Premier League takeaways: Fabulous Foden, luckless Calvert-Lewin, Hammer blow for Chelsea

We pick out the main talking points from the weekend English top-flight

PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKEND RESULTS: Friday, Aug 18, 2023 - Nottingham Forest 2 (Awoniyi 3', Wood 89') Sheffield United 1 (Hamer 48'): A late header from subsitute Chris Wood earned Forest the victory after a superb Gustavo Hamer goal had cancelled out Taiwo Awoniyi's early goal. "We played the real football in the game, the real tactical ideas. In the end, we've scored two really good goals," said Forest manager Steve Cooper. AFP

Saturday, Aug 19 - Fulham 0 Brentford 3 (Wissa 44', Mbeumo pen 66', 90'+2): Yoane Wissa and a Bryan Mbeumo double earned Brentford West London bragging rights. Fulham were reduced to 10 men when captain Tim Ream was sent off for a second yellow card that led to Mbeumo scoring from the spot. "It is difficult to understand because in my opinion this was a clear error from the referee," said Fulham manager Marco Silva. AFP

Liverpool 3 (Diaz 28', Salah 36', Jota 62') Bournemouth 1 (Semenyo 3'): Liverpool sealed a comeback win thanks to goals from Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota. Reds' summer signing Alexis Mac Allister was sent off on his home debut. "This shouldn't have been a red card," said manager Jurgen Klopp. "It's a mistake and the punishment of playing 40 minutes with 10 men is already punishment enough." Getty

Wolves 1 (Hwang 61') Brighton 4 (Mitoma 15', Estupinan 46', March 51', 55'): Brighton powered to their second successive 4-1 win thanks to goals from Kaoru Mitoma, Pervis Estupinan and a Solly March double. Matheus Nunes was shown a late red card for Wolves. "I have an incredible squad [with] the right mix between young and old players. We're happy, but we know our potential is bigger," said Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi. Reuters

Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Sarr 49', Li Martinez og 83') Manchester United 0: Spurs secured their first win of the Ange Postecoglou era after an exciting game in North London. Pape Matar Sarr's close-range finish opening the scoring before Ivan Perisic's cross took a touch off Ben Davies before going in via Lisandro Martinez. "We are disappointed today," said United manager Erik ten Hag. "We have to look at ourselves to score our chances, and we did not. AFP

Manchester City 1 (Alvarez 31') Newcastle United 0: A fine finish from Julian Alvarez earned champions City a hard-fought victory over a Newcastle side that has never won a Premier League game the Etihad Stadium. “There are no words to express my gratitude for the performance we gave. It was really, really good," said manager Pep Guardiola. "It is the second game but after what we done in the last season, we are still there." EPA

Sunday, Aug 20 - Aston Villa 4 (McGinn 18', Douglas Luiz pen 24, Bailey 51', Duran 75') Everton 0: A disastrous day for Everton who lost luckless striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin to yet another injury, saw Alex Iwobi also hobble off before falling to a heavy defeat against a side that lost 5-1 last week. "Really amazing because I think we controlled the game, we were for 90 minutes strong," said manager Unai Emery. "We deserved to win." Getty

West Ham 3 (Aguerd 7', Antonio 53', Paqueta pen 90'+5) Chelsea 1 (Chukwuemeka 28'): West Ham took the honours in an incident-packed game at the London Stadium. As well as the four goals, Enzo Fernandez missed a penalty and West Ham goalscorer Nayef Aguerd was sent off in the second half. "It was a very difficult game, they play quality football and a lot of running off the ball and not on it," said West Ham scorer Michail Antonio. Getty

Sunday, Aug 21 - Crystal Palace 0 Arsenal 1 (Odegaard pen 54'): A second-half penalty earned Arsenal all three points even though Takehiro Tomiyasu was sent-off with 23 minutes still to go. The full-back was shown a second yellow card for taking too long over a throw-in. "To play 30 minutes away from home with 10 men is extremely difficult," said Gunners manager Mikel Arteta. "The subs were magnificent, they knew what they had to do." Getty

Paqueta's Hammer blow to Chelsea

It has been a troubled few days for West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta after it emerged the Brazilian is being investigated by Fifa and the English Football Association over alleged betting breaches.

Paqueta immediately denied the claims but he was still withdrawn from the Brazil squad for September's World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Bolivia.

The 26-year-old, who has been linked with a move to treble winners Manchester City, was still named in Hammers starting XI against Chelsea and ended up scoring their final goal from the penalty spot in a 3-1 win.

It was a good old-fashioned smash and grab by West Ham, who enjoyed just 24 per cent of the possession, saw keeper Alphonse Areola save an Enzo Fernandez penalty and had Nayef Aguerd, who opened the scoring, sent off in the 67th minute.

Forward Michail Antonio cracked home a stunning second goal in the 53rd minute, despite having only touched the ball five times in the first half.

There was also two contrasting debuts at the London Stadium. James Ward-Prowse earned himself two assists for West Ham but Chelsea's big-money buy from Brighton, Moises Caicedo, gave away the penalty that led to Paqueta scoring.

"Extremely satisfying. They're really good. They played very well last weekend and well today, said West Ham manager David Moyes.

"We hung in there at times, were resolute. Even at 10 men we stuck in and got another goal."

Lucas Paqueta scores from the spot for West Ham against Chelsea. Getty

Calvert-Lewin cannot catch a break

At the end of the 2020/21 season, Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin was one of the hottest properties in English football.

He had followed up his 15 strikes in the previous campaign with 21 in 39 games and had four goals to his name for England.

Since then it has been a catalogue of injury misery for the forward. Over the next two seasons he would score just seven goals in 36 appearances, and has been unable to add to his 11 England caps.

After missing Everton's opening defeat against Fulham, Calvert-Lewin was back in the starting XI against Aston Villa but in the 11th minute at Villa Park, the 26-year-old was involved in a horrible collision with home goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and needed lengthy treatment to a facial injury.

He managed pick himself up and continue, despite sporting a nasty mark on his cheek, but he began to suffere blurred vision and his game ended before half-time, meaning Calvert-Lewin has managed to complete 90 minutes just once since January.

Alex Iwobi then pulled up with a hamstring injury and joined Calvert-Lewin on the sidelines in a match where the Merseysiders ended up on the wrong side of a 4-0 beating.

"Too many mistakes get punished but overall I won't make any excuses, they were far better than us today," said Everton manager Sean Dyche.

Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin collides with Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. AFP

Fabulous Foden steps up

Is this the campaign when Phil Foden takes his undoubted talent to the next level? Riyad Mahrez has been sold and Kevin De Bruyne could potentially be out for six months due to injury, meaning Manchester City have lost two key attacking talents this summer.

And with Bernardo Silva also missing for Saturday's 1-0 win over Newcastle United, creative responsibility shifted to Foden and the England man did not let his team down.

The 23-year-old, playing in a more central role, provided the assist for Julian Alvarez's winner and Newcastle struggled to get to grips with his sharp passing and runs between the lines from start to finish in what was a man-of-the-match performance at the Etihad Stadium.

“Phil has shown many times he can play in all the positions up front, he has an incredible ability when he is between the lines, the way he turns and attacks the last line is one of the best I have ever seen,” said his manager Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City's Phil Foden was a constant threat against Newcastle United. EPA

Spurs purring under Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou secured his first win as Spurs manager after Saturday's victory at home against Manchester United that saw the Australian's team given a standing ovation after the final whistle.

There had been pre-match demonstrations against chairman Daniel Levy and owners ENIC but those frustrations were forgotten for 90 minutes as Spurs produced what looks set to be a trademark attacking performance under Postecoglou.

The defensive shackles of the Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte eras have been well and truly thrown off, although concern remains about who will provide the goals post-Harry Kane.

Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, signed from Empoli to replace Hugo Lloris, produced a commanding performance, while big-money buy from Leicester City James Maddison pulled the strings in the middle of the park.

In midfield, Yves Bissouma and 20-year-old Pape Matar Sarr – who scored the opening goal – were revelations having played minor roles in the team last season.

“I keep saying we're still a long way to go but I really liked the belief and resilience the guys have and the bravery they have to continue playing that way,” said Postecoglou.

Spurs midfielder Pape Matar Sarr celebrates with teammate Pedro Porro after scoring against Manchester United. AFP

More woe for Wolves and O'Neil

It has not been the most enjoyable of starts for new Wolves manager Gary O'Neil.

Last week, his team fell to an undeserved 1-0 defeat at Manchester United that saw them denied a stoppage-time penalty when home goalkeeper Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic

“It looked like the keeper nearly took our forward's head off,” said O'Neil who was booked for his protests and after the match revealed that elite referees manager Jon Moss had admitted that the officials had made a mistake. “It probably made me feel worse.”

And O'Neil's first game at Molineux on Saturday would have left him feeling even worse after Wolves were hammered 4-1 by Brighton, had Matheus Nunes sent-off in injury time and were booed off the pitch at the end.

“That is now two games where we haven't converted chances,” O'Neil admitted. “If you miss chances, things can go against you. They benefited and were clinical.”

Solly March celebrates scoring for against Wolves at Molineux. Getty