Cristiano Ronaldo had a fantastic return to Manchester United as the Red Devils smashed Newcastle at Old Trafford in front of a noisy crowd, while Chelsea and Liverpool kept pace with the new league leaders after easy wins over Aston Villa and Leeds, respectively.
To the untrained eye, Chelsea’s 3-0 victory over Aston Villa may appear to be a simple home victory, but it was far from it, with Villa unfortunate to be a goal behind at the break. During the first 45 minutes, the visitors created numerous decent goal-scoring opportunities, but were thwarted by Edouard Mendy’s intimidating presence. Following Romelu Lukaku’s opening, Mendy produced a superb save to deny Ollie Watkins, before demonstrating his athleticism with a double save to deny Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa before the break.
Liverpool’s match against Leeds began at a frenetic tempo in front of a raucous Elland Road crowd, but the Reds kept their calm to record a convincing away win. Trent Alexander-defensive Arnold’s abilities were put to the test against Leeds’ peculiar man-to-man system, but he handled it admirably in a performance that allowed his best skills to shine in advanced areas. The 22-year-old pushed forward all afternoon and assisted Mohamed Salah, the league’s most creative player to date, with a wonderful delivery. He finished with five vital passes and his second assist of the season.
Elsewhere Crystal Palace kicked off the Patrick Vieira era with a win over Tottenham, while Arsenal rose out of the relegation zone with a much-needed win over Norwich.
It’s that time of the week again where we bring you some interesting stats from the weekend’s action with the help of Opta data.
- 2 – Against Burnley, Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucouré provided two assists in a single Premier League game for the third time, previously doing so for Watford vs Wolves in October 2018.
- 5 – Andros Townsend scored and assisted in a single Premier League game for the first time since May 2019 for Crystal Palace vs Cardiff, while the Toffees became the fifth different side he has scored for in the competition.
- 100 – Liverpool had 30 shots against Leeds, taking their tally to 100 for the season in the Premier League. They’re just the second side since 2003-04 to have had 100+ shots in their first four Premier League games in a single campaign, after Chelsea in 2009-10 (109).
- 10 – Sadio Mane scored his first goal with his 10th shot in this match against Leeds, the most shots he’s ever had in a single Premier League game.
- 600 – Chelsea have recorded their 600th win in the Premier League, joining Manchester United (690) as the only teams to reach this tally in the competition.
- 500 – Wilfried Zaha has scored Crystal Palace’s 500th Premier League goal; 57 of which have been penalties (11.4%), the highest proportion of the 20 sides to score 500+ goals in the competition’s history.
- 2 – Odsonne Édouard is the first player to score a brace on his Premier League debut as a substitute since Sergio Agüero for Manchester City in August 2011 (v Swansea City).
- 3 – Crystal Palace have equalled their biggest Premier League win in a London derby, following two other 3-0 victories against Spurs in January 2005 and Arsenal in April 2017.
- 1 – Wolves have scored their first Premier League goal of the season through an own goal by Watford’s Francisco Sierralta, with Bruno Lage’s side having attempted 69 shots of their own before registering their first league goal of 2021-22.
- 13 – Since the start of last season, Leeds have conceded more Premier League goals via corners than any other team (13).