Do Man City have their new De Bruyne? The Premier League action you might have missed | OneFootball

There may have been just four 3pm kick-offs in the Premier League on Saturday, but there was a lot of action.

With European football on Thursday, a good chunk of Premier League games had to be moved to Sunday. And that’s before you take into account the highlight of the weekend as Arsenal host Liverpool.

But the four games in the traditional 3pm slots more than made up it.

Erling Haaland matches Sergio Aguero

Erling Haaland went into Manchester City‘s game against Southampton in a terrible goal drought. The Norwegian hadn’t scored in three Premier League games!

He’d only managed a four-game goal drought once before, coming last season. After just 13 touches against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend, some might have expected Haaland to start slowly.

But it took Haaland just five minutes to put Southampton to the sword. And it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Haaland is the scourge of promoted sides in the Premier League.

The Norwegian has now scored in seven consecutive starts against promoted teams in the Premier League. He’s the first man to achieve that feat since Sergio Aguero in November 2017.

Do Man City have their new Kevin De Bruyne?

Man City have needed a Rodri replacement this season. But they may have found their successor for Kevin De Bruyne.

Matheus Nunes has had a slow start to life at Man City since joining last season. In his debut Man City campaign, Nunes played just 1,360 minutes across all competitions with 13 starts.

He didn’t fare much better to start the new season, but he’s now finding his feet. Matheus Nunes has now started three games for Man City, with two in the Champions League. The first came at the base of midfield in a 4-0 win over Slovan Bratislava. But in midweek he started on the left against Sparta Prague — a role he previously had a cameo in against West Ham United earlier this season.

In the West Ham game, Nunes produced an assist that Pep Guardiola claimed was “like Kevin De Bruyne could have”.

It’s a comparison Guardiola has made before, also saying last season: “Matheus played for the first game, not much time. [He] has this special quality like when you leave it with Mateo [Kovacic] or Kevin [De Bruyne] when he can start having the ball, it’s unstoppable.

“But [he] needs time still to improve and believe that he can do more than sometimes he does. But yeah, really pleased for the game he played.”

Nunes was scored a goal and provided two assists against Sparta Prague in midweek. And he’s continued his form, setting up Haaland’s goal against Southampton, meaning he has had a hand in each of Man City’s last four goals.

Ipswich do a Brentford

Brentford fans must be fearing going ahead in the Premier League this season. The Bees have dropped more points from winning positions (11) than any other side in the Premier League. It became a running theme particularly after Brentford had scored inside the opening minute in three consecutive matches.

So, in their game at the Gtech Community Stadium, Ipswich Town decided to pay homage. The Tractor Boys were still searching for their first Premier League win since 2002. They’ve started their return to the top flight with four draws and four defeats from their opening eight matches.

Ipswich thought they were on course for that elusive win. The Kieran McKenna’s men went 2-0 up at the Gtech, with two goals in a few minutes around the half-hour mark. Sammie Szmodics and George Hirst were the goalscorers, with the latter also assisting the opening goal.

But Ipswich didn’t even go into half-time ahead. Yoanne Wissa and an own goal from Harry Clarke pulled Brentford level at the break. Brentford built on the momentum in the second half, and eventually took three points with an injury-time winner.

Ipswich have now dropped 10 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, second to Brentford.

History for Bryan Mbeumo

The man to turn things around for Brentford Bryan Mbeumo, who has been their Mr. Reliable over the years. While Ivan Toney received most of the plaudits during his time at the club, Mbeumo was quietly racking up the goals and assists for the Bees.

In Toney’s absence last season, and since his departure in the summer, Mbeumo was truly stepped up. This season alone, Mbeumo has scored eight goals, just one off his best in a single Premier League campaign.

Crucially for Brentford, Mbeumo has been perfect from the spot, including two penalties scored this season. The second came against Ipswich on Saturday, which brought the Cameroonian up to an important milestone.

Mbeumo has now been directly involved in 50 Premier League goals, the first Brentford player to reach this milestone. And he wasn’t done there, scoring his 30th goal (to go alongside 21 assists) in the sixth minute of second-half injury time.

An unholy trifecta

Spare a thought for Ipswich’s Harry Clarke. With Ipswich suffering defeat, his head will be in his hands. Clarke will no doubt putting a portion of the blame on himself.

Although the announcer at the Gtech gave Brentford’s equaliser to Yoane Wissa, it was actually an own goal from Clarke. Wissa’s initially effort was saved by Arijanet Muric but was almost dragged into the net by the Clarke, who was sliding in behind the goalkeeper.

Shortly after half-time, Brentford were awarded a penalty when Keane Lewis-Potter was brought down inside the box. The man to bring him down? Harry Clarke.

Clarke’s trifecta was complete in the 69th minute when he was shown his second yellow card for another foul on Lewis-Potter. He’s just the second player in Premier League history to score an own goal, concede a penalty and be sent off in the same match. The first to do so was Jan Bednarek, in Southampton’s 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester United in 2021.

Danny cool

You’ll struggle to find a non-Crystal Palace fan not enjoying this Danny Welbeck renaissance.

The Englishman hasn’t really been the star man for Brighton in recent years, with another striker always seeming to be ahead of him in the team. Since joining the Seagulls, Welbeck has never scored more than six league goals in a single campaign.

He’s scored six goals in nine games this season, netting his latest against Wolves. The Amex has been a happy home for Welbeck, who has scored in four of Brighton’s five home matches in the league this season. He only failed to find the net in the goalless draw with Ipswich.

Welbeck has now scored in three consecutive Premier League matches for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign. He is also now just one goal behind Pascal Gross on the list of Brighton’s all-time Premier League top scorers.

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