: Premier League Matchday 3 Recap (2026/27)

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Full Results (Matchday 2)

  • Ipswich 0–2 Liverpool 

  • Newcastle 2–2 Bournemouth 

  • Brentford 1–1 Sunderland 

  • Brighton 1–1 Leeds 

  • Fulham 2–3 Crystal Palace

  • Manchester City 1–0 Coventry

  • Nottingham Forest 0–0 Tottenham 

  • Hull 0–0 Aston Villa

  • Everton 2–2 Manchester United

  • Arsenal 2–1 Chelsea 

Game of the Matchday 

Fulham 2–3 Crystal Palace

The London Derby gave us the most ample amount of entertainment this matchday. Fulham hosted Crystal Palace in a 2-3 defeat in what was a thoroughly exciting, back-and-forth game of football.

Fulham twice led the game, although both times they were pegged back by an unlikely source — Tyrick Mitchell. The left wing-back was a constant nuisance for The Cottagers as he scored an unlikely brace. Even when Mitchell got subbed out, the left wing-back position continued to haunt Fulham, with the match winner coming from the boot of a Premier League-returning Ben Chilwell in his first game back for Palace. 

Although Palace created 6 big chances, Fulham would be left confused as to how they managed to get not even a single point, when they could have gotten all 3. They generated an xG of 3.14 to Palace's 1.97 which shows their underperformance in their finishing. 

Alvaro Arbeloa remains without a point in his first three games in charge as Fulham boss, while Palace pick up their first league win of the season. 

Biggest Surprise

Manchester City 1–0 Coventry

Manchester City, fresh off their big 4-1 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, hosted a Coventry side that had lost their first two games by an aggregate score of 0-4 against Arsenal and Hull. It is rather safe to say most fans expected a scoreline much bigger than what we got at the end of the match at Etihad.

Surprisingly, after Haaland's goal in the 26th minute, Coventry got really tight. They maintained their shape and structure very well throughout the game and frustrated City fans who thought this game would have been important for increasing their goal difference tally on the table. Coventry even spilled a couple of their own chances at stealing a point off of Man City and on another day, they might have done exactly that. 

Only a singular goal lead meant that the last minutes of game were fairly nervy for Enzo Maresca as Coventry were pushing on for an equalizer. Maximum points for City but not an entirely convincing performance.

Best Team Performance

Arsenal 2–1 Chelsea

Before this game, there were talks going on from some fans about how Chelsea had the potential to upset Arsenal. And while the argument from them is still reasonable, Arsenal just brushed those aside with conviction.

Xabi Alonso's high-flying Chelsea side continued their trend of starting games very strongly as Morgan Rogers volleyed in a beautiful finish in the 2nd minute of the game, becoming the only player to score against The Gunners in the 26/27 season as of writing. 

Forget about panicking, Arsenal did not even flinch. They remained ever so focused, determined and honestly looked likely to grab the 3 points. Even when Chelsea had a decent spell with the ball, they were not really able to create a high quality chance with it, finishing with an xG of just 0.39 which highlights Arsenal's greatest strength is of course their watertight defence.

Brilliant performance from everyone involved at Arsenal, however, there was one who rose above not just his teammates but also everyone...

Player of the Matchday

Martin Ødegaard (Arsenal)

After a couple of injury-ridden years, I think Martin Ødegaard is officially back to his smooth, silky best. He is not a stat player, though you can look up the stats and see the evidence in my statement there too. And Arsenal should be excited.

He has started the season in tremendous form, and he sustained that form in this big faceoff against Arsenal's London rivals. He was helped by a smart dummy from Kai Havertz which let the ball roll towards Ødegaard who lashed it home emphatically to give his side a much-deserved lead in the 50th minute. Ødegaard had the most xG (0.72) and the most xA (0.88) which highlights just how dangerous he was, also creating 4 chances for his team. 

A fit and firing Ødegaard is a treat for the eyes and an absolute world-class player, as he showed against Chelsea.

Honorable mentions -  Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Luka Vušković (Brighton) & Tyrick Mitchell (Crystal Palace)

Moment of the Matchday

Ainsley Maintland-Niles equalises late against Manchester United

Watch Maitland-Niles's goal here

If you thought Chilwell's winner against Fulham was the best moment of the matchday as it was a Premier League known full back returning to the league after some time away in Ligue 1, you would be wrong because Ainsley Maitland-Niles said "I can do one better".

After Everton's match against Manchester United exploded to life during the final stretch of the match, it looked like Benjamin Šeško had stolen it for The Red Devils in the 88th minute after Tyrique George had blasted in an equaliser just 5 minutes before.

That was until debutant Maitland-Niles arrived at the scene with other ideas. Substituting for James Garner in the 77th minute, Maitland-Niles spotted a loose ball at the edge of the box and scored an absolute beauty from way out in the sixth minute of stoppage time to send the Hill Dickinson Stadium into a frenzy. 

No problem of winning over a fanbase for Maitland-Niles, it seems.

Looking Ahead – Matchday 4 Fixtures (IST Kick-Offs)

Saturday, 12 September (IST)

    • Bournemouth vs Brentford - 7:30 pm

    • Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest - 7:30 pm

    • Chelsea vs Hull - 7:30 pm

    • Crystal Palace vs Ipswich - 7:30 pm

    • Liverpool vs Fulham - 7:30 pm

    • Tottenham vs Everton - 10:00 pm

    Sunday, 13 September (IST)

    • Sunderland vs Arsenal - 12:30 am

    • Coventry vs Brighton - 6:30 pm

    • Manchester United vs Manchester City - 9:00 pm

    Tuesday, 15 September (IST)

    • Leeds vs Newcastle - 12:30 am

    by ShotBlogged


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