Premier League matchweek 8 round-up: Villa end Man City’s perfect start, Arsenal draw level, Spurs win at Stamford Bridge, Bournemouth stun Old Trafford
SportPulses Desk··7 min
Nicolas Jackson’s double gave Aston Villa a 2-1 win over Manchester City, Arsenal beat Everton to sit level on 21 points, Tottenham won at Chelsea for only the second time in 35 Premier League visits and Manchester United lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth.
Key points
- Aston Villa beat Manchester City 2-1, ending City’s perfect start; Nicolas Jackson scored twice.
- Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 to draw level with City on 21 points; Tottenham won 2-0 at Chelsea.
- Manchester United lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth and dropped to 16th.
Matchweek 8 of the Premier League changed the shape of the table. Manchester City lost for the first time, Arsenal drew level with them on points, Liverpool beat high-flying Brighton, and both Chelsea and Manchester United lost at home without scoring.
Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester City
Enzo Maresca’s City had won all seven league games, but two individual errors ended the run. Nicolas Jackson scored in the sixth minute after a poor touch from Marc Guéhi, who was taken off at half-time. Erling Haaland, the league’s top scorer with 13 goals, equalised in the 52nd minute, but Jackson scored again around the hour after Gianluigi Donnarumma could only parry a shot into his path.
City dominated long spells. They had 29 touches in the Villa box in the first half, the most by any team in a first half this season, and Joško Gvardiol hit the crossbar after the break, but Zion Suzuki made a series of saves. Jackson has seven goals in all competitions this season.
Arsenal 2-0 Everton
Without Bukayo Saka, who is waiting on the results of scans after injuring his thigh in Munich, Arsenal made five changes and still won comfortably. Ezri Konsa scored his first goal for the club from a scramble after a corner, and Gabriel Magalhães headed in Ben White’s cross on his 200th Arsenal appearance. Arsenal had 20 shots to Everton’s eight. “It’s a big win for us,” Mikel Arteta said. Arsenal now have 21 points, the same as City, who stay top on goal difference.
Chelsea 0-2 Tottenham
Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and kept a clean sheet there for the first time since December 1986. Goalkeeper Mike Penders punched Mateus Fernandes’s corner into his own net, and Mathys Tel added a late solo goal. Cole Palmer was sent off for a second yellow card after standing on Conor Gallagher. Spurs had won only one of their previous 34 Premier League visits to Chelsea, and Xabi Alonso’s side managed just seven attempts, their fewest in a league game this season. Chelsea have now conceded eight goals from set pieces, double any other team.
Liverpool 2-0 Brighton
Brighton arrived with 23 goals in seven games and left without scoring. Pascal Gross deflected Florian Wirtz’s shot into his own net in the 17th minute, and Alexander Isak scored from Bradley Barcola’s cut-back four minutes later, his sixth league goal and his third game in a row with a goal. Brighton had 64% of the ball but only one shot on target. Andoni Iraola’s team have now won four in a row in all competitions; the concern is Wirtz, who went off with an ankle knock.
Manchester United 0-3 Bournemouth
Rayan, Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson scored as Bournemouth won comfortably at Old Trafford. Michael Carrick left Bruno Fernandes on the bench, United were booed at half-time, and they are now without a win in eight games in all competitions. Read our full analysis of United’s slump.
The rest of the weekend
Friday: Ipswich 1-1 Nottingham Forest. Saturday: Coventry 0-1 Fulham. Sunday: Crystal Palace 0-2 Newcastle, Hull 1-1 Brentford, Sunderland 0-0 Leeds.
Premier League table after matchweek 8
1 Manchester City 21 pts (+11). 2 Arsenal 21 (+8). 3 Brighton 16. 4 Liverpool 15. 5 Chelsea 13. 6 Brentford 11. 7 Leeds 11. 8 Newcastle 11. 9 Aston Villa 11. 10 Hull 10. 11 Everton 10. 12 Ipswich 10. 13 Bournemouth 9. 14 Tottenham 9. 15 Fulham 8. 16 Manchester United 7. 17 Crystal Palace 7. 18 Nottingham Forest 6. 19 Coventry 6. 20 Sunderland 5. (Calculated by SportPulses from this weekend’s results and the table before the round.)
Three things we learned
The title race is a two-team race again, for now: City and Arsenal are level and five points clear of Brighton. City’s warning sign is defensive errors: both Villa goals came from individual mistakes. And the bottom half is crowded: only six points separate 6th from 17th, which means two good weekends can change a club’s season. The international break is still two rounds away, and the next headline game is Liverpool vs Arsenal on 1 November. Follow the live Premier League table on SportPulses.
