Eight lessons learnt from the Premier League weekend as the BIG SIX coast to victory

Manchester United kicked off the Premier League gameweek five with a narrow win at the Saint Mary's over Southampton and that was followed up with wins for Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

From Bruno Fernandes’ strike to the historical goals for Harry Kane, we take a look at the lesson learned in the weekend as teams continue their push for success in the most competitive league...

𝟏. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐤 𝐓𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐠

Bruno Fernandes strike six minutes into the second half to seal a narrow win for Manchester United in an evenly contested match at Southampton, who would feel let down by the match officials.

With the arrival of Casemiro, United fans will be more relieved that Scott Mctominay’s involvement will become limited. The Scottish midfielder ended up being arguably the best player of the match for the visitors in what might have been otherwise had the officials fairly managed the game.

Scott Mctominay gave away five fouls, in which at least two of the first four should have seen him cautioned but he escaped time and again before finally getting a yellow card for his final foul late on in the game.

The 25-year old was also guilty of a clear foul in the area on the hour mark but again, United escaped as the referee signalled play to continue.

It is United's first back to back win since February and it's a promising way to back up their win over Liverpool and overcome a terrible start to the season as well as Erik Ten Hag's reign.

Against a Southampton side yet to record a win this season, it was a very close one that could have gone either way and United got away with one but more will be required when they face Arsenal in the weekend as Leicester City, who is their next opponent is currently in no man's land.

The imminent addition of Antony from Ajax will also help improve the team and more might still be on the way before the window shut on Thursday.

𝟐. 𝐑𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

The former Manchester City attacker bagged a brace as 10man Chelsea secure the win to heap more misery on Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City.

Having played over an hour of the game with 10men following the sending off of Conor Gallagher just before the half-hour mark for a second yellow, Chelsea dominated for most part of the game and Raheem Sterling hit a second half double to score his first goals for his new club.

Harvey Barnes pulled one back for the visitors but Chelsea held on for what was a deserve three points.

The two goals for Sterling have come at the right time into his fourth game for the club and these will give him needed confidence heading into the upcoming fixtures.

𝟑. 𝐄𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

The Norwegian bag a hattrick to help Manchester City come from two goals down to beat Crystal Palace at the Ethiad on Saturday.

Having gone last season winless against the Eagles, a feeling of deja Vu was already developing after 21 minutes when Joachim Andersen headed home a corner from Eberechi Eze to double the visitors’ lead after a John Stones own goal in the fourth minute had broken the deadlock.

City came back in the second half an entirely different team and after Bernardo Silva pulled one back to half the deficit, the Erling Haaland show began and he became unstoppable.

The 22-year old scored three different kind of goals, exactly when he brings which City had been starved of following the depletion in form of Sergio Agüero before his departure.

It was Haaland's 13th career hat-trick and more is to come for the striker, who now has six goals and one assist after only four Premier League games.

However, it could have also been a different story had Palace's third goal allowed to stand after Ederson threw the ball straight at Jordan Ayew, who fired into the back of the net but the visitors were denied because of a reason that is hardly justified.

However, it is the Premiere League, controversies never stop.

𝟒. 𝐒𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐧é'𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉ü𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐩

Liverpool recorded their biggest topflight win with a 9-0 humbling of Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday to earn their first win of the season, putting behind them the disappointing loss to Manchester United.

Liverpool scored nine and even Mohamed Salah was not on the score sheet and no one scored a hat-trick.

Six differed Reds on the score sheet plus an own goal from Chris Mepham, Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz the only players to score two goals as Fabio Carvalho also gets off the mark for Jürgen Klopp's side.

Surely, goalscoring is not the problem for Liverpool as they have scored in each of their previous three games, however, conceding in each, which is unlike the Reds is a factor affecting them these days.

The defence looks vulnerable under pressure. The unavailability of the midfield players suited to the German’s Gengenpressing has made it difficult to control games and as opposing teams get access to more of the possession, they tend to create more chances.

The return of Fabinho help steadied the midfield and it was the same in the loss to Manchester United. Once the Brazilian was subbed on at half time, they were able to get more holf of the game.

Klopp has also conceded the fact that addition is needed in midfield and if one can be brought in before the end of the window, it will help much in relieving the pressure on the defenders in the absence of their main midfielders.

𝟓. 𝐀𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥

Luckily, they were able to overcome adversity and win against Fulham but it could have been anything but a win at the same time.

Controlling the game under no pressure with the belief that the breakthrough is just about to come only for a needless error to cost them and they found themselves behind out of the blue.

Surely Mikel Arteta will have words with Gabriel for what was a horrendous play that handed Aleksandar Mitrovic a kind of goal no one wants to see their teams concede.

Good for the Brazilian he was able to produce the winner late on to hand his side the maximum points but the game was another reason Arsenal have to dig deep to ensure more incomings before the end of the window on Thursday.

The injury to Thomas Partey meant Mohammed Elneny came in and even though the Egyptian nearly put no foot wrong, his style of playing the simple passes limited the flow of the game.

Mikel Arteta knows this and given Partey’s injury records, it is still not safe heading into the season with only the Egyptian as a second option because he is not at the state of being competition for the Ghanaian.

𝟔. 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

Brighton now have 10 points from four games this season and remains one of the five unbeaten teams so far and this is even better than their good start to the league last season, which saw them at the summit at some point.

However, a great start to last season, which saw them won four of their first five games became a thing of the past when they went on a run of eleven games without a win.

Brighton finished ninth last season but there will be a positive feeling the the AMEX that the club can achieve the unthinkable if they can avoid such poor runs this term. They've also beaten Manchester United and West Ham United, two top teams this season.

A 1-0 win over the impressive Leeds United in the weekend ended Jesse Marsch side's unbeaten start and having also earned a point against Newcastle United in a game which they might as well have taken it all, Brighton are announcing themselves as one of the forces to reckon with this season.

𝟕. 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐨 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫ã𝐞𝐬’ 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝

Allan Saint-Maximin scored a late equaliser at the Molineux to rescue a point for Newcastle United after Ruben Neves had given the host a first half lead.

Newcastle will see the match as two points dropped even though they were able to salvage something late on but in the absence of their best player since arriving at the club in January, Bruno Guimarães, they would have know it will be a tough one before kickoff.

It was the first time Guimarães has missed out since making his debut and his absence was really felt on Sunday. Eddie Howe will hope he will be back in time for the next games.

𝟖. 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧

Harry Kane hit a double to equal Andy Cole for most goals scored in the Premier League at 187 to give Tottheham a 2-0 over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in Nottinghamshire.

Kane moved joint third in the all-time list and the win help Antonio Conte’s side maintain their unbeaten start to the season but the heroics of Dean Henderson should also not be overlooked despite ending on the losing side.

The Manchester United loanee made four crucial saves, including denying Harry Kane from the spot, his second penalty saved this season, with a one hundred percent save percentage from 12 yards.

Erik Ten Hag should at this time be contemplating reinstating him into the side once he returned from his loan spell as this is not only the first time the Englishman has show what he can do between the sticks.

He has also excelled on previous loan spell at Sheffield United and he will surely be more suited for the Ten Hag style than the struggling David de Gea.

Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi