The second Saturday of the new Premier League campaign did not disappoint, serving up a thrilling comeback, a spectacular home debut and a familiar sinking feeling for Manchester United supporters.
If last week s 2-1 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion represented a baptism of fire for Erik ten Hag, United s trip to Brentford provided further despair as the dismal Red Devils hit a 30-year low.
There was more joy for rivals Manchester City as they cruised to a 4-0 win over Bournemouth, while Gabriel Jesus made good on his pre-season promise with a dominant performance against Leicester City.
Here, Stats Perform trawls through Opta s data to bring you some of the best numbers from the day s Premier League action.
4-0 |
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC)
Brentford 4-0 Manchester United: Ten Hag matches unwanted Chapman record against brilliant Bees
Where do you start with this one? New United boss Ten Hag was left in no doubt regarding the side s problems when a Pascal Gross double sent them crashing to an opening-day defeat last week.
But not even the most pessimistic United follower could have predicted their collapse in west London, as Ten Hag became the first Red Devils manager to lose his first two games at the helm since John Chapman in November 1921.
Things got off to a dreadful start when David de Gea let Josh Dasilva s shot squirm into the net after 10 minutes; since the start of the 2018-19 season, only Jordan Pickford (11) has made more errors leading to Premier League goals than the Spaniard.
Mathias Jensen, Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo joined Dasilva on the scoresheet by the 35th minute as Brentford scored with their first four shots on target, while Cristiano Ronaldo cut a dejected figure on his return to the United team.
Only two teams had previously scored four first-half goals against United in a Premier League game; Tottenham in October 2020 and Liverpool in October 2021.
The result is that United have begun a top-flight campaign with back-to-back defeats for the first time since 1992-93, the Premier League s inaugural season.
And while the table has not quite taken shape two games in, United ended the day bottom of the Premier League for the first time since August 21, 1992.
Arsenal 4-2 Leicester City: Miraculous home debut for Jesus
Another side with Champions League ambitions has made a far brighter start to the Premier League season, as Mikel Arteta s Arsenal made it two consecutive wins with an entertaining victory over Leicester.
Former Manchester City forward Jesus was hailed as a coup for the Gunners when he arrived in the off-season, and he enjoyed a home debut to remember by scoring two goals and adding two assists.
In doing so, the Brazilian became the first player to score multiple goals on his home Premier League bow for Arsenal, as well as the first Gunners player to double up for goals and assists in a single league game since Theo Walcott against Newcastle in December 2012 (three goals, two assists).
Before Jesus assisted compatriot Gabriel Martinelli for Arsenal s fourth goal, he became the 12th different Brazilian to score in the Premier League for Arsenal – the most of any side in the competition s history.
Jesus was not the only player to impress, however, with Granit Xhaka both scoring and assisting in the same match for the first time in an Arsenal shirt, 252 games into his Gunners career.
Leicester, meanwhile, were subjected to a familiar feeling of frustration in north London – this was the sixth time they have conceded at least four goals in a Premier League game against Arsenal.
Manchester City 4-0 Bournemouth: Champions cruise despite quiet day for Haaland
Home teams hitting four goals seemed to be a theme of the day, as Pep Guardiola s Premier League champions followed up a win at West Ham by cruising past Bournemouth.
Scott Parker s team were likely not expecting a result at the Etihad Stadium; City have now won all 11 of their Premier League matches against Bournemouth, the best 100 per cent winning record against a particular team in the competition s history.
A Jefferson Lerma own goal came after strikes from Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden, as the Cherries made it 17 league matches without a win against City in their history – the most one side has faced another without a victory in English league history.
Kevin De Bruyne was at his creative best for City, scoring his 16th league goal since the start of last season before teeing up Foden s strike.
The Belgian has both scored and assisted in 20 separate Premier League matches since his September 2015 debut. Only Mohamed Salah (24) and Son Heung-min (21) have done so on more occasions in that time.
But while City were rampant, new talisman Haaland was quiet. The Norwegian only managed eight touches and two successful passes, but still managed to make an impact.
One of Haaland s passes was from kick-off, the other teed up Gundogan to score the first goal.
8 2 Erling Haaland had just eight touches in Manchester City s 4-0 victory against Bournemouth today, making just two passes in the 74 minutes he was on the pitch, one of which was from kick off. Acclimatising.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Southampton 2-2 Leeds United: Saints manage rare comeback as Aribo opens account
Elsewhere, Jesse Marsch s Leeds failed to make it two wins from two as Southampton launched a stirring comeback on the south coast.
Rodrigo was on the scoresheet in a win over Wolves last week before hitting a brace at St Marys, making him the first player to score three goals in Leeds first two games of a Premier League season since Alan Smith in 2000-01.
But Leeds could not hold on, failing to win after going two goals ahead for only the second time in their last 36 Premier League games, and for the first time in 14 such contests (since a 3-3 draw with Charlton Athletic in May 2004).
Southampton have now avoided defeat in two of the last five Premier League games where they have gone two goals down (also a 2-2 draw against Brighton in April), but their love of a comeback is a new characteristic.
Before April, the Saints had only managed one win and one draw from the last 58 Premier League games in which they went two goals behind.
Joe Aribo represents one of their most impressive additions following his arrival from Rangers, and his goal made him the first Nigerian to score in the Premier League for Southampton, as well as the 38th in the competition s history overall.
Fighting back to take a point
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC)
