As we head into game week four, let us take a look back into the last three weekends of the top flight of English football.
Gameweek 1: New Manchester United man Joshua Zirkzee opens the tally
Friday night football started with a bang, as Manchester United took to the top of the table. Summer signing Joshua Zirkzee made the headlines, as his 87th-minute goal saw them triumph over Fulham at Old Trafford.
The Arne Slot era began as Liverpool were off to winning ways in the Saturday midday clash between themselves and newly promoted Ipswich Town.
Arsenal showed their title-winning capabilities in the opener. They were victorious at the Emirates with a 2-0 scoreline over Wolves. The bookies have the Gunners at 2/1 to win this year’s desired title.
The youngest permanent head coach of a side started strongly with Brighton & Hove Albion. Fabian Hürzeler, 31 years old, led them to their first win with a comfortable three goals to one against Everton. A controversial red card for the Toffees’ Ashley Young following a shirt pull saw the home team with 10 men for the majority of the second half.
Red was seen again at St James’ Park for Fabian Schär in Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Southampton.
A goal apiece was the end result in the head-to-head between Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth. Antoine Semenyo’s late equaliser saw the visiting side put a point on the board.
West Ham faced Aston Villa to wrap up Saturday’s fixtures. Amadou Onana’s debut goal and Jhon Duran’s cool finish saw them conquer on the road. The Hammers failed to get off to a winning start under new boss Julen Lopetegui.
Ivan Toney’s absence from the Brentford squad didn’t phase them on the Sunday. Although Ethan Pinnock put it in the home side’s net, goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa were enough to beat Crystal Palace. Controversy came from VAR as Eberechi Eze’s quick freekick was disallowed due to a foul in the box.
Stamford Bridge welcomed the reigning champions Manchester City who made it 2-0 before the final whistle.
Leicester City bounced back to the Premier League with a strong result in front of the home fans. Ange Postecoglu’s men took the lead but couldn’t hold on. Jamie Vardy made it one goal apiece as game one came to a close.
Gameweek 2: Hat-trick Haaland comes out to play
Young boss Hürzeler made it two wins from two as a late header at the back post from João Pedro saw the Eagles gain three points against Manchester United.
Lopetegui marked his first win as West Ham United head coach by winning 2-0 against Palace. First-goal celebrations quickly came to a close, as a collapsed advertisement board led to an incident with a ball boy, which was solved quickly with Jarrod Bowen’s help.
Fulham snatched the three points from newcomers Leicester City. Emile Smith-Rowe, with an important first goal for the club, helped towards their 2-1 victory.
Sammie Szmodics caused shock early as he took the lead for Ipswich at the Etihad Stadium. However, they couldn’t hold on for long as Erling Haaland became a hat-trick hero in blue.
Forest made the trip down to the south coast and went home smiling as Morgan Gibbs-White’s finish was enough for them at St Mary’s.
Sean Dyche’s Toffees continued their poor form in the second gameweek with a brutal 4-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur. This was the seventh goal conceded in two games, with key man Jarrad Branthwaite still out of the squad due to injury.
On the contrary, Mikel Arteta’s men struck again as they dominated play in the midlands. Aston Villa could not do enough to stop the visitors and conceded two. Super substitute Leandro Trossard scored the first to put the Gunners on track.
More VAR controversy came on the Sunday as Bournemouth were disallowed of a goal in their face-off against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United. The result concluding at 1-1.
Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer created a wonderful link-up down in Wolverhampton as Chelsea scored a massive six goals to the home side’s two. The newly England debutant became the second man to score three in a game this season.
Anfield’s opener saw Arne Slot make a name for himself. Another comfortable 2-0 win for Liverpool against a travelling Brentford.
Gameweek 3: Erling Haaland strikes again
Our most recent gameweek started off with drama, as Declan Rice saw red. Arsenal faced Brighton where one couldn’t do enough to bring home the three points. Rice portrayed his fury on social media.
The Bees continued their impressive start to the season, making it two wins in three against Southampton. Russel Martin’s side has struggled in the top division so far.
Everton was comfortably in the lead at Goodison Park until the 86th minute, when it all went horribly for the home side. An energised and ambitious Bournemouth found one back, which led to more and more. By the 94th minute of play, the visiting side were 3-2 up, to the horror of the Toffees’ supporters.
Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich put their first point on the board as they drew 1-1 with Fulham. Liam Delap scored their first goal in the Premier League for 22 years.
Jhon Duran scored the winner again on Villa’s trip to the King Power Stadium. Leicester getting one in front of the home fans but didn’t keep hold of Unai Emery’s attack force in time.
After a poor start, Wolves managed to get off the mark. A wonderful strike from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was the equaliser seeing them draw with Nottingham Forest.
Erling Haaland kept the headlines in his name as he scored a second hat-trick against West Ham who suffered a 3-1 loss due to the Norwegian’s brilliance. Since joining the club in 2022, he now has eight Premier League hat-tricks, four behind the all-time top scorer Alan Shearer.
Crystal Palace collected their first point after a poor start to the season against Chelsea.
Newcastle continued their unbeaten start to the season with an emphatic 2-1 victory over Spurs.
Old Trafford saw Liverpool dominate on Sunday afternoon as Arne Slot’s men made it three from three with a 3-0 win. Mohamed Salah continued his excellent form with two assists and a goal to his name in this one, alongside a hungry Luis Díaz, who netted a brace. Arne Slot spoke to the media post-match and commented on Erik Ten Hag’s tactical errors.
So, what have we learned?
In brief terms, it is clear that Arne Slot’s Liverpool are a force to be reckoned with right now. The Dutch boss has taken to the side very well in his opening three games, scoring seven and yet to concede. Slot has dominated play and appears to be using the talent the Merseyside squad has to offer extremely well. They go into their upcoming fixtures with confidence and as favourites to be successful.
Erling Haaland is undeniably one of the greatest finishers in the world and this seems to be continuing into his third season for Manchester City. Problems are still ongoing for the red side of Manchester as Erik Ten Hag is aiming to find the solution.
Arsenal certainly looks like a dominant side so far this season. Mikel Arteta will be looking to continue this positive form into the next two challenging fixtures against Spurs and Man City.
Many Everton fans are crying for change as their struggles are yet to stop.
One thing we viewers have all definitely learned is that we are in for a very entertaining watch this season, which will see the best of the best battle it out at the top and another inevitable relegation scrap as the plot thickens.
