Football writer Alex Keble highlights the hot topics and tactical lessons from Matchweek 4, including:
- Man Utd problems old and new exposed by Guardiola’s tactics
- Frank’s direct approach feels radical for top end of the table
- Madueke emphasises Arsenal’s depth on difficult debut for Postecoglou
- Brentford’s long throws show Maresca value of PL’s new direction
- Slot’s knack for making the right substitutions papers over the cracks
- Hard-fought Bournemouth win suggests Iraola’s side are the new Forest
- Kevin’s introduction is exactly the lift Fulham’s attack needed
- Grealish shows why Emery must integrate new attackers faster
- Woltemade's impressive debut gives Newcastle the shot in the arm they needed
- Scrappy point at Palace might be Sunderland’s best result of season so far
Man Utd problems old and new exposed by Guardiola’s tactics
Phil Foden was exceptional in central midfield, Erling Haaland in top form, and Gianluigi Donnarumma confident in goal, providing the platform for a straightforward win for the hosts in the Manchester derby.
But this was very much a tactical victory defined by Pep Guardiola exposing problems with Ruben Amorim’s system, both old and new.
In the first half, Manchester City took advantage of familiar issues with Amorim’s two-man central midfield by using Foden and Tijjani Reijnders either side of it.
Man Utd are supposed to combat this numerical disadvantage with the centre-backs stepping up to meet these No 8s, and although Leny Yoro did well to get tight to Foden throughout the first half, the one time he failed to do so – inexplicably hesitating, then dropping – the Man City midfielder was able to progress the ball before finishing the move himself.
That gave the hosts a 1-0 lead at the break, which is when Guardiola had the chance to instruct his players to hit direct passes in behind Amorim’s new high line.
That was the plan from the start, which you could tell from the way Reijnders, Haaland, and Foden consistently made runs in behind, but the passes never came. In the second half, that changed, leading to Man City going clean through four times.
Amorim’s midfield has been an issue for a long time. His high defensive line is new. The last thing he needed was another tactical frailty to add to the list.
Frank’s direct approach feels radical for top end of the table
On the face of it, there is nothing especially unusual about Tottenham Hotspur winning comfortably against a 10-man West Ham United, but the manner of their goals at the London Stadium was so regressive as to be futuristic; so old-school as to be radical.
Early on, a long ball fired from back to front gave space to the debutant winger Xavi Simons to shoot, and from the resulting corner Spurs scored a goal that was ruled out for a foul.
Spurs also used a corner to break the deadlock in the second half; this time, the set piece was won following an attack in which Frank's men hoofed the ball hopefully up-field and trusted they would collect the second ball. Lucas Bergvall’s goal to make it 2-0 was from another long chip forward, this time directly onto Bergvall’s head to score.
Both goals were from a different era – and that’s no bad thing. As the Premier League bounces back towards more direct football or, at the very least, begins to leave the long age of Guardiola, Frank finds himself at the forefront of something new.
"Big Six" teams supposedly aren’t meant to play like this. But the variations in Spurs' play have already earned them nine points from four games, and two clean sheets.
Madueke emphasises Arsenal’s depth on difficult debut for Postecoglou
Ange Postecoglou did not attempt to impose his more extreme tactical ideas at the Emirates, although there were plenty of signs he wants to make Nottingham Forest into a truly attacking side.
It was a tough debut. Forest rarely got near the Arsenal goal, partly because their attempts to play dynamic possession football in their own half were easily picked off by the hosts' man-to-man press.
No surprise, really, that Arsenal’s brilliant out-of-possession work forced lots of misplaced Forest passes just a few days into Postecoglou’s reign.
It will take a long time for Forest to absorb his ideas and integrate the passing moves.
That’s a concern, although he need not worry so much about how the Gunners won this game; the way Noni Madueke dominated the right flank, and Eberechi Eze’s equal joy on the other side, are issues that should resolve themselves for Forest when Ola Aina and their loan signing from Arsenal, Oleksandr Zinchenko, are available to play at full-back.
Most take-ons completed in Matchweek 4
As for Arsenal, the simplicity of their win on Saturday was evidence of the power of squad depth, something Mikel Arteta possesses for the very first time.
The absences of Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Declan Rice, or Martin Odegaard (after the 18th minute) would have resulted in Arsenal crumbling last season. But now they have Madueke and Eze, Cristhian Mosquera, Martin Zubimendi and Viktor Gyokeres, to add goals, defensive stability and assists when star players are unavailable.
Brentford’s long throws show Maresca the value of PL’s new direction
Enzo Maresca might have assessed how Aston Villa were stumped in a 1-0 defeat at the GTech Community Stadium and worried that his Chelsea side would be just as static against a low block. That’s the only viable explanation we have for such an unusual team selection.
Maresca played Jorrel Hato and Wesley Fofana in the full-back positions, and gave a full debut to Facundo Buonanotte in attack, perhaps in the hope a youthful and sprightly front line would not be slowed down.
It didn’t work. Chelsea lacked spark and Maresca made a triple substitution at half-time before bringing on Cole Palmer 15 minutes later. Palmer dragged Chelsea back into the game and, with the playmaker forcing Brentford into fearful retreat, eventually gaps opened for speculative crosses (like Enzo Fernandez’s for the equaliser) and shots (including Moises Caicedo’s for Chelsea’s second goal) to come in.
Then a long throw deep into stoppage time changed the narrative again as Brentford equalised through Fabio Carvalho.
The lesson for Maresca might be to play a more consistent line-up and, where possible, ensure there is enough experience to balance youth.
But maybe a more important lesson is to think about embracing the direct tactics that are coming back into fashion. For all Chelsea’s tinkering, for all the delicate attempts to make space around the box, Brentford were just as effective chucking the ball into the mixer.
Slot’s knack for making the right substitutions papers over the cracks
Liverpool have won all four of their Premier League matches this season. All four have required a goal in the final 10 minutes, with three of those goals coming in the 89th minute or later.
That isn’t sustainable, and Arne Slot will know Liverpool must find fluency sooner rather than later.
This was yet another game in which the Florian Wirtz-led midfield struggled to move the ball quickly enough to stretch apart a low block, with Burnley’s 5-4-1 proving immovable right up until a needless handball led to Liverpool being awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time.
But while the champions wait to find their flow, their supporters will be thankful for having a manager with such a brilliant eye for substitutions. Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha both scored winners off the bench in August and on both occasions there were some raised eyebrows when those particular forwards were thrown on.
Sunday’s decisions were even less expected. Following a red card for Burnley midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu, Slot withdrew centre-back Ibrahima Konate to make room for five attackers in the forward line.
It immediately caused the Burnley defence to scramble as they were now overloaded in the wide areas, with Ngumoha looking sharp before, eventually, a cross from Jeremie Frimpong – another sub – hit the arm of Hannibal Mejbri.
Watch all of Liverpool's late winners this season
Liverpool can’t keep winning matches like this indefinitely. But for now, Slot’s late tactical reactions have put his team top of the table.
Hard-fought Bournemouth win suggests Iraola’s side are the new Forest
This could be one of the biggest results of AFC Bournemouth’s season and one of the biggest since their return to the Premier League.
It look as though, at best, there will only be room for one of these two clubs in the European places, so to come out of a scrappy, fractious game with three points might turn out to be season-defining by May.
It’s also the sort of result that fills players and supporters with a new kind of confidence.
Bournemouth’s nine points from their opening four games is their best-ever start to a top-flight campaign. Only Liverpool (12) have won more points than Andoni Iraola’s side this season.
We’ve all been looking for the new Forest, for a dark horse who can challenge the traditional big clubs this year, and it might just be Bournemouth.
The only doubts we had about Iraola’s side were the number of defenders they lost over the summer, but centre-back signing Bafode Diakite has had a good start, while 18-year-old Veljko Milosavljevic didn’t put a foot wrong on Saturday.
Kevin’s introduction is exactly the lift Fulham’s attack needed
Nobody needed a new forward like Fulham, who could hardly have proved the point any more clearly in the 1-0 win against Leeds United on Saturday.
Fulham failed to attempt a single shot in the first half at Craven Cottage, doing so for just the third time in their Premier League history.
Their first shot of the game didn’t arrive until the 58th minute, and they only had five shots in total, which is their fewest on record (since 2003/04) in a Premier League home game they won.
Three of those shots came after Kevin’s introduction in the 75th minute, when Fulham’s possession share increased from 51 per cent to 72 per cent.
Fulham v Leeds xG timeline
Kevin provided an instant boost, hurtling straight at defenders and making things happen. It gave everyone a lift and, inevitably, led to the winning goal. It was Kevin jinking inside and shooting that forced the corner from which Leeds' Gabriel Gudmundsson scored a nightmare own goal.
Grealish shows why Emery must integrate new attackers faster
Everton were by far the better team at their Hill Dickinson Stadium, recording an Expected Goals (xG) of 2.12 but just not managing to apply the finishing touch.
Once again, Jack Grealish was the best player on the pitch. Almost everything the home side did flowed through the Everton playmaker, who looks a man reborn on Merseyside. Grealish created five chances against his old club on Saturday.
Most chances created 2025/26
It was an important lesson for Unai Emery, who, unlike David Moyes with Grealish, has been slow to integrate new signings.
Eight of Villa’s 11 starters at Everton played under Dean Smith, who hasn’t been Villa manager since November 2021.
Evann Guessand, Donyell Malen, Harvey Elliott, and Jadon Sancho – all signed in 2025 – started on the bench as Villa failed to score for their fourth consecutive Premier League match.
It’s the first time in the club's entire history they have gone the first four games of a league season without scoring. It leaves Villa fans wondering why their new attacking players aren’t getting more minutes on the pitch.
Woltemade's impressive debut gives Newcastle the shot in the arm they needed
The most important win of the weekend was arguably Newcastle United’s. Eddie Howe badly needed this one; he needed a first victory of the season to draw a line under the Alexander Isak saga and get their campaign under way.
Even better than a victory was Nick Woltemade scoring the crucial goal and excelling on his debut, symbolising the dawn of a new era – and allowing Newcastle fans to shake off the anger over Isak’s departure.
It was a brilliant, Alan Shearer-like header from Woltemade to cap an excellent all-round performance. His strength at holding up the ball makes him a very different kind of striker to Isak, but early signs are that he can be the fulcrum around which Newcastle’s faster wingers can run.
The mood around St James' Park has therefore lifted substantially a few days before the visit of Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League in midweek. The timing of Woltemade’s winner could hardly have been better.
Scrappy point at Palace might be Sunderland’s best result of season so far
Sunderland have now won seven points, equalling their previous best tally after four matches in the competition, achieved in 2001/02, just after they had finished seventh in the previous year.
They last had more points at this stage (adjusting for three points for a win) of a top-flight campaign in 1955/56. Things are going better than Sunderland fans could possibly have expected.
The draw at Palace, although the least spectacular scoreline, is arguably the best result of the lot.
Previous opponents West Ham and Brentford are both expected to struggle this season, making home games against them a necessity for any team hoping to avoid relegation.
But to draw at Selhurst Park – to scrap for a point against experienced opposition - really proves that Sunderland belong at this level.