FFT's Joe Brewin reflects on a goal-fest in the Premier League, as Chelsea make it four from four thanks to Diego Costa's hat-trick...
Arsenal 2-2 Man City
In some ways same old Arsenal, in many not so much. The Gunners will feel aggrieved to have walked away with just a point after valiantly battling back from Sergio Aguero's deflating opener, but really have only themselves to blame for conceding a late equaliser from a corner.
On a more positive note, however, this was the performance Arsenal fans have long awaited against a fellow big side. They won only one game against top-five finishers last season, and looked set to hit their stride this time out when Alexis Sanchez complemented Jack Wilshere's equaliser with a sumptuous volley on 74 minutes. But it wasn't to be.
Arsene Wenger's men began brightly, stringing together quick passes and firing 4 efforts at Joe Hart's goal. New signing Danny Welbeck should have put them ahead but his lob bounced off the post to safety. "We've seen this before," grumbled one Arsenal fan, "good start and then we concede." They were right.
City gained confidence after Aguero's opener, but the hosts were undeterred. Manuel Pellegrini's men were forced to concede several fouls in dangerous positions before the break, but none of those free-kicks were converted into Gunners goals.
It was turning out to be a proper midfield battle; perhaps unsurprisingly, given Pellegrini's somewhat unadventurous line-up. In the absence of "tired" Yaya Toure, the Chilean plumped for Fernandinho alongside debutant Frank Lampard (brought off at half-time with a booking to his name) and James Milner wide.
As the second half wore on, though, it was Arsenal's engine room that upped their game. Wilshere was excellent with the kind of man-of-the-match display that dared any manager to play him defensively ever again, and got his goal after gliding past Gael Clichy and firing home. Then he teed up team-mate Sanchez – perhaps the only constant attacking threat for the hosts, despite not everything he tried coming off – for a super volley that should have won the game.
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But by full-time Wenger could only rue defensive lapses and an injury to Mathieu Debuchy. "It's a very encouraging game but the way we conceded the goal almost killed our game," admitted the Frenchman. "It was a mental blow and we could have lost after that."
One man, three goals and another encouraging win for the title favourites. Diego Costa might just be the most popular man in west London right now after notching his fifth, sixth and seventh goals of the season against a Swansea side who started this game second.
They began brightly at Stamford Bridge too, taking the lead via John Terry's own goal after outpassing and outshooting their surprised rivals. Like most matches the Swans play, it was all about patience; most of their possession was in safe areas, and in each half they completed only 12 passes in the attacking third.
After the break Chelsea were a different beast. After being outpassed in the first half they almost doubled the Swans' tally in the second, prodding and poking around the Welsh side's penalty area as they looked to build on Costa's leveller on the stroke of half-time.
They did, of course, as the Blues' new Brazilian striker ran riot. In 5 shots the Spain international netted 3 times – all from exactly the same position. As his passes received graphic shows below, Costa is happy to thrive on the service his team-mates give him simply by staying put in the right areas. Cesc Fabregas helped himself to another pair of assists, meanwhile, as his own brilliant start to the season continued.
"Seven goals in four Premier League matches is maybe too much," warned spoilsport Jose Mourinho post-match. "We cannot expect that after eight matches he has 14 goals. I think it's asking too much." Pffft, we say, at this rate he's on for 66 goals this season.
If Burnley do happen to fall short in their bid for Premier League survival this season, they may well reflect on days like this.
Boss Sean Dyche will have been tearing out the little hair he has left after seeing Scott Arfield's 85th-minute penalty saved by Palace keeper Julian Speroni, to give each side a share of the spoils and deny the Clarets their first-ever Premier League away win.
It's not like there wasn't chances – 26 efforts were exchanged between two sides – and perhaps in the end a point was a fair result for Neil Warnock's Selhurst Park homecoming, after a good opening half-hour from his side in which they hit the bar via Scott Dann.
But Palace fans may be a little worried how easily the visitors got a foothold thereafter, and that they were comfortably outpassed by the newly promoted side on their own patch. Four of the top five distributors were Burnley players by full-time, though Jason Puncheon was a typically creative threat by crafting 4 opportunities for team-mates. Nonetheless, something still isn't quite right with the Eagles.
Depending on when you read this, Alan Pardew may not even be Newcastle United's manager anymore. If he still is, you can be sure the already under-fire Magpies chief will be treading a very thin line at St James' Park after this debacle at Southampton.
Within 19 minutes Pardew's men were two down to Graziano Pelle goals, and cantered to victory with additional strikes from Jack Cork and Morgan Schneiderlin after the break. The passing statistics will say Newcastle completed 51 more, and attempted only 1 shot fewer. The reality is a continuation of their horrible form culminating in just 1 win from their last 11 Premier League games (against relegated Cardiff).
Before this game, the Magpies had only kept 1 clean sheet in their last 14 top flight games against Southampton, and never managed a shutout against them on the south coast in 24 trips. It took them just five minutes to succumb on this occasion, as Saints new boy Pelle headed home. Before that they could have already been two down.
"We want Pardew out," came the cries at full-time – and they're hardly new ones. The fans are still restless after seeing a fairly positive transfer window (the arrivals of Emmanuel Riviere, Siem de Jong and Remy Cabella) soon slip into a bad one as Pardew stuck on just three centre-backs: Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson and Steven Taylor. The lack of quality showed at St Mary's, and Newcastle paid a heavy price. Perhaps Pardew might before next weekend.
If you're a Stoke fan you'll be furious after Leicester completed a textbook smash n' grab at the Britannia Stadium – not that Nigel Pearson's mob will care.
The newly promoted Foxes grabbed their first win of the season through record signing Leo Ulloa, whose instinctive finish on 64 minutes earned his side an unlikely three points in the Potteries. In the first half they barely left their own half as Stoke peppered the penalty area in the absence of Kasper Schmeichel, but held their ground admirably to dig in and earn a vital away win.
Mark Hughes won't have been overjoyed with the profligacy of his side, who carved out 19 chances to Leicester's 7, but only when things got desperate did they really test stand-in shot-stopper Ben Hamer. Just 4 of their 24 efforts on goal were on target.
At half-time, Leicester boss Pearson made two vital changes. On came Danny Drinkwater and Argentine legend Esteban Cambiasso for Andy King and Riyad Mahrez, and sure enough the Foxes found a way back in as their additional midfielder helped them establish a foothold. They took the lead when Ulloa converted Paul Koncheskey's cross – his third goal in four games – and then withstood pressure as Hughes' men left frustrated.
Not the most of attractive wins for Leicester, then, but an incredibly important one in their so-far promising battle for survival. Cambiasso's cameo offered a welcome indication of what's to come. "His game management is exceptional," said Pearson. "He's a good communicator. His English is better than he thinks it is. Communicating on a football field; some people are very, very good at it and some people aren't. He is."
Effectively two points dropped for Tottenham after twice being pegged back by their hosts at the Stadium of Light. "Sloppy at both ends," was the post-match summary from FFT's James Maw after the final whistle. "Poor result for Spurs against a Sunderland side who offered next to nowt for probably 80% of the game."
Both sides exchanged goals within four mad minutes of kick-off; Nacer Chadli knocked in a rebound inside two minutes, before Adam Johnson equalised soon after with an excellent individual effort.
Despite the blistering start, a frustrating first half would end with the scoreline level despite Tottenham creating enough to hurt the Wearsiders. Etienne Capoue, who'd completed the most passes in the Premier League before this weekend, misplaced just 1 of his 54 before the break (and would end it completing 71 of his 75).
The second period continued in a similar vein for the north Londoners, led by the superb craftsmanship of Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela, and it was the former who restored their lead immediately after Sunderland failed to clear a Chadli cross.
Yet, despite failing to register a shot on target in the second half, Sunderland walked away with a share of the spoils after Harry Kane deflected a Jordi Gomez cross past Hugo Lloris. Football definitely isn't fair sometimes.
Finally, Everton get their first win of the season. Three times they'd thrown away leads before this, but showed no signs of doing so here against a West Brom side still looking for their first victory.
Romelu Lukaku's curled effort inside two minutes set the tone for an assured Toffees peformance at The Hawthorns, in which they protected their lead excellently by keeping the ball well and forcing the Baggies to go direct. Kevin Mirallas added a cherry on top with 25 minutes left to secure all three points.
"Everton preserving lead with excellent use of possession since half-time," tweeted Stats Zone after the break, with Roberto Martinez's men sitting comfortably and West Brom's wing play proving fruitless. In a clash of two styles, Everton's narrow approach (5 crosses attempted) beat the hosts' wide one (33 crosses attempted) as yet another opposition side looked to exploit the Merseysiders' aerial weaknesses. With what they'd shown so far this season, though, you could hardly blame them.
Unsurprisingly, there's the usual hat tip to Leighton Baines, Everton's playmaker extraordinaire. Only central midfielder Gareth Barry completed more passes overall.
For the fourth season in a row Aston Villa walk away from Anfield unscathed – but this time with three points. Paul Lambert certainly enjoys his visits to the red half of the city too, having taken his own unbeaten streak to four at the Reds' home.
Failure to deal with set-pieces contributed to this disappointing home defeat for Brendan Rodgers' men, after Gabriel Agbonlahor capitalised on some slack defending to score the game's only goal on nine minutes. That Philippe Senderos finished the game with the second-most efforts on goal is a reflection of the early danger caused by Lambert's men, who now face Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City before the next international break (oh, and then Everton and Tottenham shortly afterwards).
Incredibly, both sides tested the opposition goalkeeper just once – Liverpool with 18 efforts on goal. Questions will doubtlessly be asked of Rodgers, who chose to rest Raheem Sterling on the bench after the 19-year-old's busy week with England. Daniel Sturridge, meanwhile, was injured to his manager's frustration.
At times it showed; though Jordan Henderson was metronomic in his distribution as the Reds racked up a huge 652 passes, Philippe Coutinho took to ambitious shooting more often than playmaking as Rodgers' men created relatively little with their possession. As such, Mario Balotelli was afforded little service and was subbed after 70 minutes for Rickie Lambert.
Joe was the Deputy Editor at FourFourTwo until 2022, having risen through the FFT academy and been on the brand since 2013 in various capacities.
By weekend and frustrating midweek night he is a Leicester City fan, and in 2020 co-wrote the autobiography of former Foxes winger Matt Piper – subsequently listed for both the Telegraph and William Hill Sports Book of the Year awards.
