EPL Weekly Wrap Gameweek 5

Five rounds in and I’m already rewriting my read on this season. Arsenal looked untouchable until the weekend. Manchester City are perfect but leaking goals at an alarming rate, and a promoted club that hadn’t scored all season left the City Ground with three points. Here’s a breakdown of all the Premier League news you may have missed last week.

I didn’t see this one coming at all. Brighton beat Arsenal 3-0 at the Amex, and the scoreline flattered the visitors.

Pascal Gross opened the scoring in the 31st minute with a low strike off the inside of the post. Charalampos Kostoulas doubled it right on half-time from outside the box, then Chema Andres headed in a Gross corner just before the hour. Arsenal barely tested Bart Verbruggen all afternoon.

Brighton are now third on 10 points with 16 goals already, more than anyone else in the division. Gross has scored in three consecutive games for Brighton for the first time, and Kostoulas already has six goal involvements this season, double his return from last season. Arsenal had been chasing an eighth straight win to open their campaign in all competitions, which would have equalled a 123-year club record.

Manchester City took full advantage, though not in the manner Enzo Maresca would have wanted. Their 5-3 win over Sunderland was chaos. Enzo Fernandez opened with a free-kick inside 10 minutes for his first City goal, Rayan Cherki restored the lead on the half hour, and Antoine Semenyo scored either side of the interval. Brian Brobbey answered every time with a hat-trick for the visitors and still lost, Erling Haaland settling it nine minutes from time.

Five wins from five, three points clear. Conceding three at home to Sunderland should worry Maresca, and I’d still back Arsenal over a full season.

Brentford’s 3-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday morning NZT was a second-half mugging. Jaidon Anthony headed the opener just past the hour before Igor Thiago and Fabio Carvalho finished it late. Unbeaten after five and fourth in the table.

Manchester United drew 1-1 at Fulham and it was grim viewing.

Lisandro Martinez put through his own net in the 63rd minute after a mix-up with Senne Lammens, and United needed a deflected Matheus Cunha effort in the 89th to avoid a third straight defeat. Three league games without a win now, and they go into the international window in the bottom half.

Chelsea are in the same boat. I had them down as top-four certainties a month ago, yet Xabi Alonso has taken just one point from three since winning his opening two.

Liverpool are harder to judge. Alexander Isak settled a scrappy afternoon at Bournemouth to give them a third consecutive league clean sheet, their first such sequence since September 2024, and Andoni Iraola is unbeaten after five. Three of those matches finished level, though, and a 1-0 at the Vitality was about as laboured as a win gets.

Hull City lost 2-1 at Newcastle United and are still eighth, and I think they’ve adapted to this level quicker than anyone expected. Everton won 1-0 at home to Ipswich Town and Leeds United played out a goalless one against Crystal Palace, which leaves five clubs without a defeat so far. I don’t expect many to survive October.

This is the best story of the week by far: Coventry City won 1-0 at Nottingham Forest for their first top-flight victory since April 2001.

Jay Dasilva scored their goal in the 55th minute. Carl Rushworth’s long diagonal was controlled by Dasilva, who got past Daniel Munoz before slotting a composed left-footed finish past Matz Sels from an angle. His first goal for the club. Forest thought they’d equalised through Igor Jesus with four minutes left, only for VAR to rule it out for a foul on Caleb Yirenkyi.

Coventry are 18th and off the bottom. For anyone weighing up relegation markets on football betting sites, I’d be looking at Tottenham before them.

Tottenham lost 3-2 at home to Aston Villa and are last on two points. They hadn’t scored a league goal all season before Conor Gallagher struck in the 86th, and Jan Paul van Hecke added a second deep into stoppage time. Roberto De Zerbi heard the away end singing about his sacking with 10 minutes to play. Fulham are 19th and still without a win under Alvaro Arbeloa.

Bournemouth are level with Coventry on three points and yet to win a match.

Gameweek 6 doesn’t arrive until the weekend of 10 October. Liverpool host Manchester City at 4:30am NZDT on Monday 12 October, and that’s the one I’d have circled if you’re browsing NZ betting apps for early prices. 

Arsenal then face Leeds United at 12:30am NZDT on Sunday 11 October, with Manchester United against Tottenham later that morning at 5:30am. Anyone using live betting sites should note Coventry versus Newcastle United on Tuesday 13 October at 8am NZDT too.