Matchday 3 of the Premier League season is in the books, and we’re here to review it, identify the big takeaways, and examine the markets.
Premier League Wrap
A mind-numbing red card to Declan Rice proved pivotal as Arsenal dropped their first points of the Premier League season. Leading Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0, Rice couldn’t help himself and nudged the ball further from the spot after giving away a free kick. It wasn’t long before Brighton found an equalizer before holding on for a 1-1 draw.
Southampton’s struggles continue to start the season. While they finally found the back of the net, the Saints let Brentford score three the other way. Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers played out a relatively uneventful 1-1 draw. Meanwhile, Ipswich secured their first points of the season in doing the same with Fulham. Leicester boss Steve Cooper took aim at the standard of refereeing after Leicester’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa. It’s never a good sign when a manager is trotting out referee exceuses only three games into a season.
The big story of the day came at Goodison Park. The “spirit of Goodison” seemed to have sparked Everton into life as they held a 2-0 lead late in the piece against Bournemouth. However, three goals in nine minutes, the last in the 96th, completed one of the great comebacks in Premier League history as Bournemouth escaped with the points.
THE greatest comeback in @premierleague history 🍿 pic.twitter.com/emI7nZ0y1x
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) August 31, 2024
Manchester City took advantage of Arsenal’s stumble to beat West Ham 3-1. Chelsea continued their own stumbles to finish 1-1 with Crystal Palace. We’d been waiting for it, but finally, Eberechi Eze scored and Palace collected their first point of the season. Newcastle continued their dominance over Tottenham Hotspur to win 2-1. Alexander Isak’s 78th-minute goal secured the win for the hosts. Last of all, Arne Slot’s Liverpool smashed Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford. A double for Luis Diaz before halftime sent United into the sheds with a huge mountain to climb before Mo Salah made it 3-0 only 10 minutes after the break.
3 Takeaways From Matchday 3
More Haaland: You’d think maybe, just maybe, we could do a week without Erling Haaland becoming a talking point. At this rate, his dominance will become so routine that back-to-back hattricks won’t be so noteworthy. However, in putting another three goals past the keeper this week, Haaland made it seven goals for the season. An injury seems to be all that would stop him from being crowned the Premier League Top Goalscorer this season at $1.20.
Haaland’s seven goals are the most ever scored in the first three matches of a Premier League season. Building on last week, his eighth hattrick brings him even closer to Sergio Aguero’s record. Haaland completed his eighth in only 69 matches. For context, it took Theiry Henry 258 games, Harry Kane 320 games and Michael Owen 326 games.
Haaland is a cheat code.
Erik ten Potter: Things aren’t getting any easier for Erik ten Hag and Manchester United. An embarrassing 3-0 defeat at home has already seen their odds of winning the Premier League blow out to $67.
The defeat led to one of the most strange quotes we will hear from a manager this Premier League season: “We have to build him into the team. It will take time, so it’s not like I’m Harry Potter. That is what you have to acknowledge.”
Any time any manager in any sport starts mentioning “rebuilding” or “building” in Ten Hag’s case, it’s a worry. Manchester United isn’t a building club. They have too many resources, too much history, and too many expectations to be building.
Ten Hag responded to the 2-0 halftime deficit by benching Casemiro. The veteran directly contributed to Liverpool’s first two goals. He first gave away possession cheaply. Second, he played for a foul in favour of collecting the football and influencing the counterattack.
Casemiro obviously an issue and Ugarte will be better but with United lately it's always "one more signing".
Slot didn't get his 6 either but worked around it and, within three games, has Liverpool playing with a much clearer idea than United.
That's an indictment.
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) September 1, 2024
Ten Hag can hide behind Harry Potter quotes and pat himself on the back for making the ‘big’ call to bench Casemiro, but the problems are clear. They don’t look like being fixed any time soon either. Best case for Manchester United from here is one or two promising patches throughout the season and a Top 6 finish at $2.10.
Two steps forward, three steps back for Everton: Everton players looked like they had seen a ghost when the final whistle blew on their 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth.
Goodison Park hummed as Everton took a 2-0 lead. Goals to Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin had the Toffees in complete control of the game. However, a trio of Bournemouth substitutions paired with tired Everton legs translated into one of the best comebacks in Premier League history.
87′ – Antoine Semenyo
90+2′ – Lewis Cook
90+6′ – Luis Sinisterra
“It’s the most frustrating [defeat of my career] because to dominate a game for that long and play so well and then come out of it without something at least is incredibly frustrating, I will say that.” – Everton manager Sean Dyche
What were once cheers of relief and hope from the crowd ended with boos as Everton walked off the field. They’re facing an uphill battle if they’re to exceed preseason expectations and finish in the top half of the league at $8.50.
News & Notes
– Mo Salah’s goal this week was his 10th in nine games against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He’s only the second player to score 10+ goals at a single away ground in the Premier League since 1992-93.
– “As you know, it’s my last year at the club. I just want to enjoy it — I don’t want to think about it. I feel like I’m free to play football and we will see what can happen next year,” said Mo Salah.
– In beating Manchester United 3-0, Arne Slot became the first manager to win each of his first three Premier League games without conceding a goal since the late Sven-Göran Eriksson in 2007.
– Cole Palmer keeps stacking up assists. He has now assisted on 15 goals in the Premier League for Chelsea since his debut in September 2023 – the most of any player in Europe’s big five leagues.
4 – Cole Palmer has four assists in Chelsea's three Premier League games this season – only Ruel Fox (94-95), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (17-18), Harry Kane (20-21), and Paul Pogba (21-22) have provided more in a team's first three matches of a Premier League campaign (all 5). Sharp. pic.twitter.com/6qU3Ayyzy1
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 1, 2024
– Chelsea may have stopped signing so many players, but that hasn’t stopped them from making changes to the squad. They’ve allowed Raheem Sterling to leave for Arsenal on loan while taking on Jadon Sancho from Manchester United with an obligation for Chelsea to sign him next summer.
Premier League Odds & Tips
Three weeks is a long time in the Premier League. They always faced an uphill battle for the top, but a poor start has seen Manchester United’s odds to win the title blowout from $23 to $41 to $67 after three matchdays. Meanwhile, Manchester City continues to occupy the first line of betting while dipping below $2 for the first time this season. It comes on the back of Arsenal dropping points and drifting from $2.50 to $2.88. Newcastle make their first appearance in the Top 6 at $41, leaping Tottenham after being them 2-1 over the weekend.
Bet of the week: Now feels as good of a time as any to get on Liverpool to finish in the Top 2. There was an element of uncertainty around them at the start of the season. However, Arne Slot hasn’t overplayed his hand. He’s added his own flavour to things without taking away what already worked. Liverpool have made significant improvements defensively, too. There is a long way to go, but we should capitalise on Arsenal giving up points early on by taking the $2.60 for Liverpool to finish Top 2 this season.
| PREMIER LEAGUE WINNER MARKET | ||
|---|---|---|
| TEAM | CURRENT PRICE | LAST WEEK’S PRICE |
| Manchester City | $1.91 | $2.10 |
| Arsenal | $2.88 | $2.50 |
| Liverpool | $5.50 | $6 |
| Chelsea | $31 | $26 |
| Newcastle | $41 | $- |
| Tottenham | $51 | $31 |