Nine Premier League matches across Saturday and Sunday left the table looking rather different by Sunday evening than it did at kick off on Saturday afternoon. Manchester City’s win at Anfield was the result that mattered most, but it was far from the only story worth telling from a weekend that produced goals, a red card, a managerial homecoming gone wrong and no shortage of late drama.
City Punish Ten Man Liverpool
The headline action came last, as it so often does on a Sunday evening. Liverpool and Manchester City were goalless and evenly matched at Anfield until Ryan Gravenberch was shown a second yellow card in the 62nd minute for a trip on Doku, reducing Andoni Iraola’s side to ten men at the worst possible moment. City needed barely a quarter of an hour to make it count. Haaland opened the scoring in the 65th minute, Doku doubled the lead three minutes later, and Rayan Cherki completed the win in the 78th after a flowing move that cut Liverpool open one final time.
Iraola was unhappy with the dismissal afterwards, describing the first yellow card as “just a kick in the toe” and insisting “it was nothing” and “a normal foul.” He was warmer about his players’ overall performance, saying he was “very proud” of a Liverpool side that had been competitive for an hour before the sending off changed the complexion of the match entirely. It was his first Premier League defeat since taking charge at Anfield, and it leaves Liverpool on nine points, with Gravenberch now suspended for next weekend’s trip to Brentford.
For City, it was a sixth straight league win to open the season and takes them to 18 points, three clear at the top of the table. There is no triumphant story to tell here beyond the result itself. City remain under the shadow of their ongoing appeal against the Premier League’s guilty verdict, with a decision from the independent appeal board not expected until early next year, and that context has not gone away simply because the results keep coming.
Arsenal’s Night at the Top Was Short Lived
Arsenal’s comeback win over Leeds United on Saturday, driven by second half goals from Riccardo Calafiori and Bruno Guimaraes, had briefly moved Mikel Arteta’s side level on points with City heading into the weekend’s final fixture. That spell at the summit lasted less than a day. City’s win at Anfield has reopened a three point gap at the top, with Arsenal second and the Emirates faithful left to reflect on just how costly their own missed chances against Leeds, almost all before the late turnaround, might yet prove across a long season.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Chelsea’s attacking form under Xabi Alonso showed no sign of slowing down. Jordan Henderson and Joao Pedro both scored twice in a 5-1 win over Bournemouth, with Morgan Rogers also on the scoresheet, though Evanilson’s reply for the visitors means Chelsea’s long wait for a Premier League clean sheet goes on regardless of the scoreline. Manchester United and Tottenham played out a tense 1-1 draw at Old Trafford that will have done little to ease the pressure on either Michael Carrick or Roberto De Zerbi, with a point apiece leaving both managers facing familiar questions heading into the next international break.
Goals Across the Rest of the Division
Sunday’s early kick offs were no less eventful. Oliver Glasner made his first return to Selhurst Park since leaving Crystal Palace for Nottingham Forest, and it will be one to forget. Dan Ndoye gave Forest an early lead inside three minutes, but Palace responded before half time through Daichi Kamada and a stoppage time Jefferson Lerma goal, before Yeremy Pino made it 3-1 shortly after the hour. Forest had the better of the chances across the afternoon, missing several good opportunities to extend their own lead, but could not find a way back.
Hull City and Everton shared four goals in a match that swung twice in the second half. Joe Gelhardt put Hull ahead shortly after the break following a mistake at the back from Everton, only for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to level and Thierno Barry to put the visitors in front soon after. Substitute Bachir Belloumi rescued a point for Hull late on, continuing Everton’s unbeaten start to the season even as their manager admitted afterwards that his side should have won comfortably given the chances created.
The rest of Saturday’s fixtures produced goals too, if less drama. Aston Villa and Brentford shared the points in a 2-2 draw, while Ipswich Town edged past Fulham 2-1 at Portman Road. Sunderland’s difficult start to life back in the Premier League continued with a 0-2 home defeat to Brighton, who remain firmly in the mix in the upper reaches of the table.
What’s Left to Play
The gameweek is not quite finished. Coventry City host Newcastle United on Monday night to close things out, with both sides looking to build on starts that have left them needing better results rather than worse ones. Whatever happens at the CBS Arena, this weekend’s story belongs to Manchester City, who head into the next international break three points clear at the top, and to Liverpool, who now have some thinking to do before they face Brentford with Gravenberch unavailable.
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