This weekend’s Premier League action was a day for the forwards in both a good and bad sense. Chelsea’s Noni Madueke and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scored hattricks while Heung Min-Son filled in for Dominic Solanke by netting a brace to see Tottenham Hotspur past Everton. Not every striker was impressive as Manchester United saw a goal ruled out due to an accidental touch from Joshua Zirkzee while Marcus Rashford went missing again.
Let’s take a look at what has gone on in the Premier League so far this weekend.
Premier League scores and schedule
Saturday, Aug. 24
Brighton 2, Manchester United 1
Tottenham 4, Everton 0
Crystal Palace 0, West Ham United 2
Southampton 0, Nottingham Forest 1
Fulham 2, Leicester City 1
Manchester City 4, Ipswich Town 1
Aston Villa 0, Arsenal 2
Sunday, Aug. 25
Bournemouth 1, Newcastle United 1
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Chelsea 6
Liverpool 2, Brentford 0
Liverpool cruise to victory
New Liverpool manager Arne Slot made it two wins out of two to start his tenure at the club on Sunday, beating Brentford 2-0 in a fairly modest outing. The Reds were dominant from start to finish and scored the goals to back it up, courtesy of Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah.
The game symbolized continuity in some ways as Slot made his Anfield debut a few short months after Jugen Klopp called time on nearly nine-year stay at Liverpool — the team was in full control of the game, while Salah and Diaz remain the reliable goalscorers they have long been. Yet, it was hard not to note the differences between Klopp and Slot as a new era begins at Liverpool. Klopp famously branded his style of play as “heavy metal,” so some may have expected more goals from the Reds on a day like this one. It appears Slot preaches a more restrained approach, but not necessarily a less effective one — Liverpool posted a 92% passing accuracy against Brentford, their best figure in a Premier League game since the 2003-04 season.
Palmer, Madueke excel for Chelsea
Chelsea’s second half dominance ensured they would pick up a 6-2 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday when Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke were the standout players in their team’s first Premier League win of the season.
The Blues got off to a strong start with Nicolas Jackson’s second-minute goal, but they traded goals with Wolves and entered the break 2-2 with the hosts. Palmer’s stunning 45th-minute goal, though, merely teased his strong second-half showing in which he assisted each of Madueke’s three second-half goals. Madueke completed his first hat trick for the club in 14 minutes, while Chelsea found other ways to off their new look with a sixth goal in the 80th minute. Joao Felix scored in his first game since returning to the club, while fellow new signing Pedro Neto got the assist against his former club.
The result marks a positive end to a somewhat chaotic week at Chelsea, which was dominated by the oversized roster the team still has. New manager Enzo Maresca spent a midweek press conference insisting the team is not a “mess” while admitting that a large chunk of Chlesea’s 44-player roster have been told not to train with the first team. Sunday’s win will offer a little bit of validation for the club’s vision even if they have a lot of work to do before the transfer window closes on Friday.
Erling Haaland shows Ipswich the big leagues
Seven minutes in there was nothing but euphoria for the Tractor Boys as Ipswich Town got an opening goal via Sammie Szmodics but it all went downhill from there. Haaland found a goal of his own in the 12th minute from the penalty spot before then quickly scoring another in the 16th minute of play. He also wouldn’t be denied his hat trick as he scored again in the 88th minute turning an xG of 1.63 into three goals on the day. As usual, Haaland didn’t touch the ball much, only taking 22 touches, but when he shot seven times from that, the damage was done.
A Championship team has rarely witnessed a player even remotely close to Haaland’s caliber and it showed in the match. The Tractor boys, freshly promoted, only took one shot and Manuel Akanji plus Ruben Dias completed more passes than the entire Ipswich team attempted. Keiran McKenna won’t feel too down after failing to win against Liverpool and Manchester City to kick off the Premier League season but City can’t have gotten things off to a much better start.
Two matches, six points, six goals and only one conceded. Goal difference could mean something when everything is said and done so City need to be ruthless when they go ahead in matches and they did just that on Saturday. With Ilkay Gundogan returning, City are marching toward yet another Premier League title and the only thing that can stop them is themselves.
Savinho got a brace of assists, Rico Lewis is coming into his own and Haaland is a destroyer of worlds. It’s early but the signs are there for City being back to a machine in league play.
Manchester United has a Marcus Rashford problem
There are two Manchester United’s under Erik ten Hag. One with a Marcus Rashford who can score more than 15 Premier League goals and this current iteration of the Red Devils. The makings of a dynamic attack are there with Bruno Fernandes making things happen, Alejandro Garnacho coming into his own and Zirkzee have been unpredictable in the early going but Rashford’s inclusion in the lineup is causing imbalance. Amad Diallo has potential on the right side of midfield and Garnacho can play both sides so unlike in previous seasons, ten Hag does have options.
In Manchester United’s loss to Brighton, Rashford was anonymous in the 65 minutes that he played taking one shot and failing to create a chance. With rising expectations on the Red Devils with transfers like Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt joining, something needs to be done about the balance in attack.
Defensively, United have improved and if they can get the signing of Manuel Ugarte across the line, it helps deal with the issue of Casemiro’s legs but time isn’t on Ten Hag’s side. He has to figure out the left wing quickly. Only then can they truly compete consistently.
