Arsenal Maintains Perfect Start with 2-0 Win Over Sunderland

Arsenal’s perfect start to their Premier League title defence rolled on with a ruthless 2-0 win at Sunderland, lit up by a thunderbolt from Bruno Guimaraes and sealed by Bukayo Saka’s nerve from the spot.

Four games, four wins, four clean sheets. And now a three-point gap at the top.

Guimaraes stuns Stadium of Light

Sunderland had their moment. Enzo Le Fee stepped up from the spot with the home crowd roaring, but David Raya guessed right and beat the penalty away, a huge right hand preserving Arsenal’s fragile lead and silencing the Stadium of Light.

Just over two minutes later, it went from loud to stunned.

Guimaraes, still waiting for his first Arsenal goal, picked up the ball from distance and let fly. The strike ripped into the top corner, a vicious, arcing hit that left the keeper stranded and the away end erupting. One chance, one statement. Arsenal in control.

Sunderland chased, pushed, hoped. But Mikel Arteta’s side managed the game with the calm of champions, picking their moments, shutting down space, and waiting for the kill.

It came with the final kick.

Saka, ice-cold from the spot, buried his penalty to wrap up another polished win and underline Arsenal’s early authority in the title race.

Manchester City can pull level again if they win the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday, but the shape of the table already hints at something more telling: a gap is opening between Arsenal and the rest.

Alonso wants ‘boring’ Chelsea as Hull stay unbeaten

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea delivered the same chaotic spectacle that has quickly become their calling card under Xabi Alonso: thrilling going forward, fragile at the back, and ultimately short of control in a 2-2 draw with newly-promoted Hull.

The front three of Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer dazzled again. The numbers tell their own story. In five games against top-flight opposition since Alonso took over, Chelsea have scored 16 and conceded 12.

“(It’s) maybe entertaining, but I hope one day you’ll say it was a boring game and we win and we don’t give these entertaining moments,” Alonso said, his side now five points off the top.

Hull arrived as the last team in the division yet to concede and with three straight clean sheets behind them. That record vanished after just seven minutes when Rogers drilled in at the near post.

Chelsea then unravelled. Mohamed Belloumi punished slack defending twice before the break, turning the game on its head and exposing the home side’s familiar soft centre.

The response was sharp. Joao Pedro rifled a Palmer cross into the top corner just after the hour to level, the Bridge bouncing again and the pressure cranked up.

But the winner never came. Hull dug in, frustrated Chelsea, and walked away still unbeaten and still riding their Premier League return.

Liverpool held as Fulham fight for Arbeloa

At Anfield, the mood turned sour.

Liverpool remain unbeaten under Andoni Iraola, but a goalless draw with struggling Fulham drew boos at full-time as Alvaro Arbeloa claimed his first point in charge of the Cottagers.

On paper, Liverpool’s attack looked fearsome: Bradley Barcola, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, three £100 million forwards leading the line. On grass, they never clicked. Fulham’s often-porous defence held firm, Liverpool’s tempo dulled and their edge blunted.

“When you draw, especially at home, you can’t be happy,” Iraola admitted, pointing to midweek exertions. He blamed fatigue after the Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

“Today we lacked a bit of freshness and we did not do enough offensively to make the difference.”

The table adds another sting. Liverpool, in sixth, already trail Arsenal by six points.

Goal-shy Spurs sink towards trouble

Tottenham spent £300 million in the summer to avoid a repeat of the grim 17th-place finishes of the last two seasons. The goals were supposed to follow. They haven’t.

A goalless stalemate with Everton stretched Spurs’ wait for a league goal and left them just inside the relegation zone, the heavy spending yet to translate into any cutting edge.

The anxiety is starting to feel familiar.

Delap delivers as Forest floor Villa

Aston Villa are stuck in the bottom three as well, undone late on by Nottingham Forest in a meeting laced with Europa League history.

Forest, beaten by Villa in last season’s Europa League semifinals, took their revenge with a 2-1 win and a statement performance from Liam Delap.

Eyebrows had shot up when Forest reportedly paid a club-record £45 million to bring Delap from Chelsea after he failed to make the grade at Stamford Bridge. This was the kind of moment that fee demands.

Delap stepped up from range and drove a low strike into the bottom corner to open the scoring, a clean, decisive finish that justified the investment and lifted the City Ground.

Villa finally found their first league goal of the season through Alysson, who levelled and briefly shifted the momentum. But Forest hit back again.

Igor Jesus struck to secure Oliver Glasner’s first win as Forest boss, a result that drags his new side upward and leaves Villa staring at a long autumn ahead.

Palace pain, Ipswich drama, Brentford steady

Glasner’s former club Crystal Palace continue to stumble. A 3-2 home defeat to Ipswich deepened their early-season woes, the visitors aided by a first-half red card for Axel Disasi.

With Palace down to 10, Ipswich sensed their chance. Deep into stoppage time, Zian Flemming grabbed his first goal for the Tractor Boys, snatching all three points and sending the away end into chaos.

Brentford, by contrast, just keep ticking along. Kevin Schade’s double at Bournemouth earned a 2-2 draw and preserved their unbeaten start.

On a day when Arsenal flexed, Chelsea wobbled, Liverpool stalled and Spurs froze in front of goal, the early contours of the season sharpened. The question now is who can keep pace with the champions, and who is already running just to stand still.