Man United fear the top sides, Trent Alexander-Arnold is back to his very best and Brentford don’t miss Ivan Toney… TEN THINGS we learned from the Premier League

• There was plenty of moving and shaking at the top of the Premier League table
• Champions Manchester City dropped to third after a 3-3 draw with Tottenham 
• Manchester United have snakes in their dressing room, players who are not running. Bruce, Robson, Keane would never allow this – It’s All Kicking Off

This weekend saw the first of the Premier League’s cold December fixtures, with games set to come thick and fast during the festive period over the next few weeks.

Tottenham Hotspur avoided a fourth loss in a row with late drama at the Etihad as Erling Haaland raged at referee Simon Hooper, and even took to X to show his disapproval after no advantage was given on the Norwegian’s pass to send through Jack Grealish.

Arsenal remained top of the table with a win over Wolves, while Sheffield United moved bottom after getting thrashed by Burnley, likely resulting in the first managerial sacking of the season.

In between, Newcastle United continued a winning streak over fellow European hopefuls Manchester United, and Bournemouth extended their unbeaten streak with a point against Aston Villa.

Sunday’s goal-fest also featured Jurgen Klopp’s ‘beautiful’ Liverpool launching a late comeback against Fulham and 10 men Chelsea beating Brighton. Mail Sport takes a look at 10 things we learned after the Premier League weekend.

Liverpool’s fighting spirit helped the Reds come back to win 4-3 against Fulham on Sunday

Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City shared the spoils on Sunday after an enthralling 3-3 draw at the Etihad brought attacking football from both sides

Man United can’t help folding against the top eight

The Red Devils have failed to beat any opposition who started the day in the top eight since October 2021, when they beat Tottenham Hotspur under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Meanwhile, Newcastle United have now won three consecutive games against Manchester United in all competitions for the first time since 1922.

The Magpies ended the Red Devils’ run of 334 minutes without conceding while keeping their league-high fifth home clean sheet, despite an injury to first choice shot-stopper Nick Pope.

Dejan Kulusevski is a giant killer

With his 90th minute equaliser, the Swede becomes just the second Premier League player to score away at the reigning champions in three consecutive seasons.

His goal held Manchester City to their third draw in a row, marking the first time this has happened since 2009. To make matters worse for City, Pep Guardiola’s side led during all three of those games.

Haaland was seen fuming after the final whistle, mostly with referee Simon Hooper. But it could be down to him having five shots without one being on target for the first time in either the Bundesliga or Premier League.

United have failed to beat any team who started the day in the top eight since October 2021

Dejan Kulusevski’s superb equaliser for Tottenham kept his side to within three points of City

Transformed Trent is becoming a leader

In a game of ‘beautiful’ Liverpool goals, Trent Alexander-Arnold scored in back-to-back games in the Premier League for the very first time on his 210th appearance.

Meanwhile, Fulham lost back-to-back away games for the first time since April and May of last season amidst a run of seven winless Premier League games on the road.

Having conceded what appeared to be a Fulham winner in the 80th minute, never before have Liverpool come from behind to win in such late circumstances. 

Deadlock broken for Fernandez

Enzo Fernandez had attempted more shots than any Premier League player without a goal this season (22) before bagging the opener against Brighton, and then went onto score a double for the first time in his professional career.

It was the 18th game in a row Brighton have both scored and conceded in, continuing the longest such run in the Premier League.

Former Brighton loanee Levi Colwill scored his first Chelsea goal and chose to celebrate respectfully after initially appearing jubilant, becoming Chelsea’s 490th scorer.

Goals have been like buses for Enzo Fernandez this term – after a long wait, two came at once

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s late winner for Liverpool fired the Reds into second in the league

Kompany finally enjoys home comforts

Burnley ended a run of nine consecutive Premier League defeats at Turf Moor by beating Sheffield United 5-0, and as such were the last of the 92 clubs across England’s top four tiers to register a home win this season.

Vincent Kompany’s side tried to make up for it, with their 5-0 win being the joint-largest margin of victory in Premier League history by a team starting the day bottom of the table.

Jay Rodriguez got off to a flying start scoring after 15.8 seconds, 10 years and one day after scoring in 13.7 seconds for Southampton and now holding the 15th and 12th fastest goals in Premier League history.

Arsenal keep calm and carry on scoring

Arsenal scored against Wolves for the 32nd game in a row, in all competitions, making it the joint longest scoring run against any opponent in the club’s history – tied with West Brom.

Bukayo Saka’s opener also helped Arsenal reach the landmark of 100 goals in 2023, only achieved by four other big five European league clubs in Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen.

Defensively though, Arsenal have kept more clean sheets at home in three Champions League games than in eight Premier League games.

Burnley ended a run of nine consecutive Premier League defeats at Turf Moor by beating Sheffield United 5-0, taking Vincent Kompany’s side off bottom place on seven points

Arsenal head into the busy festive period at the top of the Premier League after Saturday’s win

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West Ham’s Kudus buy is bearing fruit

After his opening goal in West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, summer signing Kudus now has three goal involvements in his last four games with two goals and an assist.

But only Burnley and Bournemouth have dropped more points from winning positions than the Hammers this season, missing out on a total of 12 with seven coming at home.

For Crystal Palace, veteran manager Roy Hodgson became the first Palace boss to oversee 200 Eagles goals after Odsonne Edouard’s equaliser. Joel Ward joined Wilfred Zaha as Crystal Palace’s most capped Premier League player as well, taking his tally to 291 games.

Who misses Toney?

Neal Maupay has undergone a transformation at Brentford, having either scored or assisted in three of his four Premier League home games for the Bees.

Brentford also had more attempts on goal than they have ever had in the Premier League with 27, including 19 shots from outside the box.

Luton scored yet another goal in the last 15 minutes, now making up nine of their 13 goals, but this time it was not enough to spark a Hatters comeback.

Corner turned for Cherries 

After suffering six defeats in their first nine games, Bournemouth have now lost just one of their previous five Premier League matches including wins against Burnley, Newcastle and Sheffield United.

In their 2-2 draw with Aston Villa, Dominic Solanke scored his seventh league goal of the season, his best return in a Premier League campaign with 24 games to go.

A late Ollie Watkins equaliser rescued a point for Aston Villa, whose midweek clash with Manchester City is intriguingly poised. Unai Emery’s side have won 13 league games in a row at Villa Park while the reigning champions will have Rodri and Villa product Jack Grealish suspended following bookings against Tottenham.

West Ham’s signing Mohamed Kudus now has three goal involvements in his last four games

Neal Maupay (left) and Bryan Mbeumo (right) are prospering in the absence of Ivan Toney

Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth have now lost just one of their previous five league matches

Forest have lost their fortress 

Nottingham Forest had to rely on a consistency of home points last season, losing just two of their 20 Premier League home games between October 2022 and November 2023. 

But now, Steve Cooper’s side have equalled this feat in their last two home matches alone, losing 1-0 against Everton this weekend after defeat by Brighton.

Everton’s away form has vastly improved, winning four of their last five Premier League away games.

Displaying how difficult Sean Dyche sides can be to face, the Toffees have never lost when opening the scoring under Dyche over 13 games, with 10 wins and three draws to boast.

Nottingham Forest suffered a third straight defeat after losing 1-0 against Everton on Saturday

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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