creating actions (pass, shot or dribble leading to a shot). Find yourself a midfielder who can do the lot (at an excellent price).
Brighton have hit the jackpot with Minteh
Yakuba Minteh was excellent in flashes last season – 10 league goals and assists was a fine return – but he also looked very raw. Understandable after joining from Newcastle and having played his football in Denmark and Netherlands.
So far in 2025-26, he has arguably been the best young player in the league. Last week he rounded Guglielmo Vicario to score; this week he produced an exquisite cross with his left foot for Danny Welbeck’s equaliser.
But what I liked most – and Fabian Hurzeler probably thinks the same – is how he hounded Chelsea defenders to help create the third goal. That intense pressing is so key to Brighton’s system working and Minteh has so much energy (even in the final minutes of a match he started).
Fulham suffer for King’s reputation
It is impossible to know if Josh King would have been booked for simulation if he hadn’t been rightly punished for the same offence last week. Being known as a diver is a non-ideal reputation for any player because it definitely sticks in the mind of officials.
He might also have got a penalty had he not gone down early, for Emi Martinez certainly caught him and didn’t get anywhere near the ball. But by clearly heading for ground a full half second before the contact came, the slow-motion replays made it clear that King was trying to win a penalty and as such the decision was understandable (and probably correct).
Marco Silva should have a quiet word, because it detracts from a fine start to his Premier League career.
Chelsea’s game management is desperate
One of the advantages of having a deep squad (after a massive spend) is that your manager should be capable of changing the game from the bench. Last season, Chelsea’s 140 substitutes were involved in 12 goals, fewer than Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa around them.
This season, that has got worse; Enzo Maresca is actively making Chelsea worse with his changes. You can point to brainless decision-making for their two red cards in their last two games, but Maresca took off Estevao and Pedro Neto against Manchester United and lost any counter-attacking threat.
So what happened this week? He took off an attacker and a midfielder for two defenders, sat deep with less of a counter-attacking threat, conceded an equaliser, brought off one of the two remaining attacking players left on the pitch for another defensive player and then conceded twice more.
Man City’s new creator-in-chief
Moving on Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish in the same summer created an opening for a new creative force at Manchester City and Jeremy Doku has stepped into that breach. He is already halfway towards matching his assist total in the Premier League last season.
You can see the impact with your eyes – confidence, end product, building of relationship with Erling Haaland – but the numbers detail it too. Last season, Doku took on a man 201 times and only 13 of them directly led to a chance being created. He is almost halfway towards that chance-after-take-on figure and we have played six games (and Doku has only started four of them).
Bournemouth rediscover a rare old habit
This was the Premier League weekend of late goals. On Saturday there were eight goals scored in the 90th minute or later, a competition record for a single day.
For Bournemouth, a rare one and a precious one. In the first half of last season, Andoni Iraola’s side had a useful habit of taking points in second-half stoppage time: two against Everton to turn defeat into win, defeat into draw against Aston Villa and West Ham, draw into win against Ipswich.
That Ipswich goal on 8 December 2024 was the last time that Bournemouth had changed the game in stoppage time. A handy time to end a 10-month drought.
Sunderland’s defence is overperforming brilliantly
The adage will always remain true: a fine defence is more likely to keep you up as a promoted club than a prolific attack. So there was some understandable uncertainty at Sunderland with their new personnel. Of their seven most defensive personnel to start against Forest on Saturday, six were summer signings.
Omar Alderete's goal proves the difference as Sunderland take all three points!
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 27, 2025pic.twitter.com/9Tre2sY21p
But who cares eh? Sunderland rank second in the division for clearances, first for blocking crosses into the box, third for the saves made by their goalkeeper and second for winning aerial duels. They are in the top six because they have conceded four goals and because Regis Le Bris has organised this new defence magnificently.
Tottenham’s open-play chance creation is a problem
Nobody is going to panic when Tottenham are third in the league, but their attack is absolutely not firing at the moment. Having created lots of chances against Burnley on the opening weekend, Thomas Frank’s team haven’t managed more than 1.3xG in a league or European game since.
This is largely the result of unfamiliarity (over their last four league games, Spurs have started four different front threes, three different midfield combinations and three different full-backs combinations), but the point still stands.
From their last five matches in Europe and the league (Wolves, West Ham, Bournemouth, Villarreal and Brighton), Tottenham have a combined open play xG of just 2.88. Worth keeping an eye on.
Crystal Palace deserve all the praise in the world
There is a tendency to focus on the failure of the humbled elite club in these situations, but stuff that. Crystal Palace are on an 18-game unbeaten run (and can equal their club record in midweek) and in that time have played Liverpool (three times), Chelsea, Aston Villa (twice), Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City. They are legitimately brilliant.
Oliver Glasner has everything right. The system fits the players at his disposal. He is an inspirational motivator without resorting to chest-beating passion. He asks those players to press high and play quickly but is also a majestic defensive organiser. They are capable of swarming over any team when they get their tails up.
Also, Palace supporters have every right to feel aggrieved by being demoted to the Conference League. But the comparatively gentle fixtures should allow a fine European journey and enable them to reserve energy for what might be a magical league season. Glad all over? Try joyous.
Read more: Do we need to start talking about Crystal Palace as title contenders?
Finally we see Arsenal force the issue
With 12 minutes of normal time left, Gary Neville on Sky Sports said that Arsenal had to show that “they could win a game like this”. Given that they were trailing 1-0, I thought it a bizarrely hasty thing to say; concentrate on getting a point first. It turns out – spoiler alert – that Neville knows more about football than me.
This may only be a win in the context of one afternoon, but it sure didn’t feel like it at full-time. We finally saw Arsenal chase a game in hell-for-leather fashion rather than the precise sideways passes and the wait-for-a-lapse-in-concentration strategy. And when you try to cause chaos, chaos usually happens.
This is the Arsenal that can win the league, I’m sure of it. Not the one that tries to play pretty and precise but the one that plays on the edge and takes risks to make things happen. It’s also roughly 45 times more fun to watch.
Read more: How Mikel Arteta conquered his final boss at Arsenal
How Liverpool can get the best out of Wirtz
The good news is that Florian Wirtz has created 10 chances, ranking him 11th in the Premier League and second at Liverpool. The bad news is pretty much everything else. Arne Slot brought Wirtz back into the league team and changed his formation to a 4-2-2-2, presumably to try to get Wirtz on the ball more. It didn’t really work and Slot changed it at half-time.
In the Bundesliga, Wirtz was repeatedly able to receive the ball, turn and either drive forward or play quick, probing passes. We just aren’t seeing that so far. Whether it is a result of his own acclimatisation or Liverpool’s own style, Wirtz isn’t receiving the ball in space and thus is left playing safe passes or being stymied completely by a close marker.
Wirtz has played five completed passes into the penalty area in the league and has yet to register a goal or assist in eight games in all competitions. The breakout looks a way off yet.
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