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This weekend’s Premier League action was a day for the forwards, for both good and bad. Chelsea’s Noni Madueke and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scored hat-tricks, while Heung Min-Son filled in for Dominic Solanke by scoring a brace to see Tottenham Hotspur move past Everton. Not every striker was impressive as Manchester United saw a goal disallowed due to an accidental touch from Joshua Zirkzee while Marcus Rashford was missing again.
Let’s take a look at what’s happened so far this weekend in the Premier League.
Premier League results and fixtures
Saturday August 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 August 25
Bournemouth 1, Newcastle United 1
Wolverhampton Wanderers2, Chelsea6
Liverpool2, Brentford0
Liverpool cruises to victory
New Liverpool manager Arne Slot made it two wins from two on Sunday to start his tenure at the club. He beat Brentford 2-0 in a fairly modest performance. The Reds were dominant from start to finish, scoring the goals in support, courtesy of Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah.
The match symbolized continuity in some ways as Slot made his Anfield debut a few months after Jugen Klopp called time on an almost nine-year stay at Liverpool. The team was in complete control of the match, with Salah and Diaz remaining the reliable goalscorers. they have been for a long time. Still, it was hard not to notice the differences between Klopp and Slot as a new era begins at Liverpool. Klopp called his playing style ‘heavy metal’, so some might have expected more goals from the Reds on a day like this. It seems Slot is preaching a more subdued approach, but not necessarily a less effective one: Liverpool recorded a passing accuracy of 92% against Brentford, their best figure in a Premier League match since the 2003-04 season.
Palmer and Madueke are excelling for Chelsea
Chelsea’s dominance in the second half saw them secure a 6-2 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, as 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 goal in the second minute, but they traded goals with Wolves and went into half-time 2-2 with the hosts. However, Palmer’s stunning goal in the 45th minute only teased his strong second-half performance, which saw him assist on each of Madueke’s three second-half goals. Madueke completed his first hat-trick for the club in 14 minutes, as Chelsea found other ways to complete 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 newcomer Pedro Neto got the assist against his old club.
The result marks a positive end to a somewhat chaotic week at Chelsea, which was dominated by the outsized squad 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 portion of Chlesea’s 44-player squad were told they were not allowed to train with the first team. Sunday’s victory will be a small confirmation of the club’s vision, even if they still have a lot of work to do before the transfer window closes on Friday.
Erling Haaland shows Ipswich the big leagues
Seven minutes later there was nothing but euphoria for the Tractor Boys as Ipswich Town got an opening goal through Sammie Szmodics, but it was all downhill from there. Haaland himself found a goal in the 12th minute from the penalty spot, before quickly scoring another goal in the 16th minute of play. He would not be denied his hat-trick either, as he scored again in the 88th minute to turn an xG of 1.63 into three goals on the day. As usual, Haaland didn’t touch the ball much, only 22 times, but when he fired seven times from that, the damage was already done.
A championship team has rarely seen a player even close to Haaland’s caliber, and it showed during the match. The Tractor boys, newly promoted, took just one shot and Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias completed more passes than the entire Ipswich team attempted. Keiran McKenna won’t be feeling too down after failing to beat Liverpool and Manchester City to kick off the Premier League season, but City couldn’t have started things much better.
Two games, six points, six goals and only one goal conceded. Goal difference can mean something when all is said and done, so City have to be ruthless when they get ahead in games and that’s exactly what they did on Saturday. With Ilkay Gundogan returning, City are marching towards another Premier League title and the only thing that can stop them is themselves.
Savinho got a few assists, Rico Lewis is coming into his own and Haaland is a world destroyer. It’s still early days, but the signs are that City are a machine in the league again.
Manchester United have a Marcus Rashford problem
Under Erik ten Hag there are two Manchester United’s. One with Marcus Rashford who can score more than fifteen Premier League goals and this current version of the Red Devils. The ingredients for a dynamic attack are there, with Bruno Fernandes making things happen, Alejandro Garnacho coming into his own and Zirkzee having been unpredictable early on, but the inclusion of Rashford in the line-up creates an imbalance. Amad Diallo has potential on the right side of midfield and Garnacho can play on both sides, so unlike previous seasons, Ten Hag does have options.
In Manchester United’s defeat to Brighton, Rashford was anonymous in the 65 minutes he played, scoring one shot and failing to create a chance. Now that expectations are rising for the Red Devils and transfers such as Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt are joining, something must be done about the balance in the attack.
Defensively, United have improved and if they can get the signing of Manuel Ugarte over the line it will help solve Casemiro’s legs problem, but time is not on Ten Hag’s side. He needs to understand the left wing quickly. Only then can they truly compete consistently.