Plus: Man Utd's midfield issues are exposed again in defeat at Tottenham, Luis Diaz shines for Liverpool as they beat Bournemouth, Brighton hit four at Wolves after Moises Caicedo's departure for Chelsea and Fulham need to sign an Aleksandar Mitrovic replacement
Postecoglou transforms the Tottenham mood
'Welcome to N17' read the huge mosaic held up by Tottenham fans before kick-off, a message to Ange Postecoglou and the club's new signings who were presented to the crowd ahead of their first Premier League home game.
After what the Spurs supporters saw during the subsequent 2-0 win over Man Utd, they won't want the Australian to ever leave.
There had been talk of attacking intent in pre-season and encouraging signs in the season opener at Brentford last week. But on Saturday 'Angeball' truly arrived in Tottenham. And the Spurs fans, so long fed an unwanted diet of caution-first football by the likes of Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho in recent seasons, couldn't get enough of it.
It was thrilling. Not faultless by any means - Man Utd will look back on a string of chances they should have taken to turn the game their way - but entertaining. For a fan group which protested against price rises outside the ground before the match, this was football worth paying to watch.
The 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs' that went up after an Yves Bissouma backheel in the second half have rarely been heard of late in this part of north London. But the cavalier, confident and fun football served up by Postecoglou and his players was the perfect tonic to the pain of Harry Kane's departure.
Their star striker is gone but Spurs have a team they can get behind once again.
Peter Smith
Do Man Utd still have time to overhaul their midfield?
It's been an exposing six days of the new Premier League season for Manchester United. Luck was on their side against Wolves on Monday Night Football, but did not quite travel with them on their first away trip to Tottenham.
While there were issues across the pitch, one glaring area of issue was the midfield. Comprised of captain Bruno Fernandes, multi-trophy winner Casemiro and shiny new signing Mason Mount, they were out-fought, out-played and out-manoeuvred by Tottenham in every manner.
Casemiro looked void of ideas. Fernandes, despite being the team's leader, cut an often frustrated and petulant figure, booked late in the first half for dissent. Of the players that started, Mount had the second-fewest number of touches and passes. He looked shocked on the bench after being substituted.
Sky Sports pundits and former Manchester United players Gary Neville and Roy Keane both lambasted the midfielders for their inefficiency.
Neville said: "What's clear is that Manchester United's midfield needs bolstering. Ten Hag wants a number six who can play alongside Casemiro and at the moment the club can't get players out to be able to fund that."
Keane added: "I look at Mount, Fernandes out of possession, they look like schoolboys. They haven't got that physicality to get the ball back. We make excuses all the time for them."
With just under two weeks until the transfer window closes, Man Utd do have time to improve their options. Whether the other pieces fall into place is another matter, but it's clear something needs to change sooner rather than later.
Charlotte Marsh
Dynamic Diaz feels like a new signing
All the transfer talk for Liverpool has centred on their centre. Midfielders, specifically. Alexis Mac Allister, Dominic Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo are all part of the important rebuild in the Jurgen Klopp engine room which has had mixed reviews over the first two weekends. Yet, the most important new spark in this Liverpool is the return of a fully fit, fully functioning and fully at full throttle Luis Diaz.
The Colombian winger limped out of the 3-2 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last October and only made it back to play in four of the final six Premier League games. That might have proved to have been the start of his pre-season as he has started this campaign at the top of his game, running powerfully and purposefully in both of Liverpool's opening games. His goal at Chelsea was clinically taken - something which is a common theme when he has chances in front of goal, as seen by his finish here.
One touch to flick the ball up and one touch to power it past Neto. That takes him to 15 goal involvements in 32 Premier League appearances (10 goals/five assists) - a figure which will be on the rise this season in an electric Klopp attack.
Lewis Jones
Foden steps up in De Bruyne's absence
With Kevin De Bruyne out for up to four months with a hamstring injury, Phil Foden proved in the 1-0 win over Newcastle that he can step up in the Belgian's absence.
Foden's eye-catching display saw him cleverly set up City's first-half winner as he teed up Julian Alvarez's special strike.
The England international then made several chances for Erling Haaland with the pair combining well throughout.
Foden was unfortunate to register just the one assist, while he came closing to scoring late on only to be denied by Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope.
The 23-year-old's influence saw him create seven chances from open play for City in the victory - his most in a single Premier League game, in what was his 131st appearance in the competition.
City boss Pep Guardiola would have been delighted with Foden's player-of-the-match performance as he drove the defending champions forward at every opportunity in what was a De Bruyne-esque display.
Declan Olley
Brighton's post-Caicedo era starts with a bang in the Midlands
Having offloaded key midfield duo Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister this summer, many pondered how Brighton would cope this season.
Well, despite it being a small sample size, Roberto De Zerbi's exciting Seagulls side have begun this season much like they finished the previous campaign, in a free-flowing mood and on the front foot as evidenced by their 4-1 win at Molineux.
Yes, the final scoreline may have slightly flattered the visitors, who were fortunate to go in 1-0 up at the break thanks to Kaoru Mitoma's sensational individual effort, but there can be no denying the brilliance of this Brighton team under De Zerbi's stewardship, especially on the counter-attack where they at times destroyed their hosts.
After the game, the Italian said the south coast club will be looking to go into the transfer market to fill the void left by Caicedo's departure to Chelsea, but with Brighton top of the Premier League on the back of an aggregate score of 8-2, one wonders if they need to.
Richard Morgan
Fulham search begins for Mitro replacement
Aleksandar Mitrovic's departure couldn't have been timed worse after Fulham failed to score again.
The arrival of Raul Jimenez three weeks ago pre-empted his exit, but the early signs show he won't truly be able to replace him.
The Mexico international scored 44 goals in his first two seasons with Wolves before suffering a fractured skull in November 2020. He has scored just 15 since then and has big shoes to fill.
"It's completely unfair but we have to be ready for that because from this moment that Mitro is leaving the club, every single day will be compared to what Mitro was doing with Raul, Rodrigo [Muniz], [Carlos] Vinicius or the next signing," said boss Marco Silva after their 3-0 defeat at home to Brentford.
"The season before we arrived, Mitro scored four goals in the Premier League. Half of that season he was on the bench for Fulham. The next season he scored 46 goals, last season in 24 games scored 14 goals.
Fulham head coach Marco Silva confirms Aleksandar Mitrovic will leave the club after the Serbian wasn't included in the squad for their game against Brentford
"We took the best from him. He helped us to win matches, he's a top striker and someone I really like and love. He understood everything about my idea of the way I want to play but he was really down when we arrived at this club. What we did with him, now we have to do with the players in our squad."
Silva says the club will look to sign not just a striker but several others in the remaining two weeks of the transfer window. Their success in doing so may define their season.
David Richardson
Forest win comes from Aurier's width
Nottingham Forest usually rely on the counter-attacking speed of Brennan Johnson or the cute play between the lines from Morgan Gibbs-White. While there were glimpses of both on Friday evening, they won the game thanks to two crosses to their strikers.
Both were supplied by Serge Aurier. The 30-year-old wing-back enjoyed the freedom of the right flank and delivered a series of teasing balls into the box and might have made it a trio of assists had Awoniyi converted a good chance for his second of the night.
Since the summer of 2017, the only player to score more headed goals in the Premier League than Chris Wood is Harry Kane. With an aerial threat like that on the pitch, Sheffield United had to cut out the crosses better than they were able to do at the City Ground.
Adam Bate
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