Match Week 9 Results: Gunners Blast Spurs; Manchester City Embarrasses Rival United; Seagulls Remain Aloft in Liverpool Draw; Gallagher Breaks Palace Hearts; Everton Stretches Unbeaten Run To Six; Bruno Lage Sacked After Hammers Defeat Tame Wolves; Leicester Chops Down Forest

Manchester City put on a crushing display as they embarrassed cross-town rival Manchester United 6-3 at the Etihad. The final score was not indicative of the extent of domination as Manchester City lost interest and substituted liberally in the second half. Down 6-1, Manchester United scored two late meaningless goals by Anthony Martial which were unwitnessed by the droves of traveling Manchester United fans who left the stadium at halftime. Erling Haaland increased his Premier league goal haul to 14 in the rout as he became the first Premier League player to score a hat trick in three consecutive home matches. Phil Foden added his own hat trick as he and Haaland both had a brace by halftime to give the Citizens a 4-0 lead and prompt the departure of United fans who had seen enough. Haaland and Keven De Bruyne each had two assists in the win which kept the Citizens one point behind league leading Arsenal. The humiliating defeat was a humble reversal for a Manchester United side which had won four consecutive matches. The Red Devils looked helpless, much as they had earlier in the season when they similarly fell behind 4-0 at the break versus Brentford. Attack minded Manager United Manager Eric Ten Hag manager will want to reassess his personnel selection and the wide-open strategy employed against the firepower of City. The United midfield was overwhelmed Sunday while defensive enforcer Casemiro remained glued to the bench until the match was already decided.

Despite Manchester City’s impressive performance, Arsenal remained top of the table after a 3-1 defeat of Spurs in the north London derby. Arsenal opened scoring on a rare goal from Thomas Partey who found the Spurs net from more than 25 yards out.

Thomas Partey's first goal of the season was a beauty! 💫 pic.twitter.com/N4uozZbeZ6

— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) October 1, 2022

Following an equalizing Harry Kane penalty kick, Arsenal would retake the lead when the Gunners’ Gabriel Jesus capitalized on a gaffe by Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to score his fifth goal of the season. Granit Xhaka would score the clincher just five minutes after Tottenham Hotspur was reduced to 10 men on a red card assessed to Spurs’ defender Emerson Royal. Spurs rarely threatened in the match before or after the 69th minute red card as Manager Antonio Conte’s squad suffered its first defeat of the season. Arsenal center back William Saliba was a key factor in frustrating the Spurs attack.

Saliba has become one of the Premier League’s more dominant center back just as Virgil van Dijk appears to have fallen from those ranks. Van Dijk and the vulnerable Liverpool defense conceded a hat trick to Brighton’s Leandro Trossard in a 3-3 draw at Anfield. Brighton sprinted to a two-goal advantage in the Seagulls’ first match under Manager Roberto de Zerbi. Liverpool then responded with a Bobby Firmino brace and a Brighton own goal to take the lead before Trossard equalized in the 83rd minute with his third goal of the match. Brighton retained its top four position with the away point. Liverpool, meanwhile, dropped points for the sixth time in seven matches as the ninth place Reds look hopelessly out of the title chase.

Former Brighton Manager Graham Potter won his league debut as Chelsea manager in dramatic fashion versus Crystal Palace as former Palace loanee Conor Gallagher snatched a 2-1 victory with a 90th minute strike. Gallagher was a fan favorite during his time at Selhurst Park which made the late concession even more painful for Eagle supporters.

Conor Gallagher on his first goal for Chelsea. pic.twitter.com/2V4JNnDGbB

— Frank Khalid (@FrankKhalidUK) October 2, 2022

Both Gallagher and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored their first Premier League goals for Chelsea. Odsonne Edouard had given Palace an early lead before the Eagles once again fell victim to their propensities for stagnant attack and late concessions. The Eagles play pleasing football under Manager Patrick Vieira, but their promising young players need to become more productive in front of net for the Eagles to avoid relegation. Chelsea defender Reece James locked up on Wilfried Zaha Saturday to deprive the Eagles of their best offensive threat. Crystal Palace is currently safe only due to a better goal differential than Wolverhampton. Graham Potter’s Blues, meanwhile, moved past Manchester United in the table and are now just one point behind Potter’s former club, Brighton, for fourth.

Newcastle United moved into the mix for the European places with a resounding 4-1 victory over an undermanned Fulham side. Newcastle moved to sixth place in the table with their second victory of the year against five draws and only a single defeat. Callum Wilson, returning from injury for the Magpies, scored the match’s opening goal just three minutes after home standing Fulham was reduced to 10 men on a Nathaniel Chalobah red card. Former Major League Soccer star Miguel Almiron delivered a subsequent brace, his two goals bracketing a Sean Longstaff score for Newcastle. An 88th minute goal by Bobby Decordova-Reid was little consolation for Fulham which tumbled from fourth to eighth in the table after sustaining its third loss in five matches.

Brentford decided nothing at Bournemouth and Aston Villa deadlocked at Leeds in two scoreless matches. Bournemouth extended an unlikely unbeaten run to four matches even as the Cherries failed to score for a third consecutive home match.

Everton won for a second consecutive match and extended its unbeaten run to six matches as the Toffees defeated Southampton 2-1 to pull the Toffees level on points with Brentford and ninth place Liverpool. Everton Manager Frank Lampard has relied on defense to power his club’s move toward the top half of the table. The Toffees have conceded the fewest goals in the league this season after acquiring their new center back pairing of veteran Premier League defenders James Tarkowski and Conor Coady. Goals by Coady and the Toffees’ Dwight McNeil overcame an initial score by Southampton’s Joe Aribo as all three goals in Saturday’s match came during a five-minute span early in the second half. Southampton’s third consecutive loss drops them to within a point of the relegation places.

West Ham defeated Wolverhampton 2-0 as Wolves replaced the Hammers in the league’s bottom three. Gianluca Scamacca and Jarrod Bowen each scored for a first time in the Premier League this season. The two goals represented an offensive explosion for a West Ham side which has scored only five times in its eight matches. Wolves, meanwhile, remain on three goals for the season with their only close chance on Sunday coming when former Chelsea star Diego Costa missed a header in his Wolves debut. Wolves Manager Bruno Lage was fired after his club descended into the relegation places. Goal starved Wolves had won just one of 15 Premier League matches under Lage dating to last season.

The next manager to be sacked could be Nottingham Forest’s Steve Cooper after a 4-0 East Midlands derby loss to previously winless Leicester. The battle between the league’s bottom two clubs was a one-sided affair as the Foxes sprinted to a 3-0 first half advantage which featured a brace by James Maddison. Leicester won for a first time this season. Cooper, meanwhile, continues to search for the right player combinations and tactical formation after a transfer window which saw 23 new signings. The unforgiving Premier League has been unkind to Cooper’s work in process as the club replaces Leicester in the league’s basement.