Leeds United Shine, Brighton's Dominance Continues in Week 4

Leeds hit top gear, Brighton hit five, and City win a derby with 10 men. Week four of this performance table did not care for reputations, league positions or even the scoreline on the day. It cared about who actually played well.

Leeds sit at the top. Newcastle are on the floor. And in between, just about every emotion a Premier League weekend can offer.

1. Leeds United (last week: 3rd)

Leeds United 4-1 Newcastle United

Daniel Farke walked off Elland Road with a mixture of pride and irritation. Pride, because his team were outstanding. Irritation, because a 90th-minute Newcastle goal slightly spoiled the picture.

For an hour, Leeds were ferocious. The first half felt like a siege. Jayden Bogle seemed to appear in every frame – charging forward, recovering, even blocking Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goalbound header… which, via a deflection, ended up being credited as his own goal. Newcastle simply couldn’t breathe. They were begging for half-time.

Calvert-Lewin produced a classic centre-forward’s performance. He battered Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw, dominated in the air, and stitched Leeds’ attacks together. A goal and an assist were the bare minimum he merited. From the left, Noah Okafor floated into pockets, linked play, and got his reward on the scoresheet.

Behind them, Leeds’ midfield three of Anton Stach, Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka ran the game. They swarmed, snapped, passed, and recycled. Newcastle’s young pairing in the middle never stood a chance.

“A top-class performance,” Farke called it. Hard to argue.

2. Brighton (last week: 17th)

Coventry City 0-5 Brighton

Two words set the tone: Lewis Dunk.

The Brighton captain stepped out of defence, looked up, and stroked a 30-yard shot into the top corner with the nonchalance of a player taking a goal-kick. A centre-back, 34 years old, deciding he quite fancies a goal-of-the-season contender. It was audacious, outrageous – and utterly in keeping with the way Fabian Hürzeler’s side are playing.

Here’s the twist: Brighton are doing this without Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter, who have managed one league appearance between them. Yet they are still the division’s most prolific side, averaging more than three goals a game.

At Coventry, they were ruthless. Malick Yalcouye punished soft defending and looked every inch a Premier League midfielder. Charalampos Kostoulas juggled the ball like a futsal player before finishing. Dunk added that thunderbolt. Pascal Gross and Yasin Ayari, who both scored, knitted everything together in midfield with the kind of balance coaches dream about.

Brighton didn’t just win. They strolled through a 5-0 away victory.

3. Nottingham Forest (last week: 13th)

Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest

Oliver Glasner loved the win. He loved the performance even more.

Forest came out after half-time at Villa Park as if someone had flicked a switch in the dressing room. They were quicker to everything: second balls, 50-50s, knockdowns. Villa couldn’t live with the intensity.

Liam Delap led the charge. Within a minute of the restart, he smashed in from distance. He then glanced a header into the side-netting and had another goal ruled out. On this evidence, he looked the best player on the pitch by a distance.

Xaver Schlager and James McAtee controlled the centre. Schlager sprayed diagonals, crashed into tackles and almost scored with a header from a Daniel Muñoz cross. Muñoz, meanwhile, ran riot down the right, and once Ian Maatsen limped off, Villa’s left side simply collapsed.

Forced to play the final 14 minutes with 10 men, Villa were hanging on. Forest’s winner came from – where else? – that right flank, with Morgan Gibbs-White’s clever flick helping to carve them open.

And Neco Williams? The way he plucked a high ball out of the sky in one smooth motion said everything about Forest’s confidence.

4. Manchester City (last week: 7th)

Manchester United 0-1 Manchester City

Strip away the VAR chaos and what remains is a tactical masterclass from Enzo Maresca.

Phil Foden’s 23rd-minute red card should have handed Manchester United the initiative. Instead, it exposed them. Maresca shut the game down, retreated his lines, and denied United the one thing they crave: space to run into.

“They are a team that loves transitions and space in behind,” Maresca said. “With 10 players, we just drop waiting for them.” United never adjusted.

The key decision came at half-time. Rayan Cherki, City’s most creative spark, made way for Iliman Ndiaye. It was ruthless, and it was right. Ndiaye carried the ball up the pitch, bought time, and refused to let City sink into their own box. Erling Haaland raved about him afterwards, comparing flashes of his play to Neymar.

Elliot Anderson, as usual, covered the ground of two men. City’s 10 outthought and outworked United’s 11. The result will be remembered for VAR. The performance should be remembered for Maresca.

5. Arsenal (last week: 1st)

Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal

This was not the Arsenal that toyed with Chelsea. It was something grittier, more stubborn, and just as valuable.

At the Stadium of Light, Sunderland dragged the champions into a fight. Arsenal didn’t flinch. They rolled up their sleeves and went to work.

Christos Tzolis, bullied at Villa Park a week earlier, responded in the best way. When a decision went against him here, he didn’t moan. He sprinted half the length of the pitch and launched into a perfectly timed sliding tackle. That attitude ran through the side.

David Raya underlined why many see him as the league’s best goalkeeper. Enzo Le Fée stepped up from the spot with the game goalless. Raya guessed right, saved, and in an instant the mood flipped. Moments later, Bruno Guimarães came off the bench and smashed in from distance, a game-changing strike that sucked the air out of the stadium.

Sunderland kept coming. Arsenal didn’t break. Those collapses belong to a different era.

6. Hull City (last week: 16th)

Chelsea 2-2 Hull City

Hull arrived at Stamford Bridge as relegation favourites. They left as one of the stories of the season.

Sergej Jakirović didn’t bring a side to cling on for a point. In the closing stages, Hull were the ones hunting the winner. Mohamed-Ali Cho could have provided it, but he failed to connect cleanly with yet another superb Ryan Giles cross.

Eight points from four games. The third-best start ever by a promoted team. Not bad for a group written off before a ball was kicked.

Out of possession, Hull are disciplined: a narrow 5-4-1, deep and compact. With the ball, they have bite. Mohamed Belloumi, all flair and disguise, scored twice and repeatedly found pockets Chelsea couldn’t close. His start to the campaign has been outstanding.

If you want a snapshot of Hull’s work ethic, picture the 92nd minute: Regan Slater sprinting to rob Valentin Barco in midfield. Tired minds, tired legs, but still pressing like it’s the first whistle. Jakirović has them running through walls.

7. Fulham (last week: 20th)

Liverpool 0-0 Fulham

This was the Fulham Alvaro Arbeloa has been demanding.

Anfield is a harsh place to repair a reputation, but Fulham did exactly that. The goalless draw felt like more than a point. It felt like a reset.

David Affengruber, on his Premier League debut, slotted in at centre-back and barely put a foot wrong. Ahead of him, Alex Iwobi took on a new brief on the left, drifting inside into what Arbeloa called “the pocket”. Working in tandem with Antonee Robinson, he repeatedly broke Liverpool’s shape.

Josh King did what Josh King does when he’s in the mood: ran in behind, rolled defenders, and humiliated Dominik Szoboszlai with a sharp chop. He looked like a forward playing a level beneath his ceiling.

Fulham limited Liverpool to scraps. Their only regret? Failing to score themselves. Gonzalo Garcia’s effort beat the goalkeeper but not Jeremy Jacquet on the line. That was the missing piece on an otherwise impressive night.

8. Bournemouth (last week: 5th)

Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford

Bournemouth are becoming the league’s great contradiction. Easy on the eye, hard on themselves.

Marco Rose liked what he saw in attack. So would anyone who watched the full 90. One flowing move in the final quarter of an hour – Ryan Christie, Alex Scott, Tyler Adams, Marcus Tavernier, then Rayan – sliced Brentford apart. The only problem? The finish. Again.

Scott, excellent between the lines but wasteful in front of goal, missed. So did Antonio Silva. So did Rayan earlier on. Evanilson’s hold-up play and runs in behind constantly troubled Brentford, with Silva picking him out from deep time and again, prompting Brentford boss Keith Andrews to call him “a tricky customer”.

And yet, for the fourth straight game, Bournemouth failed to protect a lead. Individual errors keep dragging them back. They look like a side on the verge of something – but still stuck at the same frustrating stage.

9. Ipswich Town (last week: 19th)

Crystal Palace 2-3 Ipswich Town

This was chaos with a logic behind it.

Gary O’Neil argued Ipswich deserved the win. The numbers back him up: more shots, more on target, more touches in the box, and an xG more than double Palace’s. But the story of the game wasn’t that simple.

Axel Disasi’s first-half red card gave Ipswich a man advantage for almost an hour. Yet at 2-2, they were wobbling, penned back and living dangerously. Anan Khalaili, free at the back post, somehow failed to bury a golden chance that would have turned the game on its head.

Ipswich survived, then pounced. Leif Davis was at the heart of everything. His cross for the first goal was sublime, his finish for the second clinical, and his header against the bar for the third turned into an improvised assist.

A left-back, running the game. That tells you plenty about Ipswich’s ambition.

10. Sunderland (last week: 2nd)

Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal

If you want to study the art of a back-to-goal No 9, start here.

Brian Brobbey spent 94 minutes tormenting Arsenal’s defence. Time and again, Nordi Mukiele fizzed passes into his feet. Time and again, Brobbey pinned Ezri Konsa, held him off, and brought a team-mate into play. By the end, the notebook tally read nine successful pins against one of the league’s best defenders.

Sunderland leaned into his strengths. Direct balls, high tempo, relentless pressing. Within two minutes, Granit Xhaka had robbed Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Brobbey had already flattened Konsa in a pressing duel. Arsenal got the message early: this was going to be a war of attrition.

The game hinged on a brutal two-minute spell. Enzo Le Fée’s penalty was saved by Raya; Bruno Guimarães stepped off the bench and lashed in from distance. Sunderland had punched themselves into a position to win it. One miss and one moment of quality knocked them out.

Still, there was plenty to admire. This Sunderland side won’t be easy for anyone.

11. Chelsea (last week: 8th)

Chelsea 2-2 Hull City

Chelsea score. Chelsea concede. Repeat.

Twenty league games without a clean sheet tells its own story. Hull were the latest beneficiaries of a defence that looks fragile in every phase.

It began so well. Cole Palmer, João Pedro and Morgan Rogers combined smartly for an early opener that showcased the attacking talent Xabi Alonso has at his disposal. Then came the familiar collapse.

“Don’t let the ball bounce” is defending 101. Chelsea let it bounce twice before Hull’s equaliser. Malo Gusto, Jorrel Hato and Wesley Fofana all played their part in the mess. Alonso didn’t sugar-coat it: “If you are soft or if you are not prepared, you will get punished and we have been punished in that way.”

The problems go deeper than individual errors. Without Moisés Caicedo, the midfield looks hollow. Transitions rip through them. Late on, Chelsea threw on every attacker they could – Palmer, Rogers, João Pedro, Estevão, Danny Welbeck – and still looked just as vulnerable the other way, with Valentin Barco being harried into mistakes by Hull’s press.

Entertaining? Absolutely. Convincing? Not yet.

12. Everton (last week: 9th)

Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Everton

Everton left north London with a point and a question.

Spurs came flying out of the blocks. David Moyes admitted his side could have been blown away in the first 15 minutes, but Jordan Pickford barely had a serious save to make. The first effort on target he faced, from Matheus Fernandes just after half-time, was a trickle. The second, in the 89th minute, came after his own poor pass and required a sharp stop.

In front of him, Jarrad Branthwaite was immense. He blocked, intercepted, and threw himself in front of shots from Fernandes and Sandro Tonali. James Garner patrolled midfield, snapping into challenges and then sparking Everton’s best attacking move, combining with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to create a chance for Brennan Johnson.

Dewsbury-Hall also went close after Antonin Kinsky tried the fashionable but risky “most dangerous pass in football” across his own box, echoing Alisson’s misjudgement against Fulham.

Everton were solid. Organised. Hard to beat. But did they show enough ambition against a Spurs side clearly short of belief? That’s the nagging doubt.

13. Tottenham Hotspur (last week: 14th)

Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Everton

Same script, different weekend.

For a quarter of an hour, Spurs looked like a team reborn: sharp, energetic, front-foot. Yet even in that spell, they failed to carve out a clear-cut chance. The moment that summed it up came when Savio slipped in Mateus Fernandes. He just needed to shoot. Instead, he rolled his boot over the ball, delayed, and the opening vanished.

From there, the confidence drained away. Spurs retreated into a shell of sideways and backwards passes. One passage before half-time told the story: Micky van de Ven won the ball high, only for Tonali, Fernandes and Rodrigo Bentancur to exchange a series of six-yard passes that went nowhere. The crowd’s patience snapped.

Late on, Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Bergvall produced a similarly pointless bounce pass that visibly infuriated Roberto De Zerbi on the touchline.

Two shots on target, one greeted by ironic cheers from their own fans. Spurs look like a team trapped in their own head.

14. Brentford (last week: 18th)

Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford

This was not the Brentford that blew Spurs away on opening day or dominated Leeds at Elland Road.

Kevin Schade, who scored both goals, admitted they were “lucky” to escape with a point. He wasn’t exaggerating. His brace accounted for Brentford’s only two shots on target, and one of those came gift-wrapped from a dreadful pass by Bournemouth goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

Brentford never found their rhythm, even when ahead. Bournemouth’s slick approach play repeatedly pulled them apart; only poor finishing spared them.

Mamadou Sangaré, so influential in the first two games, dipped below those levels again despite playing a part in the build-up to the opener. The bigger concern, though, is Igor Thiago. Still goalless in the league, he struggled to impose himself and offered little as a focal point.

Right now, Brentford’s attacking threat feels uncomfortably dependent on Schade.

15. Liverpool (last week: 4th)

Liverpool 0-0 Fulham

Andoni Iraola called it the sort of game you sometimes have to win with a set piece or a flash of genius. Liverpool produced neither.

They had their moments from dead balls: Victor Muñoz forced a save from Bernd Leno with a header, and a late half-chance fell to Alexander Isak, who couldn’t convert. Open play offered even less.

Bradley Barcola is still searching for rhythm. Florian Wirtz never got going, aside from one lovely flick that released Barcola in the second half. The Frenchman’s cutback failed to find Isak, and that misconnection summed up Liverpool’s afternoon: ideas half-formed, execution half a beat off.

After impressive wins over Ipswich and Atletico Madrid, this was flat. Slow. Predictable. Fulham were organised but hardly ferocious. Liverpool simply lacked the sharpness and quality to break them down.

16. Aston Villa (last week: 15th)

Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest

Unai Emery didn’t hide behind excuses. He was furious about James McAtee’s challenge on Ian Maatsen – a tackle he felt deserved a red card – but he saved his harshest words for his own team.

“How we played today, we didn’t deserve more,” he said. “We played so, so poor.”

The numbers backed him up. Forest had 22 shots to Villa’s seven. Emery rolled his substitution dice early, using all his changes by the 63rd minute in an attempt to shift the momentum. When Maatsen then limped off, Villa were stuck with 10 men.

Midfield was a mess. Within 60 seconds of the second half, Ross Barkley and Boubacar Kamara had both coughed up possession in dangerous areas. Kamara’s error led directly to Delap’s opener. Up front, Nicolas Jackson, meant to be the focal point, was withdrawn at half-time amid fears he might see red after an earlier booking. His replacement, Tammy Abraham, barely featured.

The low point? Johan Manzambi’s first touch in a Villa shirt: a volleyed clearance straight out of play. It was that kind of day.

17. Manchester United (last week: 10th)

Manchester United 0-1 Manchester City

Remove the VAR controversy and what remains is a damning verdict on Manchester United’s performance.

Phil Foden’s dismissal should have tilted the derby. Instead, it exposed United’s lack of ideas. Their best efforts came from long range – Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo both hit the post – and they didn’t register a shot on target after the red card until the 70th minute.

The tempo was pedestrian. The passing, predictable. Creativity was almost non-existent. Bruno Fernandes, usually the heartbeat, looked strangely off-colour. Michael Carrick’s in-game management raised questions too. With City down to 10, Benjamin Šeško, a natural centre-forward, stayed on the bench longer than made sense.

It ended as a chastening afternoon that underlined the gulf between the squads – and left United with plenty more to worry about than VAR.

18. Crystal Palace (last week: 11th)

Crystal Palace 2-3 Ipswich Town

Pierre Sage didn’t dance around the problem. “We have to prevent the crosses and be more aggressive in the box,” he said. Palace did neither.

The warning signs were there against Fulham. This time, there was no escape. Axel Disasi’s reckless first-half red card made life harder, but it didn’t cause the basic defensive failings that keep repeating.

Emersonn, Ipswich’s striker, somehow found himself with a free header between Disasi and Honest Ahanor, who was caught in no man’s land. For the second goal, Daichi Kamada failed to help Tyrick Mitchell in a two-versus-one. Anan Khalaili and Chris Richards lost their bearings as the cross came in. For the third, Will Hughes and Ahanor didn’t do enough to stop Julio Enciso delivering yet another ball into the box.

Even after all that, Palace had their moment. At 2-2, Khalaili arrived unmarked at the back post and contrived to miss a chance he simply had to take.

The questions keep piling up. The answers are nowhere to be seen.

19. Coventry City (last week: 6th)

Coventry City 0-5 Brighton

Frank Lampard’s verdict – “We did some good stuff but then the game became very difficult for us” – felt honest. It also felt like an understatement.

Coventry started with intent. Then the roof fell in. A calamitous second goal, with Aurele Amenda failing to get to the ball before Yalcouye, set the tone. Taiwo Awoniyi’s red card on 53 minutes ended the contest.

The defensive issues run deep. There’s a softness, a naivety, that opponents are exploiting. It was there in the home defeat to Hull. It was exposed again here. Kostoulas nipped in ahead of Bobby Thomas to win the penalty for Brighton’s third. It summed up the game: Brighton were half a step quicker in every duel.

Coventry did carve out chances, especially in a promising 10-minute spell around the half-hour mark. Bart Verbruggen’s goalkeeping and their own lack of conviction combined to leave them empty-handed. Wasteful finishing is becoming a theme. So is the sense that once they concede, they unravel.

20. Newcastle United (last week: 12th)

Leeds United 4-1 Newcastle United

Alan Shearer didn’t sugar-coat it. On X, he called the first half “an absolute s*** show from the Toon”. He wasn’t wrong.

By the break, Newcastle were 3-0 down and being toyed with. Calvert-Lewin bullied Botman and Thiaw all night. Every aerial duel, every tussle, seemed to end with the Leeds striker on top.

In midfield, things were even worse. Nico González’s concussion in the 19th minute forced Eddie Howe to turn to 18-year-old Sean Steur alongside 20-year-old Lewis Miley. It was too much, too soon. They were swamped by Stach, Ampadu and Tanaka, who ran past and around them.

Steur’s misplaced pass led directly to Leeds’ second, officially credited to Bogle but made by Calvert-Lewin’s towering leap between the centre-backs.

Newcastle offered almost nothing going forward until a flurry of substitutions after the hour mark. Six of their seven shots came in the second half, long after the damage was done.

For a club with ambitions of pushing upwards, this wasn’t just a bad night. It was a warning.