The 2pm Sunday kick-offs in the Premier League certainly delivered on goals and drama as Leicester City and Aston Villa bagged crucial wins. Here are the major talking points from each of the four matches on Sunday afternoon.
Arsenal drop points with Saints draw
Southampton 1-1 Arsenal
Arsenal drew their first game of the season away at Southampton as they dropped points in the Premier League title race. With nine wins out of ten so far in the Premier League this season, they needed another three points to keep up the pressure on Man City, but they let a 1-0 lead slip on the south coast.
It all started so well as on the ten minute mark Grant Xhaka thumped in the opener. Bukayo Saka played a one-two with Ben White and the makeshift full back pulled a cross back for Xhaka to smash in with his weaker right foot.
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Arsenal had played well but failed to put the game to bed, and Stuart Armstrong slotted home the homes sides' first major chance of the game in the second half. That changed the atmosphere around St Mary’s but Arsenal came back again in the last ten minutes. Odegaard had a goal ruled out as the ball ran out of play in the build-up, but ultimately Saints held on to a precious point which concludes a successful week for Ralph Hassenhuttl.
Aston Villa enjoy life after Gerrard with 4-0 win
Aston Villa 4-0 Brentford
In midweek, after a hammering at the hands of Fulham, Aston Villa’s players hit their lowest ebb. It was a result that saw Steven Gerrard relieved of his duties and at Villa Park against Brentford, they looked re-energised.
Three goals in the opening 15 minutes, two of them through Danny Ings, saw Villa secure the points before the game had barely begun. It was a performance in complete contrast to that on Thursday night with Aaron Danks made the big decisions on the touchline. He dropped captain John McGinn and interestingly, as Matt Maher pointed out, today was the first match Leon Bailey, Emi Buendia and Danny Ings have all started since joining for a combined £83million in summer 2021.
As Ollie Watkins also got on the scoresheet, this was the perfect afternoon for Villa. It’s the type of performance their fans were desperate for.
Leicester bag huge first away win to move out of bottom three
Wolves 0-4 Leicester
Wolves are in trouble. Despite peppering the Leicester goal, they fell to a 4-0 defeat after a wonderstrike from Youri Tielemans got the ball rolling for Brendan Rodgers. That was followed by a Harvey Barnes goal and a James Maddison strike, as the clamour for the latter to be included in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad grows - before Jamie Vardy added the fourth.
It's a huge win that plunges Wolves further into the bottom three and takes Leicester out of it for the first time this season. Now, they can begin to look up the table after two wins and three clean sheets in a row. Remarkably, they scored with all four of their shots on goal as the home side were wasteful. For Wolves, whoever comes in as the new manager will first and foremost have to save them from relegation.
Jesse Marsch under big pressure after defeat
Leeds 2-3 Fulham
Leeds went ahead against Fulham at home but couldn’t hold on as Aleksander Mitrovic got his ninth of the season, before Bobby Decordova-Reid added a second and Willian added the gloss late on. A 3-2 away win takes Fulham above Liverpool and into seventh, but this could be curtains for Jesse Marsch.
The Leeds manager has now seen his side drop into the bottom three after four defeats on the spin, while they haven’t won a league game since beating Chelsea 3-0 on the 21st August. That sort of form doesn’t make for pretty reading for the American and he now faces a battle to hold onto his job, with the fans beginning to turn against him at Elland Road.
