Football at English top-flight never fails to entertain and it was a similar story in the second game-week of the freshly-started campaign.
A new Premier League was registered after the full-time whistle was blown at the Molineux on Monday.
A total of 44 goals was scored between 20 teams in matchday 2, a new record for the highest number of goals in a single round of games.
It was Gabriel Jesus’ strike in Man City’s 3-1 win against Wolves that broke the previous record of 43 goals in a single game-week in the 20-team Premier League era, recorded across February 5 and 6, 2011.
Three seven-goal thrillers, VAR controversies, and plenty of drama were witnessed, and let’s take a look at the scorelines of each of the 10 matches.
Results:
| Everton 5-2 West Brom |
| Leeds United 4-3 Fulham |
| Manchester United 1-3 Crystal Palace |
| Arsenal 2-1 West Ham |
| Southampton 2-5 Tottenham |
| Newcastle United 0-3 Brighton |
| Chelsea 0-2 Liverpool |
| Leicester City 4-2 Burnley |
| Aston Villa 1-0 Sheffield United |
| Wolves 1-3 Man City |
Three things we learned:
1. Leeds could survive, but their defense needs sorting out
Leeds United came very close to facing disappointment against Fulham. Marcelo Bielsa’s men had gained a comfortable 4-1 advantage over their opposition but conceded twice after the hour mark. Fulham had already once leveled the scoreline early in the match and only narrowly missed repeating it.
Leeds found themselves on the wrong end of the exact same scoreline when they faced champions Liverpool in their season opener.
Attack has so far not looked a problem in Bielsa’s team but if they are to keep afloat in the Premier League beyond this season, fixing holes in their very leaky defense is a must.
2. Man United need to speed up activity in the transfer market
It was a horror show for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford as he saw his team suffer a defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday. Neither Victor Lindelof nor his €87 million-priced partner was able to stop the opposition from opening the scoring and both again watched helplessly when Palace scored their third goal late in the game.
Man United’s attack was as ineffective as their defense as all of Daniel James, Marcus Rashford, and Anthony Martial were unproductive. It was the new man Donny van de Beek who was a spark of hope in an otherwise horrendous evening.
The match only highlighted Solskjaer’s team’s frailties in defense as well as in attack, most on the right flank. They must now aim to make use of what remains of the transfer window if they want to keep up with the others in what is building up to be a very competitive season.
3. Kepa needs to be replaced ASAP
Chelsea spent heavily in the transfer market with the hopes of taking the fight to the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City. But when they faced one of those teams, things did not go as planned for them.
Frank Lampard’s men were beaten by the champions at their own home. Liverpool’s quality cannot be downplayed, but Chelsea made the job much easier for them and it was Kepa Arrizabalaga at fault yet again. The goalkeeper made a sloppy error leading to a goal from Sadio Mane.
Arrizabalaga will most probably not remain Lampard’s first choice if, or rather when, Edouard Mendy arrives.
Player of the Round: Son Heung-Min
Son Heung-Min put an exceptional display against Southampton as he found the back of the net four times to guide his side to a 5-2 win.
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