The final gameweek before the second international break of the campaign certainly delivered when it came to drama, with 27 goals scored and only five clean sheets. We’ve rounded up an exciting weekend that shook up the Premier League table and the FPL hierarchy in the process.
Although the final fixture of Gameweek 8 was a dull one, the marquee clash between Arsenal and Man City sprung into life late on following a deflected goal from Gabriel Martinelli (£7.7m). Despite the presence of Erling Haaland (£14.0m), Man City’s goal threat was totally lacking and they can have no complaints with a result which saw them drop down into third-place.
However, Arsenal aren’t the North London club who currently top the Premier League table. That honour goes to Spurs, who overcame Luton by a goal to nil despite being reduced to ten men in the first half. Popular FPL asset Heung-Min Son (£9.5m) drew a blank but James Maddison (£8.1m) picked up 6 points after setting up the winning goal from Micky van der Ven (£4.5m).
Man Utd looked set to fall to what would have been another damaging home defeat, this time against Brentford after Mathias Jensen (£5.4m) put the Bees ahead with his third league goal of the season. Erik ten Hag needed a hero and he found one in substitute Scott McTominay (£4.8m). The Scottish international scored twice in second-half stoppage time to rescue the Red Devils and save Ten Hag from increased scrutiny.
Everton secured a much-needed 3-0 win over Bournemouth, Jordan Pickford (£4.4m) finally keeping his first clean sheet of the season. Cherries head coach Andoni Iraola must be feeling the pressure at this point, his side are in the bottom three and still without a win despite having been financially backed this past summer.
Raheem Sterling (£7.0m) returned to form with a goal and two assists as Chelsea dispatched Burnley 1-4 at Turf Moor in a very welcome result for the Blues. Sheffield United completed the Saturday trifecta of all three newly promoted teams losing, going down 3-1 away at Fulham. Later in the day, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest played out a 0-0 draw.
Sunday saw three draws, each of which saw both teams score at least once. Pedro Neto (£5.7m) continued his super start to the campaign with a sixth league assist in Wolves in their 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa, although they were holding on at the end following Mario Lemina (£4.9m) being sent off for a second bookable offence.
Brighton and Liverpool played out a thrilling 2-2 draw, Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) scoring twice for the Reds after Simon Adingra (£5.0m) had put Roberto De Zerbi’s side in front. Lewis Dunk (£5.0m) equalised late on for the hosts, who could so easily have won it. West Ham vs Newcastle also ended 2-2, Tomas Soucek (£4.9m) recording a second goal in as many Premier League games before an Alexander Isak (£7.5m) brace put the Magpies ahead. David Moyes’ men rallied though and managed to level through new signing Mohammed Kudus (£6.5m).
