A look at the weekend which was in the Premier League.
LAS VEGAS — Matchweek Three in England’s Premier League has concluded. Round 3/38 saw plenty of good football, saw plenty of highlights and leaves plenty to discuss heading into the international break of early September on the calendar in the best league in the world.
MATCH RECAPS
ARSBHA
- Arsenal 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 1
- Possession: ARS 42% BHA 58%
- Shots On Goal: ARS 7 BHA 4
- xG: ARS 2.23 BHA 2.24
- Corners: ARS 3 BHA 7
- Tackles: ARS 16 BHA 17
- Yellow Cards: ARS 3 BHA 2
- Red Cards: ARS 1 BHA 0
At Emirates Stadium, Holloway, North London: Kai Havertz scored a first-half goal for Arsenal and Joao Pedro scored a second-half goal for Brighton en route to 1-all draw Saturday morning (in the US).
MOMENTS OF CLASS
38th minute: The aforementioned Havertz scores a cheeky goal to give The Gunners a 1-nil lead. Declan Rice would be sent off 2H and the points would be shared on this day.
EVEBOU
- Everton 2 Bournemouth 3
- Possession: EVE 48% BOU 52%
- SOG: EVE 8 BOU 7
- xG: EVE 2.08 BOU 1.44
- Corners: EVE 8 BOU 4
- Tackles : EVE 17 BOU 27
- Yellow Cards: EVE 2 BOU 1
At Goodison Park, Walton, Liverpool: AFC Bournemouth scored three goals — including two in stoppage time — in a three-minute (plus stoppage time) span to complete arguably the greatest comeback the Premier League has ever seen in a shock 2-3 success over Everton on Merceyside Saturday morning.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
Minutes 86’-95’: The Cherries complete an epic comeback and leave The Toffees in the early relegation discussion in the process.
IPSFUL
- Ipswich Town 1 Fulham 1
- Possession: IPS 50% FUL 50%
- SOG: IPS 4 FUL 4
- xG: IPS 0.4 FUL 0.9
- Corners: IPS 8 FUL 6
- Tackles: IPS 13 FUL 11
- Yellow Cards: IPS 2 FUL 3
At Portman Road, Ipswich, Suffolk: Liam Delap and Adama Traore each scored first-half goals for Ipswich Town and Fulham respectively and said result stood up as both clubs shared the points Saturday morning.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
15th minute: A lovely strike from The Tractor Boys Liam Delap gives Ipswich a 1-nil lead over Fulham. The match would end 1-1
LEIAVL
- Leicester City 1 Aston Villa 2
- Possession: LEI 54% AVL 46%
- SOG: LEI 3 AVL 5
- xG: LEI 0.4 AVL 1.4
- Corners: LEI 1 AVL 4
- Tackles: LEI 25 AVL 18
- Yellow Cards: LEI 4 AVL 5
At King Power Stadium, Leicester, East Midlands: Amadou Onana scored a first-half goal and Jhon Duran registered a second-half goal to facilitate a 1-2 victory for Aston Villa over Leicester City on Saturday.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
28th minute: A skilled set-piece, team-oriented goal headlined by Amadou Onana gives Villa a 1-nil lead over Leicester on Saturday.
NFOWOL
- Nottingham Forest 1 Wolverhampton 1
- Possession: NFO 51% WOL 49%
- SOG: NFO 5 WOL 3
- xG: NFO 1.0 WOL 0.7
- Corners: NFO 7 WOL 3
- Tackles: NFO 17 WOL 25
- Yellow Cards: NFO 3 WOL 4
At The City Ground, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire: Chris Wood scored for Forest and Jean-Ricner Bellegard scored for Wolves two-minutes apart early in the first half and that result held as the points were shared in a 1-all draw Saturday on the banks of River Trent.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
10th minute: Forest ST Chris Wood heads one home to give the hosts a 1-nil lead over Wolves. NFOWOL would draw 1-1.
BRESOU
- Brentford 3 Southampton 1
- Possession: BRE 42% SOU 58%
- SOG: BRE 7 SOU 6
- xG: BRE 2.8 SOU 1.5
- Corners: BRE 2 SOU 8
- Tackles: BRE 17 SOU 15
- Yellow Cards: BRE 2 SOU 1
At Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford, West London: Bryan Mbeumo scored a double and Yoane Wissa added a goal en route to a 3-1 victory for Brentford over Southampton on Saturday.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
65th minute: Bees FW Bryan Mbeumo gets his brace off a wonderful finish amidst proper pressing football.
WHUMCI
- West Ham 1 City 3
- Possession: WHU 36% MCI 64%
- SOG: WHU 2 MCI 8
- xG: WHU 0.79 MCI 3.43
- Corners: WHU 3 MCI 11
- Tackles: WHU 11 MCI 15
- Yellow Cards: WHU 3 MCI 2
At London Stadium, Stratford, London: City goal-scoring super machine Erling Haaland recorded yet another hat-trick powering the club which has won 6 of the last 7 Premier League titles and the last four consecutively to a 3-1 humbling of West Ham on Saturday.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
83rd minute: We listen to the astute, dulcet tones of the great Peter Drury as Haaland records another hat-trick and City puts WHUMCI to bed.
CHECRY
- Chelsea 1 Crystal Palace 1
- Possession: CHE 59% CRY 41%
- SOG: CHE 7 CRY 3
- xG: CHE 2.3 CRY 0.4
- Corners: CHE 4 CRY 4
- Tackles: CHE 13 CRY 19
- Yellow Cards: CHE 4 CRY 2
At Stamford Bridge, Fulham, West London: Nicolas Jackson scored in the 25th minute for Chelsea and Eberechi Eze scored a goal in the 53rd minute for Palace to solidify a 1-all draw Sunday morning in the Chelsea section of West London.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
53rd minute: A special, cool finish from Eze gets The Eagles level as Palace shares points with The Blues on Sunday morning. Pure class.
NEWTOT
- Newcastle 2 Tottenham 1
- Possession: NEW 41% TOT 59%
- SOG: NEW 3 TOT 6
- xG: NEW 1.62 TOT 1.30
- Corners: NEW 7 TOT 12
- Tackles: NEW 17 TOT 23
- Yellow Cards: NEW 4 TOT 4
At St. James’ Park, Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle Striker Alexander Isak scored a goal and broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 78th minute to broker a 2-1 defeat of Spurs on Sunday morning.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
78th minute: The Isak GWG via proper team football.
MUNLIV
- Manchester United Nil Liverpool 3
- Possession: MUN 51% LIV 49%
- SOG: MUN 3 LIV 3
- xG: MUN 1.52 LIV 1.50
- Corners: MUN 5 LIV 2
- Tackles: MUN 33 LIV 25
- Yellow Cards: MUN 4 LIV 1
At Old Trafford, Manchester: Luis Diaz scored a double and the great Mo Salah added another goal en route to a comprehensive nil-3 drubbing for Liverpool over classic rival Manchester United in one of the Premier League’s signature fixtures on Sunday.
MOMENTS OF CLASS
56th minute: LFC great Mo Salah nets his 7th career goal at The Theatre of Dreams.
Creator’s Note: For my comprehensive take on this MUNLIV fixture, refer to Manchester United Minutes: https://darkseid.sport.blog/2024/09/01/manchester-united-minutes-3/
CLUB OF THE WEEK
Its Liverpool. Clearly, new manager Arne Slot has The Reds in a good place currently. This is not a surprise to me as I tabbed LFC to finish 2nd this PL term. Three wins in three. A pummeling of Man Utd away. LFC gets the COTW nod here.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
It’s Haaland, again. Let’s just cut the BS and go there…
STAT OF THE WEEK
KIT OF THE WEEK
BET OF THE WEEK
In my MW3 preview, readers were specifically instructed to play NFOWOL Both Teams To Score (-50) as the PL MW3 Best Bet. All I needed was a mere, swift 12 minutes to deliver you a winner. Pretty straightforward.
FINAL TAKE
As we head into the international break, it’s pretty clear to me City, Arsenal and Liverpool have distanced themselves as the T3 clubs in the Premier League. Yes, clubs like Brighton and Villa look capable, but for me, MW’s 1-3 were a show of force for certain top of the table clubs.
REFERENCES
- X
- Premier League dot com
- Wikipedia
- FB Reference
- PL Clubs on X
- OptaJoe
- CBS Sports App
- NBC Sports Soccer on X
- NBC Sports
- Peacock
- USA Network
- The xG Philosophy
Creator’s Note: The purveyor of Darkseid Sports has no affiliation, whatsoever, with any of the above entities, either in written form or depicted in corresponding images. The author of this writing is a passionate and very serious Manchester United and Premier League fan.
Darkseid Sports 
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