The second in our weekly series — reviewing every game from the weekend just gone, with a personal entertainment score out of 10 for each.
Crystal Palace 1-4 Manchester City
An expected result. Crystal Palace, with their new manager, underwhelming signings, and the loss of their defensive stalwarts, came up against a resurgent City side. After last week’s scare, City looked good this time — attacking with real intent.
Entertainment score: 7.5/10 — for the goals alone.
Liverpool 2-2 Nottingham Forest
The second consecutive game Liverpool have gone behind, equalised, gone behind again, and equalised. A good performance from Núñez, but the gaps in Liverpool’s team are becoming obvious. Iraola needs to work his magic faster than he did at Bournemouth, where he started slowly — he won’t get that kind of patience from the Liverpool fans or board. Yes, they’re attacking more than under Slot, but the defence, central midfield, and wingers are all a problem. Credit to Nottingham Forest — they’ve continued their away form despite a new manager, and Glasner keeps an impressive record against Liverpool.
Entertainment score: 7.5/10
Bournemouth 1-1 Everton
A last-minute Everton equaliser. Give Everton half a chance and they’re likely to get a goal a game — but they’ll concede one too. The game itself was largely uneventful.
Entertainment score: 6.5/10
Coventry 0-1 Hull
Two wins out of two for Hull. Coventry didn’t beat them last season in the Championship either — both meetings were goalless draws, and this game looked to be heading the same way. This makes Hull’s start to the season brilliant, and gives Coventry real cause for concern, especially with Manchester City up next. That’s now two away wins and two draws across the weekend, breaking last week’s trend of home wins.
Entertainment score: 6/10
Spurs 0-2 Newcastle
After the upheaval Newcastle went through — losing their best players and their manager just before the season started — credit has to go to the new methods clearly showing, with the players responding well after a year adapting. Spurs, by contrast, have too many new players and aren’t a team yet. De Zerbi needs time on the training pitch to fix that.
Entertainment score: 7/10
Chelsea 4-3 Brighton
Chelsea were 3-0 up. They’re giving us real entertainment this season. The 4-3 scoreline makes it look close — it wasn’t. Chelsea’s attacking prowess and a great midfield got them through; the defence and new goalkeeper still need work. But we were entertained, and this was also the first home win of the weekend.
Entertainment score: 8.5/10
Leeds 1-1 Brentford
A stalemate, and a genuinely uneventful one. Leeds’ equaliser came from Calvert-Lewin doing exactly what he does.
Entertainment score: 6.5/10
Sunderland 1-0 Fulham
Sunderland won this by being clinical. Arbeloa needs to understand the Premier League moves a lot faster than Spanish football — the passing and possession were good, but lacked purpose.
Entertainment score: 6.5/10
Man Utd 5-2 Ipswich
Ipswich took the lead, and the doomsayers were out in force. But Manchester United woke up — helped by a very lucky handball let-off for Maguire — and took control of the game from there. I still have my doubts about United. That defence wasn’t good enough four years ago, and it isn’t good enough now.
Entertainment score: 7.5/10
Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal
Villa surprised here. Despite being decimated through the spine of their team, they gave the champions a real game. But it’s 1-0 to the Arsenal again — built on a solid defence and a single chance taken. That’s all they need.
Entertainment score: 7/10
The Weekend Overall
A good weekend — some surprises, some entirely expected. The squads are set now; let them train, though an international break is coming up soon.
Overall Weekend Score: 7.5/10 — still no goalless draws. Goals all round.
