Weekend two of the new Premier League season and some familiar themes are starting to emerge.
These include injuries to key Arsenal men, frailties in the Manchester City psyche and unrest at West Ham.
Not that the former didn’t have a good time on Saturday with a result which made this SBOTOP scribe sit up and take notice.
At the end of the Gunners’ 5-0 rout of Leeds, much of the discussion centred on the impressive appearance of a teenage substitute by the name of Max Dowman.
At 15 years and 234 days old, he became the second-youngest player to play for the club, behind only his team-mate Ethan Nwaneri (who made his debut at 15 years 181 days in September 2022 against Brentford).
Normally you would think appearances would be minimal at this age for such a young man, but injuries sustained in recent days to Kai Havertz and, most notably against Leeds, to captain Martin Odegaard and wing wizard Bukayo Saka may seem the youngster involved more than expected over the next month or so.
He contributed to a collection of teatime Premier League 2025 highlights on Saturday, winning a penalty after being brought down which allowed new signing Viktor Gyokeres to slam home a spot-kick with virtually the final kick of the game.
By then Arsenal had long turned on the style with Jurrien Timber – who must feel like a new signing after he sustained a season ending injury on his debut two years ago – heading in the opener before setting up the second for Saka.
Gyokeres, the £64 million arrival from Sporting Lisbon, jinked into the box to add a third before Timber prodded in his second from another corner.
If the Premier League 2025 betting odds make pretty reading for Arsenal, it was a day to forget for title rivals Manchester City, although at the same time a memorable one for the other half of North London.
Like Arsenal, City had injury misery with full-back Rayan Ait-Nouri going off early during his home debut and then, with their first attack, Brennan Johnson opened the scoring for Spurs following a slick counter-attack.
When Joao Palhinha doubled the advantage – his loan arrival from Bayern Munich could be one of the signings of the season for me – on the stroke of half-time, Spurs were in control and never looked back.
This was their third victory at the Etihad Stadium in their past five visits and continues the encouraging start made by manager Thomas Frank, including a promising display, despite defeat, in the UEFA Super Cup Final.
City’s woes should be put into context when you consider the position of West Ham who are already under pressure, particularly their manager Graham Potter.
Two games in and eight goals conceded, the Hammers threatened an upset against the mega spenders of Chelsea when Lucas Paqueta scored a superb opener just six minutes in.
Joao Pedro levelled nine minutes later with a close-range header and the game was evenly poised with the home side only denied from going in front again by a VAR offside ruling.
Yet once Chelsea netted twice inside 11 minutes, one team’s confidence soared and the other side was deflated as Neto volleyed Chelsea ahead in the 23rd minute and Enzo Fernandez tapped home an Estevao cross shortly afterwards.
There were a smattering of boos at half-time from the Hammers faithful, but it got worse for Potter against his former club.
After Fernandez missed a good chance early in the second half, Moises Caicedo and Trevor Chalobah both scored from corners after two weak attempts by goalkeeper Mads Hermansen to claim crosses on his home debut.
West Ham are now without a win in six home matches and eight goals is the most they have ever conceded in their two opening games of a top-flight season.
Yet another familiar theme is that of Manchester United.
I said last year that the then new boss needed to abandon his preferred formation immediately if he was to succeed in English football. To quote me eight months ago: It’s a bloody car crash!
Nothing I have seen since has made me change my mind and the same applies after a draw at Fulham where it was still clear it’s not working. To me, seven games won out of 29 in the Premier League tells its own story.
Another familiar tale to emerge this weekend focuses on Iliman Ndiaye.
In May, the Senegalese midfielder forever etched his name in the history books by becoming the scorer of the final ever goal at Goodison Park, which is going to become home to Everton’s women’s team.
Well now he has also become the first official scorer at their new ground, the Hill Dickinson Stadium – an accolade he claimed after turning home a 23rd minute cross from Jack Grealish en route to a 2-0 home victory over Brighton, further secured by a James Garner special and a penalty save from England’s number one, Jordan Pickford.
Brighton is a team I half expect to struggle this term but nothing like as much as Brentford who I really fear for.
So, I was rather surprised that, after being so well beaten by Nottingham Forest in their opening game, they were able to inflict a defeat on another Midlands club in Aston Villa.
Burkina Faso international Dango Ouattara joined Brentford for a club record fee of £42.5m from Bournemouth a week ago and settled the contest with a composed 12th minute strike.
The result ensured new Bees head coach Keith Andrews secured three points in his first home league game, having succeeded Frank in charge at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Villa followed a tepid first half with a much-improved performance after the break but could not find a way past goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, also making his home debut.
The presence of supermodel Claudia Schiffer in the stands, with her Brentford investor and filmmaker husband Matthew Vaughn, also brought a touch of stardust to the part of west London. Stardust and familiarity – two of the key themes in the ongoing Premier League story.
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