Category: English Premier League

Arsenal, Brighton and Wolves all banked wins as football returned from the international break in goaltastic style

“A home defeat to Brentford is exactly the kind of result that appears on the record of a relegated club come May,” notes Gary Naylor. “So does Sean Dyche adopt his signature caution to avoid that, or does he see the match as an opportunity to lift the team and the fans before the Christmas fixtures, and go expansive? Frankly, sneaking a 1-0 with a deflected Michael Keane header from an 88th-minute corner would do me right now. Though I suspect I’m in a minority amongst Bluenoses.”

This is the only photograph I’ve had through from Goodison Park today. I reckon that’s an expansive smile.

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Fabian Hürzeler is happy for Brighton fans to continue to sing about Europe after they moved up to fifth in the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Bournemouth. The Seagulls were in cruise control after João Pedro and Kaoru Mitoma struck at the start of each half before Carlos Baleba’s 59th-minute red card threatened to shift the momentum.

The Bournemouth substitute David Brooks reduced the deficit in the third minute of stoppage time and in the end Brighton were relieved to see Antoine Semenyo smash an effort against the bar five minutes later as the visitors held on for a fourth triumph in six league games.

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Trouble is brewing for Sean Dyche as The Friedkin Group await approval on their proposed takeover of Everton. The Everton manager was left in no doubt as to the growing discontent inside Goodison Park after Brentford held out for 53 minutes with 10 men to take their first Premier League away point of the season. They did so with relatively little trouble, which said everything about Everton’s second half display.

The Brentford captain, Christian Nørgaard ,was shown a straight red card for imprinting his studs into Jordan Pickford’s knee four minutes before the interval. Everton had started brightly against the 11 men of Brentford but became increasingly clueless as the contest wore on. It is now five draws in eight league games for Dyche’s team and no goals in three outings. An ominous December – which includes games against all of the top four, Ruben Amorim’s first home league game as Manchester United manager, a revitalised Wolves and Nottingham Forest – now awaits.

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Out-of-form Manchester City host Tottenham while Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United reign starts at Ipswich

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue King Power Stadium

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Ruben Amorim said he is a 'dreamer' in his first press conference as Manchester United head coach after joining the club from Sporting.

The 39-year-old signed a two-and-a-half-year deal to replace Erik ten Hag who was sacked in October.

He has been compared to José Mourinho because of his nationality and success and said: 'He [José Mourinho] sent me a message and told me that this is a lovely club, a big club, with lovely people, and that is correct.'

He added: 'I am different from Mourinho. I am a different person.'

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Pep Guardiola spoke to the press after he signed a new contract to extend his stay at Manchester City until 2027. Guardiola explained that he signed a contract for two years rather than one because he doesn't want to reach the last year of his contract and 'extend again'. He added: 'I would like to stay two more years but I know if the results [are] not good it will not be two years.'

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Pep Guardiola has signed a two-year contract that will extend his tenure as the Manchester City manager to 2027. Guardiola, who has won 18 trophies since he joined City in 2016, spoke about his decision making process in an interview with the club. Speaking about his side's poor recent form, he said: 'The problems we had in the last month [four consecutive defeats], I felt now was not the right time to leave.'

• ‘Now was not time to leave’: Pep Guardiola pens new two-year Manchester City deal

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Højlund has chance to impress Amorim, Villa look to end miserable month and will Forest trouble Arsenal?

After masterminding Leicester’s return to the Premier League, Enzo Maresca jumped ship to Chelsea. The Italian had given little confidence he would stay at the King Power, despite his success amid problems in the background and the lure of London. Maresca did, however, ensure he took one thing with him in the form of the central midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, a leading light in the Foxes’ promotion charge. While Maresca has impressed at Stamford Bridge, Dewsbury-Hall is yet to find his feet and has been limited to a cup-player role. Of his 10 appearances for Chelsea, only three have been in the league and none from the start. It might be time to show some faith in him and there is no better place to do so than his old home. Dewsbury-Hall rose through the ranks at Leicester and his £30m transfer fee this summer was highly beneficial to their accounts after financial problems. Leicester fans will welcome back Maresca and Dewsbury-Hall with open arms, the embrace the latter might need to kickstart his Chelsea career. Will Unwin

Leicester v Chelsea, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Bournemouth v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Arsenal v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace, Saturday 3pm

Everton v Brentford, Saturday 3pm

Fulham v Wolves, Saturday 3pm

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• Clubs are to vote on Friday over changes to financial rules
• Aston Villa followed City in wanting postponement

The Premier League has told Aston Villa it plans to press ahead with a vote to amend financial rules on Friday despite the club calling for it to be postponed.

The league has been consulting for more than a month with clubs on changes to its rules on associated party transactions (APT) after an arbitration panel found aspects of them unlawful. Clubs are to vote on those changes at a league meeting in central London on Friday, despite Manchester City, whose legal challenge to the rules led to the arbitration panel being convened, warning amendments should not be rushed through.

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The Premier League players who have belied expectations (in a good way) so far this season

The Cameroonian had a debut season to forget in England. A series of blunders during a nightmarish Champions League campaign helped contribute to Manchester United’s group-stage exit, while high-profile errors on the domestic front led to serious questions about his future. Onana has enjoyed a far better start this time, dropping no conspicuous clangers and keeping five clean sheets in 11 games, the highest of any goalkeeper. He is overperforming in shot-stopping metrics and boasts a pass-completion rate that is on course to be higher than last season. An unexpectedly reassuring presence during another period of early-season turmoil at Old Trafford.

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We assess 10 players who made temporary summer moves, including an unusually small goalkeeper who is thriving

It seemed very sensible to send the creative midfielder to learn more about top-flight football under the tutelage of Cesc Fàbregas, although Perrone would probably have had opportunities at City amid their recent injury crisis. Como are back in Serie A and have attracted an eclectic group of players, including Sergi Roberto and Alberto Moreno. Perrone has made eight league appearances and sits alongside Roberto in front of the defence where he has looked composed and capable of instigating attacks with his intelligent use of the ball. The Argentinian is happy to collect facing his own goal and smart in tight spaces.

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Ipswich’s young English duo catch the eye, Liverpool march on and the brilliance of Brighton’s Carlos Baleba

It took them an hour of huffing and puffing, but Arsenal did something at Stamford Bridge they hadn’t managed since September – they scored an away goal in the Premier League. After toothless performances at Newcastle and Inter in the past week – and last month at Bournemouth – Gabriel Martinelli’s cute finish was itself a moment of relief, but Mikel Arteta was frustrated that his team didn’t find a winner. Their expected goals figure was lower than Chelsea’s (1.27 to 1.69) but that does not account for Leandro Trossard’s costly miskick at the death nor Kai Havertz’s would-be opener, which was just offside. The Gunners will almost always control games, especially now Martin Ødegaard is fit and firing again, but that age-old itch has not been scratched. They are not ruthless enough and they still lack a penalty box killer. Dominic Booth

Match report: Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal

Match report: Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa

Match report: Brighton 2-1 Manchester City

Match report: Manchester United 3-0 Leicester

Match report: Nottingham Forest 1-3 Newcastle

Match report: Tottenham 1-2 Ipswich

Match report: Brentford 3-2 Bournemouth

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There were people on the pitch, Chelsea substitutes to be precise, the joy of everyone connected to the club overflowing. Pedro Neto had produced the equaliser with a vicious low drive from distance and if it did not turn out to be the statement victory that Enzo Maresca and his players wanted – a first against a so-called Big Six rival – they could see the merit in a battling draw.

For Arsenal, this was a better performance than some of those of late and yet it was not the result that Mikel Arteta had called for, the one to silence the noise that has built around his club. It was another example of them losing the lead in a big game – after the draws against Manchester City and Liverpool – and it meant they have not won in four Premier League games, a sequence that has yielded two points. They are now nine behind the leaders, Liverpool. Is it too much to recover?

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Ipswich had waited 22 and a half years for this, and how their vibrant support celebrated after nine seemingly interminable minutes of added time. It said plenty that their first Premier League win since April 2002 was entirely deserved, a clever first-half performance seeing them pull clear through goals from Sammie Szmodics and Liam Delap before they passed a test of resilience in the second.

Rodrigo Bentancur’s header was all that Tottenham, disjointed throughout and never quite managing a late siege, could manage and the outcome was yet another feather in the cap for Kieran McKenna. The Ipswich manager began as an academy coach at Spurs and his side’s performance was a credit to him here.

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Eleven days after Manchester United routed Leicester under Ruud van Nistelrooy in the Carabao Cup here, the interim manager signed off with another easy-street win over the Foxes and so ends his four-game term unbeaten.

In all the Dutchman has three victories, and for this one he thanks Bruno Fernandes, who graced a 250th United appearance by scoring the first goal and causing enough trouble for the hapless Victor Kristiansen to bundle past his goalkeeper, Mads Hermansen, for the second.

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