Mauricio Pochettino listened to the boos ring out at Stamford Bridge after his Chelsea side slumped to another disappointing loss in the Premier LeagueAcross London, Ange Postecoglou was greeted by a standing ovation from his Tottenham supporters after another impressive performance by Spurs against archrival Arsenal.
The two managers’ contrasting starts to the season were underlined Sunday by Chelsea’s 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa while Tottenham drew 2-2 at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
Pochettino, the former Tottenham manager who took over Chelsea in the offseason following a chaotic season that saw the Blues go through three coaches, now has just one win and three losses to show for his first six games in charge. The latest defeat came after Chelsea’s Malo Gusto was sent off in the 58th minute and Villa forward Ollie Watkins scored the winner in the 73rd.
Postecoglou, meanwhile, is still unbeaten in the league after passing his biggest test yet in his first north London derby.
Son Heung-min scored both goals for Tottenham, which came from behind twice after an own-goal by Cristian Romero and a penalty by Bukayo Saka. The second equalizer came just 23 seconds after Arsenal had regained the lead, following a huge mistake by Jorginho, who dawdled on the ball in midfield and gave the ball away.
On a busy Sunday schedule featuring five Premier League games, Liverpool climbed into second place with a 3-1 win over West Ham at Anfield, while Brighton beat Bournemouth 3-1 behind two goals from substitute Kaoru Mitoma.
CHELSEA SHUT OUT AGAIN
Chelsea’s attacking woes were on display again despite dominating much of the game until Gusto’s sending off. The Blues have scored just five goals in six league games, with only one of those coming from starting striker Nicolas Jackson.
Jackson missed his best chance in the first half when he was teed up by a defense-splitting pass from Mykhailo Mudryk but saw his shot saved by Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez.
Gusto was sent off for a challenge on Lucas Digne that was upgraded from a yellow card to a red after a VAR review, and Villa took advantage when the visitors won the ball back high in the Chelsea half to launch a counterattack.
Levi Colwill slid in to block Watkins´ initial shot, but the Villa striker reacted quickest to seize on the rebound and lash his second effort past Robert Sanchez from an angle and in off the far post.
SON RESCUES SPURS
Coming to the hostile environment of the Emirates Stadium promised to be a good indicator of whether Postecoglou’s attack-minded “Angeball” style of play can work even in big away games.
Son and James Maddison made sure it worked just fine.
Maddison set up Son for both goals, first breaking in from the left and squaring the ball for a first-time finish to level the score at 1-1 shortly before the halftime break. After Saka restored Arsenal’s lead from the spot in the 54th, Maddison responded immediately by robbing Jorginho of the ball and sending Son clear through on goal to beat goalkeeper David Raya with a low finish.
“It´s a derby, it´s always a tough game. But the performance was fantastic from the lads until the last whistle,” Son said. “I think we gave everything so I think the fans can be proud of the game. Obviously we wanted to win, but I think the performance was perfect.”
RESURGENT NUNEZ
Darwin Nunez looks to finally have settled in well as Liverpool’s No. 9.
Nunez began the season coming off the bench but looks undroppable after netting his fourth goal of the campaign to put Liverpool ahead 2-1 in the second half.
Jurgen Klopp´s side has won five successive Premier League games after drawing at Chelsea on the opening weekend, to sit two points behind defending champion Manchester City.
Nunez netted with a 60th-minute volley after Jarrod Bowen´s diving header in the first half had canceled out Mohamed Salah´s penalty.
Substitute Diogo Jota made sure of the win in the 85th. Liverpool scored at least three goals in their opening three home league games for only the second time in the last 43 years.
FLYING HIGH
Brighton is third after taking its goal tally to a league-best 18.
The Seagulls trailed to Dominic Solanke´s first-half goal for Bournemouth but leveled through an own-goal by Milos Kerkez.
Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the season with a sixth successive Premier League win but it was not as serene as it might have been in a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest as they played the second half with 10 men.
Goals by Phil Foden and Erling Haaland put the champions in cruise control within 15 minutes but Rodri’s red card one minute into the second period after he grappled with Morgan Gibbs-White meant City had to work hard to seal the victory.
Manchester United also got a much-needed 1-0 win at Burnley to snap a run of three straight defeats in all competitions.
Everton registered their first league victory of the season, producing an impressive display to triumph 3-1 at Brentford whose home struggles continued.
Luton Town got off the mark as they drew 1-1 against 10-man visitors Wolverhampton Wanderers while Crystal Palace and Fulham played out a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park.
With half of the weekend’s fixtures being played on Sunday, City took the chance to move onto a maximum 18 points, five ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, who meet on Sunday, and Liverpool, who host West Ham United.
A City win never looked in doubt once Kyle Walker set up Foden to thump in the opener after a 46-pass move and Haaland headed powerfully into the net from a cross by Matheus Nunes.
But Rodri’s needless altercation with Gibbs-White, who made a meal of the City midfielder putting his hands on his throat in the 46th minute, meant the hosts were unable to coast through the rest of the match.
“We played, I would say, 51, 52 minutes 10 against 11, so it was not easy, but we were fantastic,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “I thought the way we played in the first half was amazing against a difficult side for the physicality, the pace they have up front.”
Asked about Rodri’s sending off which means he will likely miss three games, Guardiola said: “Rodri has to control his emotions. I can get a yellow card but Rodri cannot get a red.
“He has done it. He has apologised. The players in the pitch have to control their emotions.”
DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT
A trip to Turf Moor to face a Burnley side who are better than their league position suggests looked like a dangerous assignment for United but thanks to Bruno Fernandes’s sublime volley they got back on track to climb to eighth on nine points.
Fernandes met a superb Jonny Evans pass on the stroke of halftime and his classy finish proved enough for the win.
“Team spirit was big. The battle, the fight. It’s about winning. The last week a lot was against us,” United manager Ten Hag said. “It’s up to us, we knew that.”
Everton’s James Tarkowski scored versus his former club in a well-deserved 3-1 win at Brentford’s Community Stadium.
Abdoulaye Doucoure put Everton ahead in the sixth minute with a strike into the top right corner but Mathias Jensen levelled in the 28th with a shot that went in off the far post.
Tarkowski headed in Dwight McNeil’s corner after 67 minutes before substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin wrapped up the points in the 71st with an effort off the leg of goalkeeper Mark Flekken.
Victory lifted Everton out of the relegation zone and up to 15th with four points, while Brentford, without a home win this season, are 12th on six.
Wolves were reduced to 10 men at a raucous Kenilworth Road when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was sent off late in the first half for kicking out at Luton skipper Tom Lockyer.
Undeterred the visitors went ahead when Pedro Neto cut in after racing down the right wing and smashed a shot into the roof of the net.
However, Luton were handed a lifeline when Joao Gomes handled in the box and, after a VAR review, Carlton Morris stepped up to send Jose Sa the wrong way.
It secured Luton’s first point in the top flight since April 1992 and they might have been celebrating a win.
“But it’s coming. We were better again today. I’m not saying we should have got something from the game, I’m saying we should have won,” Luton manager Rob Edwards said.
The Hatters moved off the bottom, above Burnley on goal difference, with one point from five games.
Newcastle matched their record Premier League win with a scintillating display as they embarrassed winless Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
Any fears of a European hangover following their Champions League exertions on Tuesday soon vanished as Eddie Howe’s side cruised to victory with eight different players getting on the scoresheet.
Sean Longstaff put the visitors in front on 21 minutes as he swept in from Anthony Gordon’s cutback with the Blades’ appeals for a handball and claims the ball went out of play in the build-up dismissed.
Paul Heckingbottom’s hosts had started brightly but found themselves three down before half-time after a further two goals in four minutes for Newcastle.
Both came from Kieran Trippier set-pieces with Dan Burn stooping to nod in a corner at the back post before Sven Botman scored his first Newcastle goal with a well-directed header from a wide free-kick.
Callum Wilson missed a number of presentable opportunities before the break but got his goal 10 minutes into the second half, heading in from close range following another pinpoint cross from Trippier.
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With Newcastle seemingly able to carve through the Blades at will, it was the irrepressible Gordon who added the fifth.
The former Everton winger cut in from the left and effortlessly curled the ball into the far corner past Wes Foderingham in the Sheffield United goal.
Miguel Almiron slotted in number six and Bruno Guimaraes made it seven with 17 minutes still remaining against an increasingly despondent home side.
That was plenty of time for substitute Alexander Isak to pounce on another defensive error, turn his man and calmly finish to make it 8-0, the same score by which Newcastle beat Sheffield Wednesday in 1999.
The result is also Sheffield United’s record league defeat.
