3 points 'handed' to Liverpool & Manchester United feeling blue: What happened on matchday 4 in the Premier League.

The Premier League returned after an eventful international break, but plenty of teams stepped straight back into their rhythm. There were big 3 – 0 wins for Arsenal and Spurs on Saturday, but Sunday delivered the biggest plot-points. Liverpool were lucky to snatch a 1 – 0 win away at Burnley, after a very late handball allowed Mohamed Salah to score a penalty in stoppage time. Later, the Red Devils were left with red faces, as City dominated the Manchester derby at the Etihad. Sports Talk United takes you through the biggest talking points of matchday 4 in the Premier League.

Eze win for the Gunners

The first game of the weekend saw Arsenal take on a familiar foe, in the form of former Spurs manager, Ange Postecoglu. The Europa League winner replaced Nuno Espírito Santo this week as head coach of Nottingham Forest, after the Portuguese became the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season. Despite only having 1 training session with the Australian, Forest defended resolutely, and made the 1st-half difficult for the Gunners. To make things harder for the home side, captain Martin Ødegaard was forced off early due to injury (for the 2nd time this season already). It took a moment of magic to break the deadlock, and Zubimendi’s first-time volley from just outside the penalty area was definitely that. Though not finding the corner, the power on the shot, and the swerve on the ball, gave goalkeeper Selz no chance.

Into the 2nd-half, and it took little over a minute for Arsenal to extend their lead. Calafiori’s long pass from defence finding the run of Eze down the left, whose first-time pass, on the volley, laid it on a plate for Viktor Gyökeres 5 yards out. Both Eze and Gyökeres looked dangerous throughout, and the Swedish striker almost extended the lead on the hour-mark, as he nearly broke the post with a vicious shot from a tight angle. It was Zubimendi who found the 3rd goal, after another excellent set-piece routine. With a free-kick on the right, it was played to the edge of the area to Rice, who switched it left to Trossard. His inswinging cross found the run of Zubimendi, who directed his header past Selz.

Stat of the week: More than 50% of Arsenal’s goals this season have come from set-pieces (5 from 9)

Chelsea stung by Bees

Enzo Maresca named a much-changed Chelsea line-up for their fixture at Brentford; initially to the detriment of the world champions. While they were slow in possession, the Bees regularly caused problems with their direct counter-attacks. Igor Tudor almost set Kevin Schade up for the opener, after superbly controlling a long ball into the German’s path, but Tosin Adarabioyo blocked the goal-bound effort. It wasn’t long before Schade did find the net, being played in by a classic Jordan Henderson looping through-ball in the 35th minute. After cutting inside, he fired an effort at goal, with a deflection off of Tosin taking the ball past Sanchez in goal. Chelsea huffed and puffed, trying to force a response before half-time, but rarely threatened the goal. The closest they came was when Enzo Fernandez hit the post direct from a corner, but they went in at the break 1 – 0 down.

Maresca made a triple-substitution at the break, and they did start the 2nd-half in control, with substitutes Marc Cucurella and Tyrick George forcing saves from Caoimhin Kelleher. Enter Cole Palmer. Minutes after coming on, he found the equaliser, controlling a volley into the bottom corner from 12 yards, following a weak headed-clearance. Shortly after, he could’ve given Chelsea the lead, following a rapid counter-attack via Pedro Neto. Palmer couldn’t quite find the corner with his effort though, and Kelleher saved well. Chelsea’s pressure finally told with just 5 minutes left to play. Alejandro Garnacho’s low ball to Palmer in the penalty area was intercepted, with the ball running into the path of Moises Caicedo outside the box. He took a touch, set himself, and fired a screamer beyond the reach of the goalkeeper. The visitors had turned it around, and the win was within their grasp.

Earlier this week, England manager Thomas Tuchel spoke about his eagerness to utilise long-throws, as they offer a particularly unique problem to defend against. Brentford, now managed by their former set-piece coach Keith Andrews, have long been proponents of this tactic. Throughout this match, Brentford’s long-throws caused chaos in the Chelsea box, with the visitors lucky not to concede on several occasions. It only takes 1 though, and in the 3rd minute of stoppage time, Schade’s throw found the head of Kristoffer Ajer. He flicked the ball towards the back post, where Fábio Carvalho fired home from close range. It ended 2 – 2, and the Gtech Community Stadium celebrated loudly, at a well-deserved point.

Manchester United feeling blue

It’s been quite a while since Ruben Amorim didn’t go into a match under pressure as Manchester United’s head coach. Before today’s game, after 46 matches in charge in all competitions, he’s lost more than he’s won (W18 L19 D9). Despite taking 4 points off of their Manchester rivals last season, United went into the game at the Etihad as huge underdogs.

It didn’t take long for City to take control of the match, and the home fans only had to wait 18 minutes for the opening goal. After Jeremy Doku’s rapid shimmy around Luke Shaw, his clipped cross from the byline found the run of Phil Foden, who directed his header past Altay Bayindir. United did well to get to half-time only 1 goal down, though failed to create anything clear-cut themselves. Bryan Mbeumo did regularly cause problems for the City defence, and forced debutant Gigi Donnarumma into 2 excellent saves, but Benjamin Šeško struggled to make an impact.

The 2nd-half quickly became ‘the Erling Haaland show’, after a couple of world-class finishes. The first came after some neat passing between Nico O’Reilly and Foden, before Doku slipped the ball into Haaland’s path, who clipped the ball over the advancing Bayindir. The 2nd came after City intercepted the ball in their half, and Bernardo Silva clipped a pass into the path of Haaland on the halfway line. Under no pressure, he reached the edge of the box, before firing clinically past the stranded ‘keeper. Between the 2 goals, Haaland somehow missed from 5 yards out; instead, hitting the post while at full-stretch. It was the only blip on an otherwise dominant performance.

Manchester United’s next few matches are: home vs Chelsea, away vs Brentford, and home vs Sunderland; which will be Amorim’s 50th in charge. After that is the next international break, before their next match vs Liverpool, at Anfield. Now, more than ever, the pressure is on Amorim to deliver significant performances. The question is: will he still be in charge for match no. 51?