Highlights
- Manchester City’s flawless start to the season ended with a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa — Nicolas Jackson scored twice, either side of an Erling Haaland equaliser
- Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 with goals from centre-backs Ezri Konsa and Gabriel to move level with City on 21 points from eight games, with City ahead on goal difference
- Tottenham won 2-0 at Chelsea — a Mike Penders own goal and Mathys Tel’s late strike — in a derby where Cole Palmer was sent off for the first time in his senior career
- Palmer’s dismissal was Chelsea’s 100th red card in Premier League history, making them only the third club to reach that unwanted century
Villa Park, City’s house of horrors — again
Manchester City’s flawless start to the Premier League season was ended in a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday — their fourth consecutive defeat at Villa Park (The Manila Times / AFP). Enzo Maresca had become the first manager to win his first seven Premier League games in charge of a new club, but he failed to find a solution to City’s struggles at a ground where they have now lost for the past four seasons (The Manila Times / AFP).
Nicolas Jackson struck twice for Unai Emery’s men. The Senegal international pounced on an error by Marc Guehi to fire Villa ahead after just six minutes, and although Erling Haaland headed in an equaliser early in the second half — his 13th goal in 10 games this season — Villa swiftly responded as Gianluigi Donnarumma failed to keep out Jackson’s low shot on the hour mark (The Manila Times / AFP). Another of Villa’s new signings, goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, thwarted City with a string of stunning saves (The Manila Times / AFP).
Maresca was honest about the shortcoming. “We lost because we probably are not being clinical enough in their box,” he said (The Manila Times / AFP). Emery, whose Europa League-winning side was decimated by high-profile departures in the transfer window, savoured the rebuild taking shape: “A fantastic day to share with our supporters in Villa Park. We felt that this is our fortress and the energy the supporters gave us was really fantastic” (The Manila Times / AFP).
Arsenal’s centre-backs do it without Saka
Arsenal took full advantage to move alongside City on 21 points from eight games with a routine 2-0 win against Everton, although City retain a superior goal difference (NDTV Sports). Shorn of Bukayo Saka — injured in the midweek Champions League draw at Bayern Munich, with a thigh problem reported to leave him facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines — Arsenal had to rely on their set-piece prowess to get the job done (The Manila Times / AFP; NDTV Sports).
Ezri Konsa bundled in his first goal for the club — after Everton failed to clear a corner — to open the scoring on seven minutes, the defender having joined from Aston Villa in August (The Manila Times / AFP; NDTV Sports). Fellow centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes doubled the lead in the 68th minute, heading in a cross from Ben White (Soccer Laduma). With Saka out, Mikel Arteta picked Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze as his wide players — and still found the win comfortable. “We had some problems to finish the actions, but we scored from a set-piece,” Arteta said. “That gave us the confidence and composure to go and dominate the game” (IOL / AFP).
Stamford Bridge: an own goal, a red card and 42 years of hurt ended
The day’s chaos peaked in the London derby. Tottenham won at Chelsea for just the second time in 42 visits to Stamford Bridge, as Mike Penders’s own goal and a Cole Palmer red card cost the Blues in a 2-0 defeat (The Manila Times / AFP). After 76 goalless, rain-lashed minutes, Spurs exacted swift revenge: Mateus Fernandes’s in-swinging corner should have been caught by Penders, but the 21-year-old — making his first league start in the absence of Emiliano Martinez following jaw surgery — opted for a punch that was completely mistimed, diverting the ball into his own net (NDTV Sports).
Three minutes later, Chelsea’s afternoon collapsed entirely. Palmer had been booked in the 70th minute after forcefully shoving the prone Fernandes, and he was then dismissed for a second yellow after a late challenge in which he landed his foot on the leg of former team-mate Conor Gallagher (ESPN). Mathys Tel wrapped up Tottenham’s triumph in the 87th minute, running from the halfway line before drilling a fine finish into the bottom corner (Soccer Laduma; NDTV Sports).
Palmer’s red card carried two milestones of its own. It was the first of his senior career, and it took Chelsea to 100 dismissals in the Premier League — making the London club only the third team to reach that milestone, after Everton (113) and Arsenal (110) (ESPN). His one-match suspension will be served in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup trip to Liverpool, leaving him available for next weekend’s home game against Manchester United (ESPN). The win lifted Tottenham out of the bottom three and up to 12th with nine points, while Chelsea stayed fourth on 13 (IOL / AFP; QNA via Daily Imroz). Elsewhere, Oscar Bobb’s 80th-minute goal gave Fulham a 1-0 win at Coventry that also moved them clear of the relegation zone (QNA via Daily Imroz).
What a single Saturday did to the season
First, the title race is now a race. Eight games in, City and Arsenal are locked on 21 points, separated only by goal difference — and City’s aura of inevitability died at the one ground that never believed in it. Maresca’s men dominated large spells at Villa Park and still lost, undone by a former Chelsea striker in Jackson and a goalkeeper, Suzuki, having the game of his life (The Manila Times / AFP). Perfection is gone; vulnerability has a postcode.
Second, Arsenal’s depth passed its first real examination. Losing Saka — the creative inspiration of the side — in the same week as a Champions League trip to Bayern could have derailed the Gunners. Instead, Arteta’s set-piece machine produced goals from both centre-backs and a clean sheet, the signature of a squad built to survive exactly this kind of absence (NDTV Sports; IOL / AFP).
Third, the pressure now moves to Old Trafford. Sunday’s spotlight falls on Manchester United boss Michael Carrick, whose side face Bournemouth on a seven-game winless streak that has plunged his future into doubt just months after he was hired (IOL / AFP). After a Saturday when the leaders finally bled and the season’s first red card for its brightest young star wrote itself into the record books, the Premier League’s eighth weekend has one more act still to play.