Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend | OneFootball

Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend, featuring the title race between Liverpool and Arsenal, Man Utd’s struggles, Chelsea’s ill-discipline, and more.

Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend:

Title race is definitely on

It’s too early to talk about a title race in September, but here we go anyway. Liverpool lost their first game of the season to Crystal Palace this past weekend while Arsenal beat Newcastle away to close the gap to the leaders to two points.

There was a sense in recent weeks that Mikel Arteta’s side could yet again let the title slide away from them after dropping points in big games and a slew of injuries to key players. The Reds, meanwhile, had a 100 per cent record despite not playing all that well.

But ‘Slottage Time’ worked against Liverpool on Saturday as Eddie Nketiah did his former club a massive favour with his last-minute winner at Selhurst Park. It looked as if the Gunners would fail to capitalise on that result, but a late comeback has seen them put the heat back on their main rival for the Premier League.

Hopefully we get to see the two teams go tit-for-tat in a closely contested battle throughout the rest of the season.

Read – Nick Woltemade refuses Arsenal star’s apology for elbow strike

Man Utd can still sink lower

Any notions that the previous week’s win over Chelsea was a turning point for Manchester United were disabused on Saturday as the Red Devils fell to a 3-1 defeat at Brentford.

An insipid display ensured that Ruben Amorim has still not overseen consecutive wins in the top flight since taking charge last November. He’s won just nine of his 33 games in the competition as they continue their slide into irrelevance.

The manager has no inclination to change his system despite what we can all see before our eyes. What is the point in playing three in the back when it can’t prevent the side from conceding the second-most goals in the league?

There is no sense that things are getting better at Old Trafford, yet Amorim seems unlikely to lose his job anytime soon. Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS appear unwilling to lose face and accept that they made a terrible decision in appointing the Portuguese.

Their pride will be the club’s undoing.

Read – Ruben Amorim admits Man Utd ‘really confused’ in Brentford defeat

Chelsea ill-discipline proving too costly

After going unbeaten in the month of August, Chelsea’s only win so far in September came against Lincoln City in the League Cup. And even then they only squeaked by with a 2-1 victory.

For the second weekend in a row the Blues were reduced to ten men after Trevoh Chalobah was shown a red card for denying Brighton’s Diego Gomez a clear goalscoring opportunity. They were fully in control of the game until that point, after which the Seagulls dominated proceedings to complete a brilliant 3-1 comeback win.

Just as he did against Manchester United a week prior, Enzo Maresca made defensive changes to shore up the backline, but to no avail. The Italian coach has to manage these situations, because you can bet it will happen again.

Chelsea are the most ill-disciplined team in the Premier League, according to Transfermarkt‘s fair play table, accumulating 15 bookings and two sendings off in the opening six matches.

It’s a pattern that has followed them from last season when they finished second in the above table. They were fined three times for receiving six bookings in the opening three months of the 2024/25 campaign, while Nicolas Jackson’s crazy red card against Newcastle could have almost cost them Champions League qualification.

Read – Chelsea ‘can’t keep giving away presents’ as red card proves costly again

The relegation battle is not turning out as expected

With all six of the promoted sides going straight back down in the last two years, there was a foreboding sense that the gap between the Premier League and Championship had simply grown too wide for any team going up to be competitive in the top flight.

And yet here we are after six rounds of action, with high-flying Sunderland sitting fifth in the table and Leeds United solidly in 11th. Although Burnley are third from bottom, Scott Parker’s men are putting up a real fight and would have gotten huge results against Man Utd and Liverpool were it not for late penalties.

Meanwhile, Wolves and West Ham United are languishing badly, occupying the bottom two spots in the tables. The Hammers have already changed managers, swapping Graham Potter for Nuno Espirito Santo. Conversely, Wanderers handed their man, Vitor Pereira, a new deal.

Both clubs should be very worried, even at this early stage of the season. While it wouldn’t be a shock if Sunderland and Leeds were dragged back into the mire, the fact they have already gotten a decent amount of points on the board gives them a huge chance of avoiding the drop.

Read – Premier League Weekly Awards as Nketiah stuns Liverpool

Man City winger proving doubters wrong

After two years of flattering to deceive, Jeremy Doku is finally coming good on the immense potential he showed as a young winger breaking through at Rennes.

The Belgium international only came away with one assist from Manchester City‘s 5-1 drubbing of Burnley, but he was an absolute menace throughout the game. He won 11 duels, completed eight dribbles, had an absolutely massive 22 touches in the opposition box, and completed 27 successful passes in the final third.

Doku’s star turn isn’t just coming against relegation fodder. Only three players have created more than his 12 chances this season, and two of them are Mo Salah and Jack Grealish.

The 23-year-old remains shot shy, but Pep Guardiola has tasked him with one job: feeding Erling Haaland. Two of his three assists have been for the Norwegian.

Read – Premier League Team of the Weekend – Haaland, Guehi, Welbeck

See Also – Ranking the worst Premier League away kits in 2025/26

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