West Brom 4-0 Burnley
It's going to be a very long season for Sean Dyche's Clarets. No news flash, of course, but the evidence is mounting to suggest their second stint in the Premier League will again be a brief one. This was their fifth consecutive game without a goal – six in all competitions if you count a 1-0 League Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday – and undoubtedly their worst display of the season against a rampant West Brom, who netted twice from corners before half-time.
Full marks go to Alan Irvine's side for their second win in succession, but really this was a very straightforward one over a dismal Burnley side who gave away possession willingly and created next to nothing until the game was well beyond them.
From the first whistle it was clear that Dyche's men were to target the hosts with direct football; in the first half hour they pumped 21% of their balls long, to zero effect.
Possession was handed straight back to West Brom more or less as soon as they had it, while poor Lukas Jutkiewicz cut a frustrated figure up front on his own after receiving only 7 first-half passes.
Unsurprisingly, their ineffectual efforts yielded nothing of note: 3 shots in the first half, all attempted from outside the box and 2 of which were blocked before they made it into the area. West Brom, patient and probing in their attacking play around the box, capitalised. By the break they'd bagged twice from corners, first through former Rochdale centre-back Craig Dawson and then via Saido Berahino.
The two sides' approaches were best reflected by their respective right-backs, Andre Wisdom and Kieran Trippier. While the former prodded with simplicity, the more attack-minded Trippier barely left his own half and was found wanting with his ambitious passing; this from a player who registered 12 assists last season.
In fairness to Burnley, their injury concerns are hugely unhelpful. Their lack of confidence in midfield can perhaps be attributed to the absences of David Jones and Dean Marney, who both performed so well in the Championship last season.
Dyche hauled off Jutkiewicz and Ross Wallace for Ashley Barnes and Ross Wallace at half-time, but within nine minutes of the restart they were three down. After a neat West Brom move, Graham Dorrans – who finished the game with a goal and 2 assists – played in Berahino for the young forward's second.
Dorrans shone alongside Stephane Sessegnon, and both players typified the Baggies' impressive display. Between them they misplaced only 3 of 120 attempted passes, both completed 27 of their 28 efforts in the attacking third and created 6 chances; Dorrans with his 2 assists, Sessegnon with 4 in the first half.
Unsurprisingly, the game largely petered out after West Brom's third goal as Burnley were allowed more possession, and enjoyed 6 of their 10 efforts from there on. But again the visitors were undone in the last minute when Dorrans capped a flowing move to seal a hugely impressive – and important – West Brom win.
Liverpool and Manchester United follow this one for Irvine's team, who aren't giving in to pre-season expectations of struggle. Burnley, however, might be getting familiar with the bottom soon. "We looked unsure of ourselves from the off," summed up boss Dyche glumly. They can't afford much more of that.
Match facts
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- West Brom have scored 3 Premier League goals from corners this season, more than any other team.
- 7 of Saido Berahino’s 9 Premier League goals have come at home.
- Berahino is the fifth player to hit 2 braces in a Premier League season for West Brom.
- Graham Dorrans provided 2 assists in this game – a West Brom player achieved this feat once in 2012/13 (Chris Brunt) and once in 2013/14 (James Morrison).
- Dorrans achieved the second instance of a West Brom player scoring and providing 2 assists in a Premier League game – Peter Odemwingie achieved this feat against Sunderland in April 2011.
- West Brom won consecutive Premier League games for the first time since last September, when they beat Sunderland and Manchester United.
- The Baggies kept back-to-back Premier League clean sheets for the first time since April 2012 (3 in a row).
- The previous 4 times that West Brom scored 3 goals or more in a Premier League game, they failed to win (D3 L1).
Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham
They may wish to humiliate the neighbours in their own backyard with dazzling possession football, but Spurs weren't far from doing the next best thing – a smash-and-grab win.
There were 16 minutes left when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain lashed an equaliser high into Hugo Lloris's goal, and the visitors had started to believe they might get their first three-point haul at Arsenal since 2010.
Certainly the Gunners hadn't had the breaks, with knocks to midfielders Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere necessitating a few midfield reshuffles.
The entertaining derby tempo was set by Mauricio Pochettino in the technical area, constantly hopping about exhorting his players to press Arsenal. By some measures, it didn't work – the home side rattled up 542 completed passes out of 615 as they enjoyed 69.8% possession - but in other respects it worked very well indeed. Not only did Tottenham thunder into 37 attempted tackles, but one of them helped set up the goal.
Mathieu Flamini, brought on for the injured Arteta as a safe pair of hands, was hassled out of possession by Christian Erikson. Although falling, the diminutive Dane managed to feed Erik Lamela, whose ball through to Nacer Chadli was confidently finished. While Eriksen's diligence may typify Pochettino's insistence on work-rate, the resurgence of Chadli and Lamela pay tribute to their new manager's increased effectiveness: the Belgian has now scored 4 in 5 league games after only bagging 1 in 24 last term, while the Argentinian – written off after providing just 1 league assist last season – has now created 3 in 6 games.
But Arsenal bossed the creative statistics – 16 shots to 6, all of the top 10 passers, 176 completed attacking-third passes to Spurs' 199 completed across the entire pitch - and eventually got their reward through perhaps the least heralded of their attacking midfielders. While hipsters debate who to choose from Ozil, Wilshere, Cazorla, Sanchez and Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain quietly gets on with it whenever asked, and 17 minutes from the end he hammered home an equaliser. Tottenham can take heart from their performance, but they can't take three points from their main rivals.
Match facts
- Nacer Chadli has scored 4 goals in 5 Premier League appearances this season after bagging only 1 in 24 last season.
- Erik Lamela has provided 3 assists in his 6 league games this season after managing just 1 in 9 last season.
- All of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s 10 goals for the Gunners (in all competitions) have come on home soil.
- Tottenham picked up 6 yellow cards against Arsenal, the highest number of single yellows for a team in a Premier League game this season.
- The Gunners have scored in each of their last 11 Premier League games.
- They have, however, managed just 1 clean sheet in their last 6.
- Tottenham’s possession figure of 31.2% in this game was their second lowest possession percentage in a Premier League fixture since the start of the 2006/07 season (only against Manchester United in September 2012 did they have even less of the ball – 25.9%).
- This is only the sixth time in Premier League that a team (in this case Arsenal) has started the season with 4 draws and 2 wins.
- Tottenham have won just one of their last 22 Premier League games away at Arsenal.
Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa
Another week, another 3-0 defeat against a half-paced top-four side for Villa. This time they didn't have a bug to blame, but a Brazilian or three.
Villa hadn't conceded an away goal all season but it didn't take long for Chelsea to succeed where Stoke and Liverpool failed. Seven minutes in, Oscar – who had won back a starting place with an impressive League Cup display against Bolton, according to his gaffer - tapped in after Willian, having seen his shot saved, elected to let his compatriot have a try.
Villa held out till half-time but Chelsea sharpened up after the break. As noted by FFT's Gregg Davies in his match analysis, Chelsea's first-half accuracy of 3 on target from 9 improved to 5 from 8 in the second period.
ANALYSISBrazil-born trio to the fore as Blues cruise
Almost inevitably, it was Diego Costa who increased the lead, nodding in a cross from Cesar Azpilicueta just before the hour, and 10 minutes later the Brazil-born forward again caused panic in the defence by sidestepping Philippe Senderos and firing goalwards, with Brad Guzan only parrying out for Willian to score.
Match facts
- Oscar’s goal was the first that Villa have conceded on the road in the league all campaign.
- Diego Costa has scored 8 goals in his first 6 Premier League appearances, a figure only Micky Quinn (10) can top in the competition’s history (Sergio Aguero also hit 8).
- Chelsea have scored 30 goals in their last 8 league home games against Aston Villa.
- Aston Villa have attempted just 9 shots on target in 6 Premier League games this season – fewer than any other side.
- Diego Costa has had 15 shots on target in 6 games this term: today he had 3 more efforts on target than Aston Villa today (Costa 4, Villa 1).
- 13 of the 16 points (from 10 games) that Jose Mourinho has taken against Aston Villa in the league have come at Stamford Bridge.
- Jose Mourinho’s side have kept 9 clean sheets in their last 11 Premier League home games.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Leicester
Marathons and sprints, Leicester. Pre-season, Nigel Pearson may have accepted a total three points from Palace away and Manchester United at home, but he will also know that those who intend to stay in the division can't afford too many defeats at those they wish to finish above.
Leicester had 60.4% possession and many more passes, completing 347 of their 443 (78%) to Palace's 193 of 280 (69%), but that means very little when you only get 1 shot on target - Palace had 6.
The Eagles were also dominant in the air, completing 8 of their 21 crosses while the Foxes only managed 2 of their 17. And it was from wide service that Palace, just after the hour, landed the double blow that ruined Leicester's week. First Frazier Campbell gobbled up a loose ball from an uncleared corner - the first time the former Man United man had scored in two successive Premier League games since 2010 - then a Jason Puncheon free-kick was nodded in by Mile Jedinak.
And so Neil Warnock continues to enjoy his return to top-flight management: the win saw the Eagles soar into eighth position, higher than they finished under the much-lauded Tony Pulis. Warnock's side may not be as well-drilled defensively as his predecessor's, but they retain a commitment to outflanking their opponents with direct wing-play and, crucially, the conviction and belief that they can have a go at anyone.
Match facts
- After scoring 1 goal in his first 42 Premier League appearances, Mile Jedinak has scored in his last two.
- The Eagles have scored a joint-league-high 5 goals from set pieces this term.
- Crystal Palace ended a run of 4 winless Premier League home games.
- Neil Warnock has gone 4 Premier League games unbeaten for the first time since December 2006 when he was Sheffield United boss.
- The Foxes have won none of their last 16 Premier League games in London (D3 L13).
Hull 2-4 Man City
Centre-back is not a good position to have a sustained wobble, especially when your team paid £32 million for you. Man City fans and management will hope Eliaquim Mangala's fearful 15 minutes at the KC is a learning experience rather than evidence of underlying dodginess.
The 23-year-old Frenchman made an impressive league debut against Chelsea last weekend, helping Vincent Kompany keep Diego Costa caged, but he found Hull much less fun. First he boomed Liam Rosenior's cross past a frankly startled Willy Caballero, making his league debut as Joe Hart watched on.
Then he somehow decided to tackle Abel Hernandez studs-first in the chest, inside the penalty area - earning a yellow card, a penalty converted by Hernandez, and presumably some urgent questions from Caballero.
Luckily for Mangala, he has joined a very good team indeed, easily good enough to overcome Hull's resistance: champions twice in the last three seasons, Man City have assembled a fearsome squad.
Strikers like Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko pretty much guarantee goals: each had scored before Mangala's mind-melt, meaning the Tigers' double merely levelled the scores.
The support staff aren't bad, either. Pablo Zabaleta set up his compatriot Aguero's opener; his later assist, for Frank Lampard's fourth in three games, means that since summer 2013 only Aleksandar Kolarov has created as many goals from defence. And then there's David Silva, who made it 41 and counting for City in the league.
And once City go in front, they can quite happily pass it around until their opponents get dizzy. They attempted 660 passes and completed 585, their highest of the league season so far – although it's worth noting they've attempted at least 550 in every league game this term, and completed 500 in every league game except at Arsenal. It's a mastery of the ball that Mangala will do well to observe.
Match facts
- Sergio Aguero has scored 10 goals in his last 12 away league games.
- Manchester City have scored in 18 of their last 19 league games.
- Manuel Pellegrini’s side have scored at least twice in their last 6 league away games and at least once in their last 9.
- 31 of Edin Dzeko’s 48 Premier League goals have come away from home (65%).
- Elaquim Mangala both conceded a penalty and scored an own goal in this game; the last player to do this in the Premier League was Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel against Swansea in February.
- Joe Hart hasn't conceded a first-half goal in five league games this season; Premier League debutant Willy Caballero conceded two.
- Frank Lampard has scored 4 goals in his last 3 appearances in all competitions.
- The former Chelsea man has scored in consecutive Premier League appearances for the first time since February 2013 and has just two PL goals fewer (173) than Thierry Henry.
Man United 2-1 West Ham
It's been a long fortnight since United beat QPR 4-0 and West Ham drew 2-2 at Hull. That left the Hammers with only two wins in 10 league games, while the Old Trafford cakewalk was said to herald the true start of the Louis van Gaal era.
As we now know, that's not quite how it worked out. Last weekend, West Ham banged in three against Liverpool and United shipped five at Leicester.
Could Sam Allardyce mastermind another memorable win against a Big Northern Red Club?
In the end, he couldn't - but his Hammers side had a good go at it, and Van Gaal's prime emotion may well be relief. From the 58th minute, in which Wayne Rooney was sent off for a hack on Stewart Downing which will doubtless provoke a few hand-wringing think-pieces on the Scouser's skipperhood suitability, the home side simply ceded superiority to the visitors in a way that Old Trafford has become unaccustomed to.
True, the home side started very well, with Rooney and Robin van Persie (again assisted by Radamel Falcao) putting them 2-0 up within 22 minutes – but they were 2-0 up at Leicester, and that went fairly definitively toes-up. So when Diafra Sakho's third goal in three league games halved the Hammers' debt just before the break, ably assisted by questionable goalkeeping from David de Gea, nerves jangled.
And once Rooney downed Downing to prevent a Hammers counter-attack, the former champions withdrew into their shell, with Van Gaal notably replacing Falcao with Darren Fletcher. In the 37 minutes (including injury-time) after Rooney's red, they completed just 10 of 20 attempted passes in the attacking third, compared to West Ham's 44 of 62.
Despite some scares – notably when sub Kevin Nolan, who twice scored vital goals in Old Trafford wins for Allardyce's Bolton, bagged again but was adjudged offside – the home side held on amid a hail of Hammers efforts. Van Gaal's team will take heart from the win, the way they fought for it, and the displays of more defending debutants in 19-year-old Paddy McNair, 21-year-old Tom Thorpe and £27m Luke Shaw. But they are clearly still a work in progress, while West Ham continue to grow in confidence and threat.
Match facts
- Manchester United have taken 34 points from their last 12 league games against West Ham.
- Wayne Rooney has 3 goals and 2 assists in 6 league games this season.
- Falcao has more assists in his last 2 league games (2) than he managed in the last 3 league seasons (1).
- Rooney and Robin van Persie have scored in the same Premier League game for the first time since February (against Crystal Palace).
- Van Persie is the second non-British player (after Dwight Yorke) to score 40+ Premier League goals for 2 different clubs.
- Rooney has scored 7 goals in his last 5 home league games.
- Diafra Sakho has scored in all 3 of his league starts for West Ham.
- West Ham have never scored more than once in a Premier League game at Old Trafford.
- Rooney picked up his third Premier League red card (his second for Man United, his first since March 2009).
- Cristiano Ronaldo has as many red cards in the Premier League as Rooney.
- Rooney has 6 red cards in his career (including 2 for England).
- West Ham had 13 shots in this game, 5 more than the hosts.
Southampton 2-1 QPR
Southampton seem to have an enviable knack of replacing managers with better ones. Remember the furore when Nigel Adkins was given his cards after a reasonable start to his Premier League career? His successor Mauricio Pochettino improved the side so much that they bumped into the glass ceiling separating the league's Big Seven from the rest. And when Pochettino aimed to go through the looking glass by joining Tottenham, in a summer which also saw the departure of several key Saints players, even the most ardent fan must have feared the club would slip backward.
Far from it. Ronald Koeman has hardly had a uniformly successful managerial career but he's hit the English turf running, taking 13 points from the first 18.
Pochettino welcomes his old club to White Hart Lane next Sunday, but not in a position of superiority: Spurs are eighth, while Saints are a scarcely believable second. Even Koeman admits to being "a little" surprised: "Now we can watch the table tonight and take a picture."
In some ways, the other summer departures may have helped Koeman imprint his style immediately. Had Rickie Lambert not joined Liverpool, Graziano Pelle might not have gone straight into the first team and scored four goals in as many Premier League games; had Adam Lallana not also moved to Anfield, perhaps Dusan Tadic might not have been able to become Southampton's great creator.
Koeman's two most eye-catching buys combined brilliantly for the winner. As usual, Tadic linked up well with team-mates out wide, before pinging the ball to the back of the box – but then Pelle took over.
The 6ft 4in Italian flicked the ball up and scissor-kicked it into Rob Green's far corner, his effort overshadowing Charlie Austin's exuberantly-celebrated equaliser - QPR's first on the road in the Premier League since April Fool's Day 2013.
Green didn't deserve to be on the losing side - Southampton were accurate with 9 of their 19 attempts – and the Hoops could have snatched a point when Niko Kranjcar hit wood with a late free-kick.
But Koeman's side marches on, and it may yet get better still: Senegalese wide-man Sadio Mané impressed on his debut, linking well with his team-mates and brilliantly back-heeling for Ryan Bertrand to open the scoring. Maybe Koeman, like Southampton, has the golden recruitment touch.
Match facts
- Southampton have won 4 of their last 6 Premier League games against QPR after winning none of the previous 5.
- Harry Redknapp has overseen just 12 goals in 15 Premier League away games as Rangers boss.
- Sadio Mane has made 5 assists in 5 league games this season (Premier League & Austrian Bundesliga).
- Since August 2012, Graziano Pelle has scored 54 goals in 63 league appearances.
- QPR’s goal ended a run of 9 hours and 15 minutes without a goal away from home in the Premier League.
- Southampton’s total of 13 points from 6 games is their best since claiming 14 in 1983-84.
- 20 of the 29 shots in this game came in the second half.
Sunderland 0-0 Swansea
You wouldn't have thought, after last season's manic highs and lows ended in a brilliant run of victories to preserve their Premier League position, that Sunderland would become the draw bankers. But they've shared the spoils in 5 of their first 6 games, the latter two being 0-0s, and here they dragged Swansea into becoming the final top-flight team the season to earn a single point.
At this rate, they'd barely bother recording anything but the last 10 minutes of Match of the Day.
Actually, it may be slightly unfair to say Swansea were dragged down, because they barely did a thing to reward their travelling fans.
True, they made more passes, although not many more - 329 completed to Sunderland's 296 – but they had fewer at the sharp end, and only had 1 shot on target. It's not much to cheer for a 700-mile round trip.
Part of Swansea's problem was Bafetimbi Gomis. The French striker has only previously started one league game for Swansea, a 4-2 defeat at Chelsea; given his second chance today, he scarcely provided much to worry Wilfried Bony, who replaced him after 73 minutes. Gomis received 27 passes, completed 15 of his own and contributed just 1 shot, lashed wide from 25 yards. True, he won 4 of his 5 aerial duels, but that's hardly a key thing for Garry Monk, whose side have now won one point from three games.
Poyet, for his part, would love a Bony and settle for a Gomis, because his side represent little threat to the Premier League's barn doors. Against Swansea they had 15 shots, of which only 3 tested Lukasz Fabianski. Seven different Sunderland players had efforts at goal without hitting the target; key offender Connor Wickham had 3 unsuccessful tries. Toward the end of last season, Wickham got some momentum and confidence and terrified the Premier League – but spring seems a long time ago in Sunderland.
Match facts
- After winning 4 successive games in April/May, Sunderland have now gone 7 without a victory (L2 D5).
- Sunderland have kept 4 clean sheets in 5 Premier League home games against Welsh sides.
- Swansea became the 20th Premier League team to record a draw this season.
- Lee Cattermole picked up his 64th yellow card in his 210th Premier League appearance.
- Sunderland are only the fourth team in Premier League history to draw 5 of their opening 6 games (after Ipswich in 1992/93, Fulham in 2010/11 and Villa in 2011/12).
- There were just 4 shots on target in this game (3 from Sunderland).
- All 7 Swansea shots were from outside the box.
Liverpool 1-1 Everton
Mersey derbies are fascinating these days. There's the typical parochial hurly-burly and its inevitable tendency toward the kick and rush, but it's overseen by two managers who want their teams to pass and move with aestheticism as well as athleticism.
The best teams - the best teams to watch, and frequently the most successful teams - combine those two mindsets: defenders, in particular, have to throw themselves in the way of the opposition, and Everton's certainly did that, blocking 6 shots in the first half alone.
Up the other end, Roberto Martinez employed the same strategy that so often troubles Arsenal: playing Romelu Lukaku against the li'l left-back (in this case Alberto Moreno, a tidgy 5ft 7in). The half-time Player Influence screen, showing average position (and involvement - the bigger the name, the bigger the influence), shows how often Lukaku hung out on the wing.
Speaking of wingers and strikers, Liverpool flung in more crosses (17) during the first half than their 90-minute average last season (hat-tip @BassTunedToRed). They ended up totalling 24 crosses, while Everton contributed 12 - not one of which reached its target.
Nine of Everton's 12 crosses came after half-time, and they were forced to retreble their efforts because they went behind early in the second period, with That Man Steven Gerrard firing home a free-kick.
That 65th-minute goal meant Everton were chasing the game, and they completed 227 second-half passes to Liverpool's 160, with 53.3% possession overall. But for all the passing, Everton's injury-time equaliser came rather more directly, if no less impressively.
Although Gerrard's goal was good enough to win any game, it didn't because an unlikely source levelled it at the death. As Liverpool cleared a corner, the ball fell for Phil Jagielka outside the box - and with the sweetest of half-volleys he sent the ball zipping past Simon Mignolet to keep local honours even.
Match facts
- 4 of the last 5 Merseyside derbies in the Premier League have ended as draws (with Liverpool winning the other).
- The Toffees are without a win in 15 league trips to Anfield (D8 L7).
- Steven Gerrard netted his ninth league goal against Everton; only against Aston Villa (12) has he scored more.
- Gerrard is the top scorer in Premier League Merseyside derbies (9).
- 17 of Gerrard’s last 18 league goals have been penalties or direct free-kicks. However, 0 of his 9 league goals against Everton have been penalties.
- Phil Jagielka scored in the Premier League for the first time since April 2013 with his equaliser.
- The last defender to score from outside the box in the top-flight was Damien Delaney, against Liverpool in May.
- Gareth Barry picked up his 96th yellow card in the Premier League. Only three players (Lee Bowyer, Kevin Davies and Paul Scholes) have picked up more.
- Mario Balotelli had 10 shots during the match (including blocked) - 1 fewer than the entire Everton team.
- Everton have never been awarded a penalty at Anfield in the Premier League.
