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All the A’s were at Villa Park as Aston Villa hosted Arsenal, Arsenal despite the blip against Leeds looking strong - and Villa also coming in with 6 points on the board. The Gunners came to attack, and Schlotrbeck managed to slip past Lascelles and despite Lafonts efforts the goal was given and the Londoners took the lead. Villa responded through Gabriel Jesus’s 4th goal of the season, and the sides went in at 1-1. 20 minutes into the second half, and the home fans thought they had won it with a terrific piece of skill from Raphina, chipping the keeper. With one minute left of normal time Arsenal launched another attack, and Lafont who hadn’t covered himself in glory for the first Arsenal goal took out Kubo and the ref pointed at the spot. Asprilla smashed home the penalty to make it 2-2 just before the ref blew up and continued both sides' good start to the season.
MOM : Raphina (Villa)
Burnley needed points at home against Watford, who trounced Spurs last week. Simon Hill’s men were yet to get off the mark, and the crowd seemed restless before kick off. Hill showed no sign of caution though and sent his men out in a European style which paid off after 7 minutes, Morata finishing after evading Watford's man of the match last week Rrahamani. This eased the nerves and Burnley played well for the rest of the game, scoring again through Kudus in the second half to secure the victory, which was bizarrely filmed by the Burnley subs as the crowd celebrated their first points of the season and a home win. This was a long away trip for the Hornets who themselves will be pleased with their start, but Burnley had too much this time.
MOM : Kudus (Burnley)
Over-achieving Cardiff welcomed the early pacesetters Leeds United at Ninian Park. Both of these sides started unbeaten, and this was the sort of banana skin that Tim Davey would have feared. On 25 minutes striker Victor Osimhen received the ball, beat two defenders and then rounded Ryan Allsop to make it 1-0 to Leeds and they were on their way. Chukwueze, the supplier of the pass for Osimhens goal, found himself in space immediately after the break and Allsop inexplicably charged out to leave the Leeds man an opportunity to lob him into an empty net - which he took with aplomb. This was the end of the scoring, Leeds march on and Cardiff lose for the first time after an amazing start. The Cardiff fans continued to sing after the final whistle and clearly are loving their experience of top flight football - and at this rate, they will be here to stay.
Battle of the big boys at Stamford bridge saw the two Steve’s go head to head with Talbot hosting Outten. United have not been great on the road so far, and Chelsea have had 3 draws in their first 3. Chelsea suffered a blow early when a dart from the crowd took out midfielder Sanches who had to leave the field. On loan Bayern midfielder Fred came on to replace him and a strange figure seemed to leave the stands, with what looked like JB embroidered on his coat. Munich manager Jon Banks will be pleased to see him get some minutes. The home side took the lead through Lamptey who capitalised on a shocking back pass to make it 1-0. The home fans started to chant Talbot's name as they could see a victory coming, but on 32 minutes they were dealt a massive blow, when keeper Henderson was injured. Ratti came on for him, but clearly this made Chelsea weaker. United laid siege to the Chelsea goal and the Chelsea defence somehow managed to absorb everything that was thrown at them. With 5 minutes of added time played, Saka got a shot on goal, and whilst trying to save it Ratti fell over. He then managed to stick out a hand to deflect it onto the post, then it hit him on the back of the head and went in. The United fans celebrated as if they had won, only for the ref to disallow it for a dubious foul on the defender. That was it, a strange game which Chelsea will be delighted to win, and Man Utd will be concerned at their start to the season despite their being a long way to go
MOM : Lamptey (Chelsea)
Palace followed last week's heroics at Anfield with a home game against Everton. Selection watch on Everton was to see how our boy Nathan Patterson fared, but despite his family booking a coach to see the game, the Scot was left out as Gooch put out a team that looked sensible and included all 11 players. Everton have had a shocking start, but on 8 minutes everything changed as Lukaku put them ahead in the capital. Whether Gooch had slipped something into Lee Clark’s tea, we don’t know - but the Palace boss made an instant substitution, bringing off De Paul for Asano in an odd move that the home side really didn’t understand. The away fans were sent into raptures when Aouar scored to make it 2-0 half way through the second half, and despite Traore striking back immediately it stayed 2-1 to the Toffees and finally some points on the board.
MOM : Traore (Palace)
An intriguing battle at Walkers Stadium saw Leicester take on last season's strugglers Sheffield Wednesday, the last remaining club to start the game pointless. It was a very cagey first half with not many chances on offer, and the sides went in 0-0 at the interval. This was how it stayed until the 68th minute when N’Golo Kante controlled the ball, went past 2 defenders and hit a shot that flew in to make it 1-0 to the Foxes. Wednesday tried to attack but had very little to offer and the home side held out to continue a fantastic start to Premiership life.
MOM : Dunk (Leicester)
Champions Man City took on Blackburn after a humiliating defeat at Elland Road last week. Blackburn had started with 2 wins, but the trip to the Etihad was going to test any team. They held the champions in the first half though, and Tony Ayre would take a point from this encounter. This looked likely until, with around 10 minutes left, Phil Foden’s corner was swung into the box, and Dusan Vlahovic’s touch sent it goalwards. Majecki thought he had kept it out, but the referee gave it as a goal from a position that looked difficult to see from, ignoring all protests and refusing to look at VAR. There was no coming back for Blackburn and City held on for the win. In the tunnel afterwards Ayre was seen being held back as he went after the referee, who was seen taking a large bag of money from a Sheikh as he went to his room - high drama in Manchester.
MOM : Laporte (Man City)
Newcastle v Liverpool and we expected goals - both sides went on the attack, Liverpool with 4 up front to start. The home side went in front with the first move of the game, David scoring with a header from Canales cross. The shirts were all off again 2 minutes later, as Canales hit a swerving shot from outside the area which pinged in off the post and made it 2-0. After 15 minutes Mudryk pulled one back for the Reds, and then Magpies hero De Tomas found himself clear only to be taken out by Onana and the ref pointed to the spot. De Tomas got up to take it, but the keeper saved it and it stayed 2-1. 2 minutes before the interval De Tomas got his goal, after a slide rule pass from Toni Kroos, and then it opened up for Kroos himself who scored a beautiful goal just on half time to make it 4-1 after an eventful first half.Edwards gave his side a dressing down at half time and Liverpool got one back through Rashford but this was the Geordie’s day and a lot more work to do for the Anfield men.
MOM : Canales (Newcastle)
Southampton looked to push on with a win against Barnsley at home, and the away side were looking to keep putting points on the board. James Maddison scored a good opener for the visitors with a low drive on 7 minutes, only for Boniface to equalise for Southampton just before half time to make it 1-1 and all to play for. Maddison again put the away team in front, and this was how it stayed with one minute left on the clock. Up stepped Alex Isak with a powerful header to equalise, but literally straight from kick off Barnsley took the points. Slovakian Lucas Haraslin ran from the centre spot to finish and send the away fans wild, and a terrific away win for Barnsley and Ant Harris
MOM : Maddison (Barnsley)
An all London clash at White Hart Lane saw Spurs host West Ham, who won last week after a poor start to the season. Spurs had lost against Watford, and both sides came out to attack. Stephen Bergwijn had a great game for the home side and put them ahead just before half time as the fans celebrated. Just after the hour Bergwijn again attacked West Ham, and put in Williams for a great chance. The Spurs striker was taken out by keeper Nick Pope for a penalty, and up stepped top scorer Leon Bailey to make it 2-0 and all 3 points for Spurs. Manager Tim Brown was delighted to see his side back on track and also to see a clean sheet for the first time in the league this season.
MOM : Bergwijn (Spurs)
Team of the week : Areola (Leicester), Lamptey (Chelsea), Berchiche (Chelsea), Dunk (Leicester), Laporte (Man City), Canales (Newcastle), Bergwijn (Spurs) , Maddison (Barnsley), Kudus (Burnley) Chukwueze (Leeds), de Tomas (Newcastle)
Performance of the week: This week it is going to Chelsea who managed to beat Man U despite losing their keeper in the first half and give Steve Talbot their first 3 points.
Shocker of the week: No real standouts this week, but if pushed you would probably say that Wednesday losing at Leicester for their 4th consecutive defeat is troubling for the Owls