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Haaland double keeps City perfect as Isak wins it for Liverpool at nine-man Brentford
Manchester City held off promoted Ipswich 3-2 for a seventh straight league win and a six-point lead. Liverpool came from behind against a Brentford side that lost two players to red cards, and Aston Villa won at Newcastle.
Key points
- Manchester City beat Ipswich 3-2 for seven league wins out of seven, their best start to a Premier League season.
- Alexander Isak scored Liverpool's winner in a 2-1 win at Brentford, who finished with nine men.
- Johan Manzambi, the player Newcastle nearly signed, headed Aston Villa's winner at St James' Park.
Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City beat promoted Ipswich Town 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, a seventh straight league win that gives them their best start to a Premier League season and a six-point lead at the top.
It was harder than the table suggested it should be. Phil Foden put City ahead, but Daizen Maeda equalised within minutes, getting away from Marc Guehi. Haaland restored the lead in the 34th minute with a header from Mateo Kovacic’s cross, and in the 69th minute he ran on to a pass from Iliman Ndiaye and finished for his second.
Ipswich would not go quietly. Zian Flemming scored from the penalty spot in the 90th minute after Guehi fouled him, and City had to see out a nervy finish. Manager Enzo Maresca insisted his side “controlled it for 95 minutes”.
The run comes with a shadow over it. City have been found guilty of more than 100 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules and are appealing. If the appeal fails, they could face a heavy points deduction or even expulsion.
Isak settles a bad-tempered afternoon
Liverpool needed to come from behind at Brentford, and they did it against a side reduced to nine men. Keane Lewis-Potter headed the home side in front a minute before half-time from Igor Thiago’s cross.
By then Brentford were already down to 10. In first-half stoppage time Yehor Yarmolyuk made contact with Jeremy Jacquet’s face and was sent off. Victor Munoz equalised in the 62nd minute, and eight minutes later Alexander Isak scored the winner, set up by Barcola, for his fifth goal of the season. Vitaly Janelt was booked a second time in stoppage time, leaving Brentford with nine.
The win lifts Liverpool to fifth and ends Brentford’s unbeaten start. It came at a cost, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong both forced off injured. “You have to be ready for these kinds of battles,” Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola said.
Manzambi hurts Newcastle
In the late game at St James’ Park, Johan Manzambi headed in Joao Gomes’s cross in the 33rd minute to give Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Newcastle United. The goal had an extra sting for the home crowd: Newcastle had agreed a deal with Freiburg for Manzambi in the summer before Villa signed him instead.
Earlier, Alex Iwobi’s goal in the 33rd minute gave Fulham a 1-0 win over Hull City at Craven Cottage, their first league win of the season. Chelsea won 2-0 at Everton, where goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was taken to hospital after a head injury.
What comes next
Second-placed Arsenal can cut the gap to three points when they visit Nottingham Forest on Sunday, kicking off at 9 pm IST. Leeds United host Manchester United earlier in the day, while Bournemouth play Sunderland and Brighton meet Crystal Palace.