The Premier League is now six matches into the new season and the table is beginning to take shape as the runners and riders jostle for position.
Arsenal remain top of the pile, despite seeing their winning streak ended in a 3-1 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. After making a shocking start to the Erik ten Hag era, United have now put together four straight wins to move up to fifth, below Tottenham and Brighton, who beat Fulham and Leicester respectively to maintain their strong starts.
Defending champions Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by Aston Villa, but are just a point off Arsenal and much better off than rivals Liverpool, who drew 0-0 with Everton in the Merseyside Derby. Chelsea are sixth following a very contentious 2-1 win over West Ham in an incident-packed London derby, while Brentford thrashed Leeds 5-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Ivan Toney.
Wolves picked up a much-needed 1-0 win over Southampton, Newcastle drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace and Bournemouth came from behind to beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 in a thriller at the City Ground
Here Mirror Football brings you the biggest talking points from a busy weekend of Premier League action.
“Scandalous” VAR decisions
Another weekend, another VAR controversy. But this time the officiating sunk to new lows in the eyes of players, managers, fans and pundits. The first storm centred around the decision to disallow Maxwel Cornet’s late equaliser for West Ham against Chelsea after an apparent foul by Jarrod Bowen on Edouard Mendy was highlighted by VAR.
“That’s up there with one of the worst VAR decisions made since it’s come into the game. Shambles,” West Ham captain Declan Rice tweeted.
“Beyond terrible” was Alan Shearer’s take on Match of the Day, while David Moyes was absolutely incensed in his post-match interview. “It was a scandalous decision, incredible,” Moyes said. “The goalkeeper spills it, it comes out of his hands about five or six yards, he actually acts like he gets a sore shoulder because he couldn’t recover the ball. The referee gave the goal, so I don’t know who sent him to VAR, but whoever did should get well looked at.”
West Ham weren’t the only side to feel aggrieved either, with Newcastle seeing a potential winner ruled out in their 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace. The Premier League have since said that they will review both disallowed goals with the officiating body the PGMOL "as a priority". Such a review can’t come soon enough.
World’s best penalty taker?
One of the performances of the weekend undoubtedly came from Brentford striker Toney, who scored a wonderful hat-trick in their 5-2 win over Leeds. Toney buried a penalty, curled a free-kick into the top corner and chipped in from range after a mistake by Illan Meslier to earn rave reviews from his manager and Premier League great Shearer.
Thomas Frank also made an eye-catching claim about Toney. “I’ve said it many times, [he’s] the best penalty taker in the world,” he told Match of the Day. “I know they’re big words, but I just speak what I see every week. How he does it, he’s so cool and composed and has a strategy for it.”
Unlike most other takers, Toney keeps his eyes on the goalkeeper, rather than the ball, before casually side-footing the ball in the opposite direction. “He’s really clever, really good at these penalties,” Shearer said. “We’ve seen his technique before.”
Shearer and Gary Lineker – both top strikers in their day – believe Toney has a good chance of being included in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming World Cup. their reasoning is sound: over the past year, of Englishmen, only Harry Kane (22) and Tammy Abraham (18) have scored more league goals than Toney’s 17.
Pickford’s timely performance
While players are currently focused on the Premier League, many also have one eye on the World Cup. It is now just 77 days until the tournament kicks off on November 21 in Qatar and Southgate has to submit a long list of names to FIFA on October 21. The clock is ticking and form is hugely important.
Players like Harry Maguire will be sweating on their inclusion while he’s sat on Manchester United’s bench, but those who are playing regularly still face challenges. Jordan Pickford has witnessed a build-up of pressure around his status as England’s number one goalkeeper, with Nick Pope, Aaron Ramsdale and Dean Henderson all threatening to take his place.
Pickford’s performance in the goalless Merseyside Derby therefore came at the perfect time. “Wow, what can you do?" was Jurgen Klopp’s response to Pickford’s showing, while Everton boss Frank Lampard was delighted with his keeper.
“Pickford made some great saves, you need your keeper to be on it in games like this,” Lampard said. “He got his fingertips on a few bits today which a lot of keepers don’t get and Allison the same, two top class keepers. I’ve relied on Jordan a lot he’s an amazing keeper and we’re fortunate to have a player of this level."
Cherries on top
A week is a long time in football. Bournemouth were thrashed 9-0 by Liverpool on August 27. By September 3 they had responded with a 0-0 draw against Wolves and a stunning comeback win over Nottingham Forest.
The Cherries went in at half-time 2-0 down yet came out after the break swinging after getting belief from caretaker boss Gary O’Neil. They won 3-2 at the City Ground to complete a remarkable turnaround in fortunes since Scott Parker’s departure.
“They showed belief in real tough moments,” O’Neil said post-match. "The first half, the scoreline was really harsh on them. I thought they were right in the game. We wasted some moments that we need to do better with. But I thought to come in two-nil down after what they'd given in the first half was really harsh on them.
"And then you ask them at half-time to believe. 'Go again, boys. This is what it is, we are where we are.' They respond. To respond at that point, with the week they've gone through, the quick turnaround from Wednesday, to manage to respond at half-time the way they did just says everything about what they are as a group."
Son’s struggles
Tottenham maintained their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with a 2-1 win over Fulham, but the game saw a continuation of a nagging problem for the team: the goal scoring form of Son Heung-min.
The South Korean shared the Golden Boot with Mohamed Salah last season, but has started this campaign sluggishly. He had four shots against Fulham, yet had no luck. He has now attempted 17 without finding the back of the net this season.
With Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski to compete with, he could find himself on the bench in the coming weeks, although Antonio Conte once again played down the issue.
“This is not only for Sonny (in the matches), but also the training sessions. We have Fraser [Forster] that sometimes he made a fantastic save to him in the training session and sometimes he is struggling to score but this is a period,” he said. "I continue to tell you I am not worried because when I see this type of performance from my players, Sonny included, I am not worried. I know they are going to score many goals."
United’s “missing link”
Erik ten Hag has a lot invested in Antony after he pushed hard for Manchester United to shell out £85.5million on the Brazilian winger, so he will be delighted with his immediate impact over the weekend.
Antony went straight into the starting line-up on the right wing and his potential was there for all to see as he opened the scoring with a composed left-footed finish from Marcus Rashford’s pass in the 3-1 win over Arsenal.
Ten Hag signed Antony for Ajax from Sao Paulo two years ago. He’s signed him again – for a lot more money – this summer and now needs him to deliver.
“He will be a threat in the Premier League,” Ten Hag said post-match. “We were missing a player on the right wing. [Jadon] Sancho and Rashford can play there but they prefer the left so now we have the missing link who can play well on the right.
“We needed that on the right wing with his pace and dribbles and expression. It (the Premier League) is going be a challenge for him but we saw his potential. We have to keep pushing. I set high standards every day. Everyone has to bring it every day to Carrington.”
