Some weekends refuse to follow the script, and Premier League Matchweek 7 was one of them. Ten games produced 26 goals and four red cards, five home wins, four away wins and a single draw, and it brought the end of two unbeaten starts. Man City kept their perfect record intact, Brighton hit five without reply, and Fulham and Bournemouth finally got their first league wins of the season. Here is how every game played out, from Saturday to Monday.
Everton 0-2 Chelsea
Everton's unbeaten start had survived six league games and, for 45 minutes at least, it looked in no danger. It was a niggly, stop-start first half in which referee Paul Tierney reached for his pocket five times before the interval, Morgan Rogers and Pedro Neto among those booked, and nothing much came of any of it. Then Chelsea came out for the second half and Neto needed barely a minute to fire them in front with his left foot. With the clock running down he did it again, another left-footed finish, to settle matters. It was no smash and grab either: Chelsea had 18 shots to Everton's six. The win lifts them from sixth to fourth, while Everton, who began the day fifth, slip to eighth.
Pedro Neto, who scored both Chelsea goals at Everton. Photo: BBC Sport
Man City 3-2 Ipswich
Perfect records are supposed to be hard to keep, and Man City made it harder than they needed to. Phil Foden put them ahead on 19 minutes after a pass from Jérémy Doku, only for Ipswich's Daizen Maeda to level within two minutes. Erling Haaland then did what Erling Haaland does, heading City back in front before the break and adding a second after 69 minutes when Iliman Ndiaye found him. That should have been the end of it, but Zian Flemming converted a penalty in the 90th minute after a VAR check, and what had been a comfortable game suddenly turned tense. City had 70 per cent of the ball and 19 shots to Ipswich's eight, so it was a late scare rather than a real threat. Seven wins from seven means 21 points and a three-point cushion at the top.
Erling Haaland celebrates scoring against Ipswich. Photo: BBC Sport
Fulham 1-0 Hull
For a side that had gone six games without a league win, Fulham could hardly have made the breakthrough any more convincingly. Alex Iwobi supplied the only goal after 33 minutes, finishing with his right foot from a Sander Berge pass, and that was about all Hull saw of the action. Fulham held 76 per cent of the ball, completed more than 700 passes and had 18 shots to the visitors' five, and not one of Hull's efforts hit the target. They also won ten corners to Hull's two. Ryan Sessegnon was sent off in stoppage time, a sour note on an otherwise tidy afternoon. The win is Fulham's first of the season, though they sit 18th, level on five points with Nott'm Forest and still looking nervously over their shoulders.
Alex Iwobi celebrates with team-mates after scoring against Hull. Photo: BBC Sport
Brentford 1-2 Liverpool
For 45 minutes, and for a good deal longer in their own telling, this was shaping up as the afternoon an unbeaten Brentford saw off a Liverpool side still searching for fluency. Keane Lewis-Potter had headed the hosts in front on 44 minutes, set up by Igor Thiago, and the home crowd had every reason to dream. Then came the moment that bent the game out of shape. Deep into first-half stoppage time, a VAR check turned a clash with Jérémy Jacquet into a red card for Yegor Yarmolyuk, and Brentford had to protect a lead with ten men for the entire second half. They could not manage it. Víctor Muñoz levelled on 62 minutes, finishing neatly after a clever pass from Florian Wirtz, and eight minutes later Alexander Isak turned the match on its head with Bradley Barcola setting him up. Liverpool ended with 21 shots to Brentford's 10, while the hosts ended with nine men once Vitaly Janelt collected a second yellow card in stoppage time. The win lifts Liverpool from ninth to fifth. For Brentford, it is a first league defeat of the season and a slide from fourth to sixth.
Alexander Isak celebrates with Bradley Barcola after scoring at Brentford. Photo: BBC Sport
Newcastle 0-1 Aston Villa
Sometimes a game is decided by who finds the target, not who has the ball or the shots. Newcastle had 16 attempts at goal on Tyneside, one more than Aston Villa, but only one of them was on target, while Villa put three of theirs there. One was enough. Johan Manzambi rose to head home after 36 minutes, set up by João Gomes, and the quality of the chances over the afternoon backed up Villa's right to the points. By expected goals, the visitors' openings were worth more than twice Newcastle's, 2.08 to 0.92, which tells you the home side's shots were mostly hopeful rather than dangerous. For Newcastle, three defeats in seven games is not what anyone on Tyneside had in mind. For Villa, the win lifts them from 16th to 12th, a climb of four places.
Aston Villa players celebrate at Newcastle. Photo: BBC Sport
Leeds 1-1 Man United
A point apiece at Elland Road, and neither side will be entirely satisfied. Man United went in front after 35 minutes when Bryan Mbeumo finished after being set up by Youri Tielemans, and it looked as if the visitors might take all three points. But Leeds came out with real purpose after the break and drew level six minutes into it, Dominic Calvert-Lewin finishing from a corner, set up by Tarik Muharemovic. From there Leeds held the ball, 61 per cent of it, and created the better chances, though the shot count finished 13 to 12 in United's favour. It was a scrappy contest, with 21 fouls and a booking apiece for Bruno Fernandes and Leeds's Gabriel Gudmundsson inside the first 20 minutes. Neither could find a winner. Leeds stay seventh on ten points, United are 13th on seven.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin celebrates for Leeds. Photo: BBC Sport
Brighton 5-0 Crystal Palace
If you blinked at the Amex, you missed the game. Brighton were three goals up inside ten minutes, and the first of them was an own goal, Crystal Palace's Jaydee Canvot heading into his own net on four minutes. Diego Gómez made it two three minutes later, set up by Olivier Boscagli, and Yasin Ayari added a third on ten minutes, set up by Charalampos Kostoulas. Kostoulas then scored one of his own early in the second half, before Jack Hinshelwood rounded things off from a corner on 84 minutes. Brighton had 17 shots, nine of them on target, while Palace managed five and only one that mattered. It was the biggest win of the week and it lifts Brighton to third on 16 points, with by far the best goal difference in the division at plus 18. Palace, 14th, have a lot to think about.
Brighton players celebrate against Crystal Palace. Photo: BBC Sport
Bournemouth 2-0 Sunderland
Twenty-nine shots for, three against: this was about as one-sided as a 2-0 can get. Bournemouth went ahead in the opening minutes when Marcus Tavernier headed in from an Evanilson assist, and on 17 minutes the game was effectively over as a contest when Kevin Danso was sent off for a professional foul as the last man. Sunderland did not have a single shot on target all game, managing only three attempts in total, and Evanilson added a second just after the break with a left-footed finish. The hosts held 65 per cent of the ball and completed 566 passes at 84 per cent accuracy. It is Bournemouth's first league win of the season and a long-awaited one. Sunderland sit bottom of the table on four points.
Evanilson and Ryan Christie celebrate for Bournemouth. Photo: BBC Sport
Nott'm Forest 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal can win games by hammering the opposition, and they can win them by waiting. This was the second kind. Nott'm Forest had only 26 per cent of the ball and still managed 14 shots to Arsenal's nine, but Arsenal had the patience and the passing, 629 of them at 90 per cent accuracy, and when the decisive moment came it fell to a substitute. Noni Madueke had come on at half-time for Eberechi Eze, was booked soon afterwards, and then took the game by the scruff of the neck on 80 minutes, finishing with his right foot after Declan Rice had picked him out. It was a victory that said plenty about Arsenal's temperament, if not their elegance. They stay second on 18 points. Forest, by contrast, fall four places to 19th and are in a worrying spot.
Noni Madueke applauds the fans after Arsenal's win at Forest. Photo: BBC Sport
Tottenham 3-1 Coventry
Monday's game was a more awkward one for Tottenham than the final score suggests. James Maddison gave them the lead after 14 minutes, a right-footed finish set up by Mohammed Kudus, but Coventry drew level four minutes into the second half through Jack Rudoni, and for a while they were the ones with the momentum. In the end Spurs had the greater moments of quality. Omar Marmoush restored their lead on 58 minutes after a pass from Andrew Robertson, and Ben Davies sealed it with a left-footed finish in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Dominic Solanke providing the assist. Tottenham had 65 per cent of the ball and five shots on target to Coventry's one, though by expected goals Coventry's chances were marginally the better ones. Spurs are 16th. Coventry are 17th, a point above the relegation places.
Tottenham players celebrate a goal. Photo: Getty Images, via Goal.com
Premier League table after Matchweek 7, and what comes next
Seven games in, Man City lead the Premier League table on 21 points from a possible 21, with Arsenal three behind and Brighton a further two back. Chelsea are fourth on 13 and Liverpool, up four places on the week, are fifth. At the bottom, Sunderland are 20th on four points, with Nott'm Forest and Fulham on five each. Matchweek 8 brings plenty to watch: Aston Villa v Man City at Saturday lunchtime gives the leaders a stern test, Arsenal v Everton follows in the afternoon, and on Sunday Liverpool v Brighton pits two of this weekend's headline sides against one another. Every fixture is on our Premier League fixtures page.
