Premier League Gameweek 4: Leeds Roar, Brighton Dazzle, City Dominates

Leeds roar, Brighton dazzle and City bend a derby to their will: how the Premier League really played in Gameweek 4

1. Leeds United – relentlessness at Elland Road

Leeds United 4-1 Newcastle United

Daniel Farke walked off Elland Road with a mixture of pride and irritation. Pride at the performance, irritation that a 90th-minute Newcastle goal blemished what should have been a statement win.

Leeds were ferocious. In the first half, they didn’t so much dominate as swarm. Wave after wave, white shirts pouring forward, Newcastle hanging on for the sanctuary of half-time. Jayden Bogle seemed to exist in three places at once, even managing to get in the way of Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goalbound header and unknowingly claim the goal himself.

Calvert-Lewin was immense. He bullied Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw, won everything in the air, ran the channels, linked play. A goal and an assist barely did justice to the authority of his display. Noah Okafor drifted in from the left and joined the fun with a goal of his own.

Behind them, the midfield three of Anton Stach, Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka simply ran all over Newcastle. They suffocated the game, pinning Eddie Howe’s side in their own half and never letting them breathe.

“A top-class performance,” Farke called it. He was underselling it.

2. Brighton – Lewis Dunk, 34, from 30 yards

Coventry City 0-5 Brighton

Two words defined Brighton’s afternoon: Lewis Dunk.

The captain, 34 years old and playing centre-back, stepped onto a loose ball and stroked in a 30-yard strike that most No 10s would be proud of. It was a goal-of-the-season contender and the perfect emblem of an emphatic away win.

What made the scoreline more striking was who wasn’t there. Fabian Hürzeler is operating without three of his main attacking threats: Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter have combined for just one Premier League appearance this season. Brighton still lead the division in goals, comfortably above three per game.

They dismantled Coventry. Malick Yalcouye punished soft defending, raising the obvious question of why Swansea barely used him in the Championship. Charalampos Kostoulas juggled the ball through a crowd for one outstanding solo effort. Dunk, “evergreen” barely covers it, wandered onto his long-range strike as if he were in a training drill.

In midfield, Pascal Gross and Yasin Ayari dovetailed beautifully, both getting on the scoresheet. Brighton looked a step ahead in every phase.

3. Nottingham Forest – Glasner’s grip tightens

Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest

Oliver Glasner did not just enjoy the win. He revelled in the performance.

“The performance, especially the second half, was really amazing to watch,” he said, and the tape backs him up. Forest came out after the break like a team with a point to prove. They were quicker to every loose ball, sharper in the duels, braver with their passing.

Liam Delap led the charge. Within a minute of the restart he thumped in a powerful effort from distance. He then headed into the side-netting and had another goal chalked off. On the day, he was the best player on the pitch.

Xaver Schlager, alongside James McAtee, controlled midfield with a mixture of bite and craft. Schlager sprayed diagonal passes and almost scored with a header from a Daniel Muñoz cross.

Muñoz himself tormented Villa down Forest’s right. When Ian Maatsen limped off after McAtee’s cynical challenge, Villa went down to 10 and that flank became a runway. It was no surprise that Forest’s winner came from that side, Morgan Gibbs-White adding a deft flick in the build-up.

And Neco Williams? He plucked one outrageous ball out of the sky that summed up Forest’s confidence. They look like a team on the rise.

4. Manchester City – ten men, total control

Manchester United 0-1 Manchester City

Strip away the VAR chaos and look at what actually happened on the pitch. Manchester City turned a first-half red card into a tactical stranglehold.

Phil Foden’s dismissal after 23 minutes should have changed the derby. Instead, Enzo Maresca used it to suffocate Manchester United’s greatest strength.

“They are a team that loves transitions and space in behind,” Maresca explained. With 10 men, City simply dropped off, denied space, and waited. United never found a way through.

The key decision came at half-time. Maresca sacrificed Rayan Cherki, his most creative player, and threw on Iliman Ndiaye. It was ruthless and it was right. Ndiaye ran, carried the ball, bought time, and pushed City up the pitch. Erling Haaland later compared his cameo to Neymar in flashes. Hyperbole, maybe, but it captured the impact.

Elliot Anderson, as usual, covered every blade of grass. City looked drilled, disciplined and completely at ease with the game state. Ten men in a derby, and they still dictated the terms.

5. Arsenal – champions win the hard way

Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal

This was not the Arsenal that shredded Chelsea. This was something different, something champions need.

At Sunderland, Mikel Arteta’s side had to grind. The football was rarely pretty. The contest was. Sunderland’s intensity and directness, built around Brian Brobbey’s power up front, turned it into a fight.

Arsenal did not shy away. They rolled up their sleeves. Christos Tzolis, roughed up at Villa Park a week earlier, responded here by tearing across half the pitch to launch into a sliding tackle after a decision went against him. It set the tone.

The pivotal spell arrived early in the second half. Enzo Le Fée stepped up from the spot, only for David Raya – arguably the league’s standout goalkeeper right now – to guess right and save. Within moments, Bruno Guimarães came off the bench and thrashed in a spectacular long-range strike.

From there, Arsenal dug in. Sunderland kept coming, Brobbey kept pinning defenders, but the champions did not crack. Those fragile Arsenal days feel a long way away.

6. Hull City – fearless at the Bridge

Chelsea 2-2 Hull City

Most newly promoted teams cling to a point at Stamford Bridge. Hull tried to steal all three.

Sergej Jakirović’s side refused to retreat in the closing stages, pouring forward and almost snatching it when Mohamed-Ali Cho failed to connect cleanly with yet another wicked Ryan Giles cross. The ambition told its own story.

Written off as relegation fodder before a ball was kicked, Hull now have eight points from four games – the third-best start by a promoted side in Premier League history. The structure is clear: a compact 5-4-1 low block without the ball. But they are not just spoilers.

Mohamed Belloumi is the creative heartbeat, drifting into pockets, slipping passes, and scoring twice at Chelsea. Hull can hurt you when they break.

And when it comes to work rate, look at the 92nd minute: Regan Slater nicking the ball off Valentin Barco, still pressing, still sprinting. Jakirović has them running, and believing.

7. Fulham – Arbeloa finds a foothold

Liverpool 0-0 Fulham

Alvaro Arbeloa has been demanding more. At Anfield, he finally got it.

After a bruising start to the season, Fulham delivered a disciplined, intelligent performance that earned far more than a routine point. They restricted Liverpool to scraps and offered a genuine threat of their own.

David Affengruber, on his Premier League debut, stepped into the back line in place of Joachim Andersen and looked assured. Ahead of him, Alex Iwobi drifted off the left into the “inside winger in the pocket” role Arbeloa described, linking cleverly with Antonee Robinson and unsettling Liverpool’s shape.

Josh King did what Josh King does: running in behind, rolling defenders, sitting Dominik Szoboszlai down with a sharp chop. You watch him and think Fulham should enjoy him while they can.

The only thing missing was a goal. Gonzalo Garcia’s effort was destined for the net until Jeremy Jacquet hooked it off the line. On another day, Fulham leave with a famous win.

8. Bournemouth – beauty without the finish

Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford

Marco Rose liked what he saw. Up to a point.

“I liked the way we attacked,” the Bournemouth head coach said. “Even after the equaliser, my feeling was that we can win the game.” The feeling was right. The finishing was not.

Bournemouth are becoming the connoisseur’s team: lovely to watch, frustrating in the details. One sweeping move in the final 15 minutes – Ryan Christie to Alex Scott to Tyler Adams to Marcus Tavernier, Rayan at the end of it – was outstanding until the final shot, which dribbled tamely wide. That, in miniature, is their season so far.

Antonio Silva, Rayan and Scott all missed big chances. Evanilson led the line smartly, mixing hold-up play with runs in behind that Silva found repeatedly from deep. Brentford never looked comfortable.

Yet again, though, Bournemouth let a lead slip. Four games, four times ahead, no wins. Individual errors keep dragging them back. The performances say one thing. The table says another.

9. Ipswich Town – Leif Davis, everywhere

Crystal Palace 2-3 Ipswich Town

Gary O’Neil felt Ipswich deserved to win. The numbers agree.

More shots, more efforts on target, more touches in the box, an xG at least double Crystal Palace’s – it all paints the same picture. Yet the game itself was chaotic, especially once Axel Disasi’s first-half red card handed Ipswich a man advantage.

Oddly, Ipswich were under serious pressure for a spell in the second half and survived a glaring miss from Anan Khalaili at 2-2. Palace should have scored. They didn’t.

O’Neil could point, with justification, to chances squandered just after the break. But the real headline belonged to Leif Davis. The left-back delivered a wonderful cross for the first goal, then scored the second himself, then set up the third by heading against the bar for a team-mate to finish.

A full-back deciding a Premier League game almost single-handedly. Not bad at all.

10. Sunderland – the Brobbey clinic

Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal

If you want a masterclass in playing with your back to goal, study Brian Brobbey’s 94 minutes against Arsenal.

By the end, the notebook tally read nine successful pins of Ezri Konsa, each time taking the ball under pressure, fending off the defender and finding a team-mate. This wasn’t data from a tracking system. This was the naked eye watching a centre-forward make life miserable for elite defenders.

Sunderland leaned into his strengths. Direct, high-intensity football, early balls into Brobbey, bodies around him. Within two minutes, Granit Xhaka had robbed Myles Lewis-Skelly. Moments later, Brobbey barged Konsa over in a press that set the tone. Arsenal got the message: this would be a fight.

The match pivoted on two moments in quick succession. Enzo Le Fée’s penalty was saved by David Raya; Bruno Guimarães then lashed in from distance at the other end. Sunderland kept pushing, Brobbey kept battling, but the game had gone.

The performance, though, hinted at a team that will trouble plenty of sides.

11. Chelsea – goals at one end, chaos at the other

Chelsea 2-2 Hull City

Chelsea score. Chelsea concede. Rinse, repeat.

Twenty league games now without a clean sheet. Hull were the latest to feast on a defence that looks brittle both individually and collectively.

The start was promising. Cole Palmer, João Pedro and Morgan Rogers combined smoothly for an early goal after seven minutes. It looked slick, almost effortless. Then came the familiar slapstick.

“Don’t let the ball bounce” is defending 101. Chelsea let it bounce twice before Hull’s equaliser. Malo Gusto, Jorrel Hato and Wesley Fofana all played their part in the mess. Xabi Alonso did not hide his frustration: “If you are soft or if you are not prepared, you will get punished and we have been punished in that way.”

The problems run deeper than one phase. Chelsea are alarmingly open in transition, and the absence of Moisés Caicedo leaves a gaping hole in midfield.

Yet the spectacle is undeniable. In the final minutes, Chelsea threw on Palmer, Rogers, João Pedro, Estevão and Danny Welbeck in a desperate bid to win it. Hull, instead of folding, pressed Valentin Barco and the midfield into mistakes. It was breathless, chaotic, and utterly on-brand for this Chelsea.

12. Everton – solid, but is that enough?

Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Everton

Was this a point earned or a chance wasted?

David Moyes admitted Spurs “nearly blew Everton away” in the first 15 minutes, but he was also right to point out that Jordan Pickford “didn’t have much to do.” The first real save he made, from Mateus Fernandes after the interval, was a tame effort. The second, in the 89th minute, came after his own poor pass and bailed him out.

Everton had to work. Jarrad Branthwaite threw himself in front of shots, with two blocks from Fernandes and Sandro Tonali particularly eye-catching. James Garner snapped into tackles in front of him and still found the energy to join attacks.

Garner helped create Everton’s best opening, combining with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to tee up Brennan Johnson. Dewsbury-Hall then had a chance of his own after Antonín Kinský tried “the most dangerous pass in football” at the wrong time, much like Alisson had done for Liverpool against Fulham.

Everton were organised and competitive. But against a Spurs side drained of belief, could they have shown more ambition? That question will nag.

13. Tottenham Hotspur – confidence on empty

Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Everton

Same script, different day.

For 15 minutes, Spurs looked alive. They pressed, they moved, they played with energy. Yet even in that bright spell, they never really threatened to score. When Mateus Fernandes was slipped in by Sávio on six minutes, he just needed to shoot. Instead he rolled his foot over the ball, hesitated, and the moment vanished.

That hesitation sums them up. Spurs look like a team paralysed by a lack of confidence. After the early promise, they reverted to sideways, safety-first football.

One sequence late in the first half told the story. Micky van de Ven won the ball in the centre circle. Tonali went sideways to Fernandes. Fernandes went back to Tonali. Tonali found Rodrigo Bentancur, standing next to Fernandes. Bentancur went back again. The crowd’s patience snapped. So did Roberto De Zerbi’s on the touchline.

Five minutes from time, Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Bergvall exchanged a pointless bounce pass that infuriated coach and supporters alike. Spurs mustered just two shots on target, one greeted with ironic cheers.

The structure is there. The belief is not.

14. Brentford – Schade or nothing

Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford

This was not the Brentford that tore through Spurs on opening day or dominated Leeds for 45 minutes at Elland Road. This version looked disjointed, short of ideas, and reliant on one man.

Kevin Schade scored both goals and later admitted Brentford were “lucky” to escape with a point. He was right. Those two strikes were their only efforts on target, and one came from a gift of a pass by Bournemouth goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

Brentford never found their rhythm, even when ahead. Bournemouth’s wastefulness kept them in the game.

Mamadou Sangaré, so influential in the first two matches, flickered only briefly here, involved in the build-up to the opener after robbing Adrien Truffert. The bigger worry is Igor Thiago. Still without a Premier League goal, he offered little at Bournemouth. Right now, Brentford’s attacking threat begins and ends with Schade.

15. Liverpool – back to flat

Liverpool 0-0 Fulham

Andoni Iraola put it plainly: “It’s the kind of game that you need to win sometimes with a set play or a moment of brilliance from the offensive players.”

Liverpool had chances from dead balls. Victor Muñoz forced Bernd Leno into a save with a header. In stoppage time, a half-opening fell to Alexander Isak, but it fizzled out. The moment of brilliance never arrived.

Bradley Barcola is still chasing full sharpness. Florian Wirtz endured a difficult afternoon, his best contribution a neat flick to send Barcola into space, only for the cutback to miss its target. That sequence summed up Liverpool’s day: nearly, not quite.

After back-to-back wins over Ipswich and Atletico Madrid, Liverpool looked drained. Flat in their running, short on ideas, and unable to inject tempo into their play. Fulham were organised but hardly ferocious. Liverpool simply lacked the spark to break them down.

16. Aston Villa – Emery’s warning shot

Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest

Unai Emery did not hide behind refereeing decisions.

He felt James McAtee’s challenge on Ian Maatsen should have brought a red card, but he refused to use it as a shield. “How we played today, we didn’t deserve more,” he said. “It’s not an excuse in the second half — we played so, so poor.”

The numbers were damning. Forest had 22 shots to Villa’s seven. Emery emptied his bench by the 63rd minute in an attempt to change the flow, and paid for it when Maatsen limped off, leaving Villa with 10 men.

Midfield was the biggest problem. Within a minute of the second half, Ross Barkley and Boubacar Kamara had both given the ball away cheaply in their own half. Kamara’s error led directly to Liam Delap’s opener. Delap provided the focal point Villa never found.

Nicolas Jackson should have been that presence. Instead, he was withdrawn at half-time for fear of a second yellow. Tammy Abraham, his replacement, barely featured.

The afternoon ended with Johan Manzambi volleying his first touch for the club straight out of play. It summed up a ragged, worrying display.

17. Manchester United – a red card that hurt them

Manchester United 0-1 Manchester City

This column ignores the result and the VAR farce that allowed Erling Haaland’s goal to stand. The performance alone is damning enough.

United were poor. The irony is that Phil Foden’s red card, which should have tilted the derby in their favour, appeared to make them worse. Against 10 men, they became ponderous, predictable and unimaginative.

Their best efforts came from distance: Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo both hit the post, but it took until the 70th minute for United to register a shot on target after the dismissal. Slow passing, little movement, no incision.

Bruno Fernandes drifted through the game strangely subdued. Michael Carrick’s in-game decisions raised eyebrows, not least the delay in introducing Benjamin Šeško, a natural centre-forward, against a side down to 10.

The afternoon underlined a brutal reality: the gulf in quality and cohesion between these two squads is widening. VAR stole the headlines. United’s display told the real story.

18. Crystal Palace – defending on quicksand

Crystal Palace 2-3 Ipswich Town

Pierre Sage did not sugarcoat it.

“We have to prevent the crosses and be more aggressive in the box to win the ball,” the Palace head coach said. Simple, obvious, and currently beyond his team.

They escaped with a point against Fulham the previous week. This time, there was no escape. Axel Disasi’s red card before half-time hurt, but it did not cause the basic defensive lapses that keep recurring.

How did Emersonn find himself with a free header between Disasi, appealing for offside instead of marking, and Honest Ahanor, caught in no man’s land, when Palace had three centre-backs on the pitch? Why did Daichi Kamada offer so little resistance when Tyrick Mitchell faced a two-on-one before the second goal? Who, exactly, were Anan Khalaili and Chris Richards supposed to be marking?

For the third, neither Will Hughes nor Ahanor stopped the cross from Julio Enciso. Seconds later, Davis won yet another header in the Palace box. Then, at 2-2, Khalaili somehow missed a golden chance at the back post.

Sage has more questions than answers right now, and they are all about the basics.

19. Coventry City – fragile and exposed

Coventry City 0-5 Brighton

Frank Lampard tried to cling to the positives. “I thought we did some good stuff but then the game became very difficult for us,” he said. Fair enough. The “good stuff” just didn’t last.

Coventry unravelled quickly. A calamitous second goal, with Aurele Amenda failing to beat Malick Yalcouye to a ball he simply had to clear, set the tone. By the time Taiwo Awoniyi was sent off in the 53rd minute, the contest was effectively over.

The defensive issues are glaring. They were there in the home defeat to Hull, and they were brutally exposed by Brighton. Kostoulas beat Bobby Thomas to the ball by a fraction to win the penalty for Brighton’s third, a tiny moment that felt symbolic: Brighton were quicker, sharper, more decisive in every duel.

Coventry did create chances, particularly in a bright 10-minute spell around the half-hour mark. Bart Verbruggen’s goalkeeping denied them once or twice, but the lack of conviction in front of goal is starting to look like a pattern.

Fragile at the back, blunt when it matters at the other end. That is a dangerous mix.

20. Newcastle United – “an absolute s*** show”

Leeds United 4-1 Newcastle United

Alan Shearer did not mince his words on X: “an absolute s*** show from the Toon.” He posted that at half-time. By then, Newcastle were 3-0 down. Leeds soon made it four.

The first hour was embarrassing. Dominic Calvert-Lewin dominated Botman and Thiaw physically and aerially. In midfield, the concussion injury to Nico González after 19 minutes forced an 18-year-old, Sean Steur, alongside 20-year-old Lewis Miley. Asking that pair to cope with Stach, Ampadu and Tanaka was optimistic at best.

Steur’s loose pass led to Leeds’ second goal, officially credited to Jayden Bogle but really a monument to Calvert-Lewin’s dominance as he soared above both centre-backs.

Newcastle were overrun in the middle, soft at the back and toothless going forward. Only after a flurry of substitutions did they show any life, with six of their seven shots coming in the second half. By then, the damage was done.

The performance laid bare just how far they have slipped from the snarling, organised side that once relished these battles. The question now is how quickly they can find that edge again.