🔬 The Debrief after Man City run riot and Blades finally win

In partnership with

OneFootball

Joel Sanderson-Murray·4 November 2023

🔬 The Debrief after Man City run riot and Blades finally win

There were 20 goals, late drama, an historic win and records broken on another captivating day of Premier League action.

Here’s the lowdown.

OneFootball Videos

What happened?

Manchester City moved to the top of the league after hitting Bournemouth for six while a 100th-minute penalty earned Sheffield United their first win of the season after 11 games.

Burnley became the first team in Premier League history to lose their first six home matches, this time falling down 2-0 to Crystal Palace.

An Ashley Young own-goal meant Brighton came away from Everton with a draw while Brentford came from behind to beat West Ham 3-2.

Earlier in the day a 91st-minute Bruno Fernandes winner eased the pressure on Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag.

You can catch up on all the results here.

Player of the Day

With four assists and one goal, Jérémy Doku was absolutely on fire at the Eithad.

The 21-year-old is the first player to set up four goals in one match since Paul Pogba did it for Manchester United against Leeds United in August 2021, and also the youngest player in the competition’s history to muster up five goal involvements in one encounter.

Pep is on to a winner with the Belgian.

Key Detail

City were emphatic, United’s win is huge but the story of the day has to be at Bramall Lane.

Sheffield United’s picture has looked bleak from the summer when they sold last season’s top goalscorer Iliman Ndiaye and lost their man creator Sander Berge to relegation rivals Burnley. The start to the campaign has not given Blades supporters any reason to be hopeful with their team having gone 10 games without a win.

Cameron Archer’s classy goal looked t have given the hosts some reprieve today until it felt a case of the same old story when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde equalised in the 89th-minute.

But the drama didn’t stop there.

A lengthy VAR check led to a Oliver Norwood penalty in the 10th-minute of stoppage-time winning the game for Paul Heckingbottom’s side, now meaning every club in the league has picked up at least one win and United are now just two points from safety.

Could the great escape be on?

Stats of the Day

Jarrod Bowen became the first player in Premier League history to score in his club’s first six away games after his strike against Brentford.

While Brighton continued to stake their claim as the league’s great entertainers with their 1-1 draw at Everton meaning they have become the first team since Tottenham Hotspur in 1988 to both score and concede in their first 11 matches.

What this means

City go top at the time of writing but an Arsenal win in Saturday’s evening game would change that complexion but Brentford’s win meant they leap-frogged West Ham and into the top half.

Brighton failed to close the gap on the top six while Everton, Fulham and Wolves all stay lodged within that nether zone above the bottom three.

Man United’s dramatic late win has seen them close the gap on the top four to four points.

What they said

Erik ten Hag: “That is definitely not the standards we wanted to achieve. We wanted to improve and get a reaction and I think we saw a reaction.”

Nathan Ake (on Jeremy Doku): “Sometimes you need individual quality to open up the game and he did that. He was fantastic. He’s a good guy and he gets on with everyone.”