Table of Contents
Last weekend’s Premier League action saw Arsenal’s first loss of points of the season, Ipswich Town’s first point of the season, another hat-trick from Erling Haaland and more. Saturday got off to a decent start as Declan Rice was sent off for the Gunners and Bournemouth overturned Everton’s lead late on for their first win before the end of the season, but Haaland ended the day as best he could. With back-to-back hat-tricks, the Premier League Golden Boot race could be over as he has already scored seven goals. Let’s see what happened:
Premier League scores and schedule
Saturday August 31
- Arsenal 1, Brighton 1
- Nottingham Forest 1, Wolverhampton 1
- Leicester City 1, Aston Villa 2
- Ipswich Town 1, Fulham 1
- Brentford3, Southampton1
- Everton 2, Bournemouth 3
- West Ham United 1, Manchester City 3
Sunday September 1st
- Chelsea vs. Crystal Palace, 8:30am ET (Peacock)
- Newcastle United vs. Tottenham, 8:30am ET (US)
- Manchester United vs. Liverpool, 11 a.m. ET (Peacock)
Haaland, Haaland and more Haaland
Manchester City is inevitable and part of the reason behind that is the presence of Haaland, the destroyer of worlds. The Norwegian scored another hat-trick and made it look easy. Four shots, three on target and three goals. If he can score with varied finishes, City will be unstoppable, especially with Ilkay Gundogon strengthening the midfield. Haaland has already scored seven goals this season and is on course to surpass his first season with 36 goals in the league.
Having already scored 70 league goals for City in 69 appearances, Haaland is blowing every record and there is nothing that can stop him and it shows the power of a number nine in the title race. The only question now is what City will do when he is not on the pitch. Julian Alvarez leaves for Atletico Madrid, so for the time being there is no recognized second striker in the team.
Given the talent City have, that may not be a problem, but a prolonged absence is a concern. They are now used to looking for Haaland at the top of the XI, but there is only one player in the world who can create chances with the shots he makes. If they have to play without him, teams like Arsenal may have a shot at the Premier League, but as long as Haaland is healthy, they will once again be unstoppable.
An early challenge for Arsenal
Nobody wants to become the first title contender team to drop a point, especially not in the way Arsenal’s half-time lead evaporated against Brighton. Rice was quickly sent off after half-time before Joao Pedro scored to level the match for Brighton. It is Rice’s first red card ever and it was avoidable, as he fell into the trap of Brighton. Mikel Arteta always preaches about his teams’ mentality, but now Rice leaves Arsenal with a challenge. Not only will they have to make up points in the coming games, but they will also have to replace Rice in a north London derby against Tottenham.
With new signing Mikel Merino also out of action after a shoulder injury, much of Arteta’s international break will be spent ensuring he has adequate preparation to face their rivals. On the other hand, without Rice it will give Arsenal the chance to prepare for the rotation that will be needed when Champions League matches come around. Arteta will also be pleased that the Gunners, with one man down, were still able to create a great chance in the second half to try and get all three points from the match. While it’s never good to drop points, doing so early with such a big game on the horizon will show where Arsenal’s mentality is early this season.
Don’t miss CBS Sports Golazo Network’s Morning Footy, now in podcast form! Our crew brings you all the news, opinions, highlights and humor you need to follow The Beautiful Game in every corner of the world, every Monday to Friday, all year round.
Bournemouth for Europe?
Don’t look now, but the Cherries are unbeaten after three games, even after the sale of Dominic Solanke to Tottenham. It was an epic comeback against Everton, taking all three points with three goals after the 87th minute as Andoni Iraola’s side continued to climb the table. Antoine Semenyo has already taken a step forward this season with two goals and an assist, but it is a real team attack where anyone in the team can hurt you. They are flexible with styles and in Dean Huijsen there is a young defender who will be a dynamic addition once he gets up to speed.
He can get the ball out of the backline with ease and can help offset games such as versus Everton where Evanilson is marked out of the game. The lack of European commitments at the moment means the Cherries will have the opportunity to take points from other tired teams in the competition as the season progresses.
For Everton, while they were able to score throughout the match, this will be the moment when concerns about Sean Dyche start to creep in. Three games into the young season, the Toffees have conceded ten goals, of which only two have been scored, and they are bottom of the table. While there’s a good chance they’ll turn things around, it’s pretty important to do that sooner rather than later.