Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the Premier League is finished. Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are closing the gap at the top.
Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the Premier League is finished. Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are closing the gap at the top.
City’s lead at the top was sliced to one point after a 2-1 defeat at Molineux, which ruined the club’s perfect record in the Premier League this season.
Manchester City’s unbeaten run to the Premier League has come to an end after a stunning defeat to Wolverhampton on Saturday, with rivals Tottenham and Arsenal capitalizing.
City’s lead at the top was sliced to one point after a 2-1 defeat at Molineux, which ruined the club’s perfect record in the Premier League this season.
Tottenham moved up to second place with a 2-1 triumph over nine-man Liverpool, thanks to Joel Matip’s own goal deep into stoppage time. Arsenal defeated Bournemouth 4-0 to move into third place, one goal behind Tottenham Hotspur.
City’s setback came after Newcastle knocked Pep Guardiola’s team out of the English League Cup on Wednesday. Rodri’s three-match suspension in the league after being sent off against Nottingham Forest last week appears to be costing the defending champions.
The Spain international still has two games left on his contract and will miss Arsenal’s match at the Emirates next week.
Rodri is a crucial player. “We can’t rely on him,” Guardiola stated after Hwang Hee-chan scored in the 66th minute.
City fell behind in the 13th minute on an own goal by Ruben Dias until Julian Alvarez tied the game in the 58th. However, Hwang’s strike won a memorable victory for Wolverhampton and stopped the club’s four-game winless record.
That outcome gave Liverpool the opportunity to move top if they beat Tottenham later in the day. However, Jurgen Klopp’s club suffered its first defeat of the season after Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were sent off in each half.
Spurs’ Son Heung-min scored in the 36th minute, but Cody Gakpo equalized shortly before halftime.
With the game seemed destined for a draw, Matip put into his own net in the sixth minute of added time, ending Liverpool’s seven-game winning streak and extending Ange Postecoglou’s unbeaten start in the league since taking over as Spurs manager in the off-season.
Liverpool also had a goal by Luis Diaz ruled out for offside, causing the PGMOL, the governing body of referees, to release an apology statement.
“This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene,” read the statement.
Spurs are looking like the genuine deal after beating Manchester United and Liverpool at home this season and drawing with Arsenal last week.
“We’re still a team in its infancy in terms of the way we want to play, the age and experience of the group,” Postecoglou stated. “The manner in which it (the victory) occurred, in particular, has left a lasting impact and impression on everyone involved.” Another test for us today. We had to deal with a lot of challenges today and play a different game.”
HAVERTZ WINS
At Bournemouth, Kai Havertz scored his first goal for Arsenal with a second-half penalty.
When Havertz was given the opportunity to open his goal scoring account after signing from Chelsea in the off-season, the Gunners were already 2-0 up thanks to Bukayo Saka’s opener and Martin Odegaard’s penalty.
The Germany international had a rough start, which prompted his colleagues to assign him penalty responsibilities.
“Without me telling them nothing, to show that empathy to a player that has some question marks to resolve externally, they warmed me even more today,” Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, stated. “We’ve all tried to provide him with support and the right tools.” He’s accomplishing so much in the game. It was around that time, it was the question that had to be answered, and he did it today.”
Ben White completed the 4-0 rout, giving Arsenal a chance to leapfrog City when the teams meet again next week.
THE UNITED TROUBLES
Crystal Palace ended Manchester United’s mini-resurgence with a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag’s underperforming club has already lost four of its first seven league games and five of nine overall, prompting jeers from spectators at the final whistle. The defeat followed victories over Burnley and Palace.
Ten Hag chastised his squad for being out of step after failing to respond to Joachim Andersen’s goal.
“We got into good positions and we had free players,” he stated. “We didn’t make a difference.” In that section of the game, the quality was simply insufficient. We didn’t play our best game in the last stages of the game.”
LUTON WINNER
With a 2-1 victory at Goodison Park, Luton Town earned their first Premier League victory and increased the pressure on Everton manager Sean Dyche.
The visitors took a two-goal lead in the first half thanks to Tom Lockyer and Carlton Morris, and despite Dominic Calvert-Lewin drawing one back for Everton before the break, Luton took the points.
Elsewhere Burnley and Sheffield United are still looking for their first Premier League victories.
Burnley lost 2-0 against Newcastle, while Sheffield United fell 2-0 at West Ham.
STREAK OF WATKINS
In Aston Villa’s 6-1 thrashing of Brighton, Ollie Watkins scored his second hat trick of the season. He became the first Villa player to achieve that record since club legend Andy Gray in 1976-77, while Brighton had never conceded six goals in the Premier League before.
