Premier League Winners and Losers: Matchday Five

There’s still no separating the top three as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all kept pace with one another as Manchester City stuttered. Goals were aplenty in another entertaining weekend of top-flight action.

Let’s dive straight into this weekend’s action with the Premier League Winners and Losers of Matchday Five.

Winners

Chelsea

It hasn’t been a simple start to the season in terms of fixtures for Chelsea but the Blues maintained their unbeaten start with a comfortable win over London rivals Tottenham.

Thomas Tuchel’s men looked a class above their neighbours and he will be encouraged that the goals were scored from unlikely sources as Romelu Lukaku’s name took a rare break from the scoresheet.

The European champions have taken a point from Anfield with 10 men and have swept both Spurs and Arsenal aside. After Manchester City next week, Tuchel’s side have a very favourable run of fixtures and they look primed for a title assault.

Sadio Mane

Only 18 players in Liverpool’s illustrious history have reached a century of goals. Sadio Mane joined this club on Saturday, drawing level with Kevin Keegan but doing so in 99 fewer games.

The forward’s close-range finish wasn’t his only bit of history. He scored for the ninth straight Premier League match against Crystal Palace, the longest run of goals against a single opponent, beating Robin Van Persie’s run of eight games against Stoke City. The Eagles will be sick of the sight of the newly-crowned centurion.

Jesse Lingard and David De Gea

A double tale of redemption. Lingard came in for the usual barrage of criticism online during the week after having the temerity to commit a mistake in a game of football.

The 28-year-old put the midweek disappointment behind him and scored a brilliant winner against his teammates from last season at the London Stadium.

At the other end of the pitch, de Gea produced a last-minute penalty save to deny West Ham United an unlikely equaliser. The Spaniard faced 11 penalties in last season’s Europa League final against Villarreal and didn’t come particularly close to saving any. All of that was forgotten on Sunday afternoon as the shot-stopper saved the day.

Brighton & Hove Albion

As if being in the top six wasn’t enough, Graham Potter’s men now find themselves in the Champions League places. Ok, it’s very, very early days but the fans should enjoy every second of it.

They’ve found themselves fighting at the bottom for several years despite performing like a top 10 side. They rode their luck at times against Leicester City but held on for another big three points. You can now make it 29% of last season’s points total.

Bryan Mbeumo

Mbeumo formed part of a thrilling attacking trio along with Said Benrahma and Ollie Watkins in the Championship and now finds himself showcasing his skills in the top division just like the aforementioned duo.

The Frenchman had started the season brightly and grabbed his first goal of the season against Wolves, tapping in after good work from Ivan Toney. Only the woodwork denied him a second as Brentford claimed a deserved win.

In Toney and Mbeumo they have a strong attacking threat that will cause trouble for plenty of defences.

Leon Bailey

Leon Bailey saw Odsonne Eduoard’s impact from the bench last week and thought to himself that he’d have some of that too. The Jamaican international only appeared in the 61st minute of the game against Everton but was the difference maker as Villa proved too strong.

His corner was horrendous to defend against as Lucas Digne headed into his own goal before the winger raced on to Danny Ings’ wonderful pass to smash the ball past Asmir Begovic. Bailey will be hoping his days as an impact substitute are numbered as he will look to cement a place in Dean Smith’s starting line-up.

Xisco Munoz

Losing three of your opening four games wouldn’t normally be a cause for major concern but when you’re under the employment of the Pozzo family, any poor run is enough to make a manager nervous.

Watford had a brilliant opening day win over Aston Villa but hadn’t scored since. Saturday’s game against Norwich offered the opportunity to arrest the slide and the Hornets grasped the chance.

Ismaila Sarr scored twice as Watford deservedly took the three points and got his side back to winning ways after a recent poor run of form.

Arsenal

It was far from pretty, but winning ugly is not something Arsenal have been particularly adept at in recent years. Back to back 1-0 victories over two clubs in the relegation zone won’t have Gunners fans getting too carried away but it’s a platform to build upon.

Mikel Arteta brought in younger players in the summer and the first few weeks weren’t pretty. They’ll have gained a slight bit of confidence from these two wins however as they look to climb the table.

Southampton

Only the second team since October 2019 to keep Manchester City scoreless at the Etihad in the Premier League and they were unlucky not to beat them too. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side were brave as they brought the game to City and probably should have had a penalty when Adam Armstrong was fouled.

However, the Saints are yet to record a victory this season but it was a very encouraging display.

Losers

Everton

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Not a defeat to get alarmed about but one that will temper expectations a bit. In fairness to the Toffees, they did well to bring the game to Aston Villa considering they were without Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Jordan Pickford.

However, the good work of the replacements was undone in the second half as Villa powered past Everton. It should serve as a reminder that Rafael Benitez has done a good job so far but there is plenty of more work to be done.

Tottenham Hotspur

For years, Spurs were miles behind Chelsea both in terms of league position and results against their London rivals. Yet for a spell in the middle of the last decade, the North London side took on their more successful neighbours and went toe to toe, even finishing above the Blues on a couple of occasions.

Sunday’s defeat highlighted that the gap is widening once more. Spurs couldn’t complain at the defeat and the honeymoon period for Nuno Espirito Santo is definitely over.

The opening wins were somewhat fortunate and the underlying numbers make for grim reading. They may be only four points behind Chelsea now but it will be a quite bit more if they don’t improve.

David Moyes

A high profile recent example played out millions of people across the world saw Gareth Southgate bring on Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford in the last minute for a penalty shootout in the European Championships final and as we all know, they both missed.

Perhaps David Moyes didn’t watch the said final or perhaps he had enough faith in Mark Noble’s admittedly excellent penalty record. Either way, it didn’t work out and West Ham paid the price.

James Maddison

Had the Covid-19 pandemic not struck and the European Championships took place as scheduled in 2020, James Maddison would probably have found himself in the England squad.

Fast forward 15 months and Maddison now seems well down the pecking order. The creative midfielder was substituted at half-time in the defeat to Brighton and needs to find form quickly or his Leicester place may go out of his grasp never mind his international spot.

Odsonne Eduoard

Crystal Palace were very unlucky to lose 3-0 to Liverpool and were presented with several chances during the game, none better than Eduoard’s. The Frenchman found himself with loads of time in the box but took a poor touch that allowed Alisson the chance to clear the ball.

Eduoard needed to adjust his body shape to take the shot on first time and had he done so, we may have seen a very different outcome.

Wolves

A disappointing home defeat and it’s now four games out of five this season that they’ve drawn blanks. While Adama Traore has looked the most consistent in attack, some of his colleagues have yet to get up to that pace.

Francisco Trincao is still finding his way while Raul Jimenez missed a chance against Brentford that he would have headed home in seasons gone by but it was understandable, given what he’s been through.

Burnley

Turf Moor is regarded as a tough place to go to by pundits and opposition fans alike. This now feels more of an urban myth as the facts tell a different story.

One home win in 2021 is not a return Sean Dyche will be proud of and the Clarets need to find a way to make their Lancashire home a fortress once again. Their away form kept them going last season but should that fall by the wayside, serious trouble may loom.

Norwich City

Fixtures against Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester and Arsenal were a reminder to Norwich fans of how tough this division can be.

Saturday’s match at home to Watford offered the chance to kick start their season properly with the nightmare start now out of the way. This did not turn out to be the case. The Canaries were brushed aside by their fellow newly-promoted club and it is now 15 defeats in a row in the Premier League.

Luckily for Norwich, quite a few teams have made sluggish starts so they shouldn’t feel completely disconsolate but if results don’t improve they will find themselves cut adrift once again in the top flight.

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