Matchday 3 of the English Premier League got underway on Saturday, with many of the top teams seen in action. While it’s still too early to make any predictions, a couple teams have begun to separate themselves from the pack.
Defending champions Manchester City look like they will be the team to beat once again, opening their campaign with three dominant wins. Liverpool remains the only other team with the potential to go three for three when they face Man United on Sunday. Arsenal had their first big hiccup of the season, after giving up a lead in their match against Brighton to finish with a 1-1 draw.
Let’s take a closer look at what happened so far in Week 3 of the EPL.
Short-Handed Arsenal Draw 1-1 With Brighton
Joao Pedro scored in the second-half for Brighton as they came from behind to draw 1-1 against Arsenal in north London.
It looked as if Arsenal would continue on their perfect start when Bukayo Saka played a ball through Kai Havertz, who was able to finish over Bart Verbruggen to put them ahead in the 38th minute.
The game however completely changed after Declan Rice was handed a second yellow card in the 49th minute for delaying a free-kick being taken by Joel Veltman. This left Arsenal down a man for the rest of the match which ended up being crucial in the outcome.
With the extra man advantage Brighton brought the pressure, eventually drawing level in the 58th minute via a shot from Yankuba Minteh parried in by Pedro.
Havertz had a chance a little later to win the game for his side but a terrific save from Verbruggen kept the match level. Substitute Yasin Ayari also had got a solid shot to take the lead for Brighton but David Raya kept him at bay.
While a draw isn’t too damaging to their season, Arsenal have now moved into the middle of the table and will be trailing Manchester CIty by 2 points. Next up for them will be Tottenham in two weeks time.
Man City Unstoppable In Another Dominant Victory
Manchester City were at it again on Saturday, winning 3-1 against West Ham in another spectacular night for striker Erling Haaland. The Norwegian had yet another hat-trick to give him seven goals in three games so far – four more than any other player.
He became the first player to score a hat-trick in two of an English team’s first three league games in a season since Paul Jewell for Bradford in 1994/95.
Haaland had his first in the 10th minute after getting a pass from Bernando Silva which got through the West Ham defense. To their credit West Ham were able to level out the match 1-1 when Ruben Dias turned Jarrod Bowen’s cross into his own net.
The respite wouldn’t last long though as an hungry Haaland restored City’s lead midway through the first half with a fierce strike from just outside the box. The last of Haaland’s goals came late in the match when he beat the offside trap to chip one in easy over the keeper.
The victory gives Pep Guardiola’s side the top of the table, while West Ham fall to 14th position in the standings. Based on what’s happened so far in the season it looks like it will be a tough task to remove Man City from pole position if they can stay healthy. They will go on to face Brentofrd in their next Premier League matchup on September 14th.
Other Matchday 3 Scores
Find below a list of other scores from Matchday 3 fixtures which took place on Saturday in the EPL.
| Nottingham Forest | 1 |
| Wolves | 1 |
| Leicester City | 1 |
| Aston Villa | 2 |
| Ipswich Town | 1 |
| Fulham | 1 |
| Brentford | 3 |
| South Hampton | 1 |
| Everton | 2 |
| Bournemouth | 3 |
