United return to factory settings, McKenna tutored at the Etihad

By Esosa Osa

The weekend results produced a sense of predictability as five of the traditional top six teams were victorious, all the newly promoted teams fell to defeat and Erling Haaland bagged a hat-trick, no new thing.

United’s trip to Brighton served as the curtain-raiser at the weekend. It was a bitter afternoon for Erik Ten Hag as a late goal from Joao Pedro cast fresh doubts for the Dutchman. Former Red Devil, Danny Welbeck opened the scoring for his 100th career goal. United levelled things 15 minutes into the second half but in the 95th minute, Joao Pedro found himself in arches of space after poor marking by the visitors to head home.

The Red side of Manchester continues to lack firepower in front of goal, a defence with not much to smile about and the transfer window almost shut. New season, same United.

Sammie Szmodics set the away end on fire after completing a brilliant team move to hand Ipswich the lead against City. Minutes later, Ipswich received a warm welcome to the Premier League. Savinho won a penalty which was easily dispatched by Erling Haaland 12 minutes into the match. Barely two minutes later, Savinho nicked the ball off Ipswich Goalkeeper, Muric to hand Kevin De Bruyne the easiest of goals and by the 16th minute, City cemented things after Haaland got on the end of a De Bruyne through ball. The rest they say is history.

The second half saw the return of Ilkay Gundogan and another Haaland hat-trick to finish things off. Ange Postecoglou compounded Sean Dyche’s woes with a 4-0 demolition. A brace by Heung-min Son, a Yves Bissouma cracking first Spurs goal and Cristian Romero’s header earned Everton a reintroduction into relegation contention, which is becoming second nature to the Merseyside team.

Emile Smith Rowe grabbed the headlines after opening his account on his Fulham home debut. Leicester City produced some good moments and equalised before the break after Wout Faes leapt high to meet Buonanotte’s corner. Fulham dominated proceedings and in the 70th minute, Antonee Robinson’s pass dissected Leicester’s defence to meet Alex Iwobi who made no mistake from close range to win 2-1.

Julen Lopetegui earned his first win as West Ham boss away at Selhurst Park. Skipper Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek grabbed the three points with two quick-fire goals that left Crystal Palace frustrated.

Forest advanced with three valuable points on the road against Southampton with a lone goal by Morgan Gibbs-White. Although, they should have scored more, four points to start the campaign is well welcomed.

Mikel Arteta headed to Villa Park with one thing on his mind, revenge. Aston Villa were the only team to do the double against the Gunners last season as they finished just two points behind Champions, City. This season, they got their revenge.

The first half was a cagey affair as both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances but a golden opportunity fell to Ollie Watkins who fired wide. Villa were the better team on and off the ball and in the 53rd minute, David Raya pulled off what could potentially be the save of the season. Amadou Onana’s deflected shot hit the bar, and the rebound fell to Watkins with Raya grounded, but he got up in time to deny the Englishman from close range.

Substitute Leandro Trossard fired home the opener after a failed clearance and Thomas Partey’s curler completed the revenge mission.

Newcastle were lucky to leave the Vitality Stadium with a point on Sunday afternoon after Dango Ouattara’s stoppage-time winner was judged handball. A controversial decision as the ball looked to have hit his shoulder. Anthony Gordon who had a brilliant game cancelled out Marcus Tavernier’s opener before added time drama.

In what was the most entertaining match thus far. Chelsea ran out with a 6-2 victory over Wolves but it was not as easy as the scoreline suggests. Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring two minutes in, heading from the back post. Matheus Cunha equalised after an exceptional run by Rayan Aït-Nouri.

Wolves produced brighter moments but went behind after a deadly team goal started by Robert Sanchez and chipped over Jose Sa by ‘Cold’ Palmer as he’s known, in seconds. The Chelsea defence was caught off guard again as Jørgen Strand Larsen completed a great set-piece move in added time of first half to equal matters.

The second half was all Chelsea as Noni Madueke who got himself in the bad books of the visitors after accidentally posting on Instagram that Wolverhampton is a bad place, scored a hat-trick. All very similar goals, assisted by Palmer. Re-signed Joao Felix rounded off the scoring to hand Enzo Maresca his first PL win.

Liverpool closed the weekend with a routine 2-0 win against Brentford, in Arne Slot’s first home game in charge. Luis Diaz got things rolling with a blistering counter-attack. The pass by Diogo Jota, movement and finish from Diaz was timed to perfection. Brentford grew into the game and after the interval, Nathan Collins forced a superb save from Alisson. Mark Flekken also pulled off two huge saves to deny Andy Robertson and Diaz.

In the 70th minute, Mo Salah did what he does best to secure the three points. From then on, it was cruise control for Arne Slot’s men. All eyes are now on Liverpool’s visit to Old Trafford this weekend.