Haaland on fire as Tuchel’s Chelsea struggle for consistency
Again, like at the weekend, at the head of affairs was Haaland. He now has nine goals in his first five Premier League games, a record, and looks on pace to break pretty much every goal-scoring record throughout the season. The only person who may stop him is his manager, Pep Guardiola. He has already said that the Norwegian forward will need to be rested with their congested fixture schedule in the next two months.
Given that their Champions League campaign gets under way next week, Aston Villa will be breathing a sigh of relief given the importance of that competition to both Guardiola and City’s hierarchy.
The player replacing Haaland isn’t too bad either. Julian Alvarez scored two of his own against Forest in midweek.
From Manchester to Southampton, where Thomas Tuchel was given a few more headaches on Tuesday night after Chelsea's 2-1 loss to the Saints, showing frailties at the back and going forward.
Wesley Fofana was signed in the week to strengthen the defence, which was opened up too many times by the home side for the German coach’s liking. They also rarely threatened in a second half where they were chasing the game for its entirety. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moved to Stamford Bridge on deadline day and he will add pedigree to a frontline lacking a potent goalscorer.
Tuchel will hope his prior relationship with Aubameyang from their Borussia Dortmund days will give his side added bite. The striker was at the height of his powers in Germany, and Tuchel will hope those added miles in the legs will not hurt his side’s attempts to climb the table.
Chelsea face West Ham on the weekend, hoping they can find some form and a consistent starting XI given all the comings and goings over the summer.
Across west London, Fulham are quietly starting their season off as well as they could have hoped for. In eighth after beating Brighton in midweek, they are already showing what can happen with a squad kept mostly together after the last time they were in the Premier League two years ago, whilst strengthening with considered and sensible acquisitions.
For Fulham, having Aleksander Mitrovic firing will be key to their survival. In the Championship, the Serbian has always been lethal - he holds the records for the most goals in the division - but has struggled when stepping up.
This season may only be five games in, but he already has five goals. If they can service him throughout the campaign, it's unlikely they will face the drop once again.
GOAL OF THE WEEK
Sometimes the goal of the week isn’t necessarily the best technically but the most memorable and that, this matchday, comes from the Emirates Stadium. Douglas Luiz scored directly from a corner for a moment that will live long in the memory. In an ironic twist, Arsenal had three bids for Luiz turned down on Deadline Day. Did the goal put up the price?
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Making an instant impact is not the easiest thing to do in the Premier League but that is exactly what Alexander Isak did for Newcastle at Anfield.
He netted a cool finish on his debut in front of the travelling fans and it took a 98th minute winner from Liverpool substitute Fabio Carvalho to dampen the Swede’s mood. At Real Sociedad, he was the leader up front and against Liverpool he made his presence felt very quickly - he nearly had two on the night only to see the flag raised behind him.
If he has this sort of impact against one of the Premier League’s better defences, imagine what he will do to the rest of the league.