Chelsea make a statement with dominance at Wolves; Liverpool get the job done at home on Arne Slot's debut at Anfield

This weekend's Premier League action was a day for the strikers, in both good and bad ways. Chelsea's Noni Madueke and Manchester City's Erling Haaland scored hat-tricks, while Heung Min-Son stepped in for Dominic Solanke to score a brace to help Tottenham Hotspur beat Everton. Not all the strikers were convincing, with Manchester United having a goal disallowed for an accidental contact from Joshua Zirkzee, while Marcus Rashford was again absent.

Let’s take a look at what’s happening in the Premier League this weekend.

Premier League results and fixtures

Saturday, August 24
Brighton 2, Manchester United 1
Tottenham 4, Everton 0
Crystal Palace 0, West Ham United 2
Southampton 0, Nottingham Forest 1
Leicester City 1, Leicester City 2
Manchester City 4, Ipswich Town 1
Arsenal 2, Leicester 0

Sunday, August 25
Bournemouth 1, Newcastle United 1
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Chelsea 6
Liverpool 2, Brentford 0

Liverpool secures victory

New Liverpool manager Arne Slot made it two wins from two games to start his tenure at the club on Sunday, beating Brentford 2-0 in a rather unassuming game. The Reds dominated from start to finish, with the goals that backed them up courtesy of Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah.

The game symbolised continuity in some ways, as Slot made his Anfield debut just months after Jugen Klopp retired after almost nine years at Liverpool – the team were in complete control of the game, while Salah and Diaz remained the reliable goalscorers they had long been. Still, the differences between Klopp and Slot were hard to miss as Liverpool enter a new era. Klopp famously described his style of play as 'heavy metal', so some might have expected more goals from the Reds on a day like this. It seems Slot preaches a more reserved approach, but not necessarily a less effective one – Liverpool posted a passing accuracy of 92% against Brentford, their best figure in a Premier League game since the 2003/04 season.

Palmer and Madueke shine for Chelsea

Chelsea's second-half dominance secured the team a 6-2 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, with Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke the standout players in their side's first Premier League win of the season.

The Blues started strongly with Nicolas Jackson's second-minute goal but traded goals with Wolves to head into the break with a 2-2 win over the hosts. However, Palmer's stunning 45th-minute strike was just a taster of his strong second-half performance, in which he set up each of Madueke's three second-half goals. Madueke scored his first hat-trick for the club in 14 minutes, while Chelsea found other ways to showcase their new look with a sixth goal in the 80th minute. Joao Felix scored in his first game since returning to the club, while another new signing Pedro Neto provided the assist against his former club.

The result marks a positive end to a somewhat chaotic week at Chelsea, which was marked by the oversized squad the team still has. New manager Enzo Maresca insisted in a midweek press conference that the team was not a “chaos” but admitted that a large portion of Chelsea's 44 players had been told they were not allowed to train with the first team. Sunday's victory will go some way to validating the club's vision, even if they still have a lot of work to do before the transfer window closes on Friday.

Erling Haaland shows Ipswich the big league

There was nothing but euphoria for the Tractor Boys after seven minutes as Ipswich Town opened the scoring through Sammie Szmodics, but it was all downhill from there. Haaland scored an own goal from the penalty spot in the 12th minute before quickly adding another in the 16th minute. He didn't let that get in the way of his hat-trick either as he scored again in the 88th minute, turning an xG of 1.63 into three goals on the day. As usual, Haaland didn't touch the ball much, having just 22 touches, but when he scored seven of those, the damage was done.

A Championship team has rarely seen a player anywhere near Haaland's calibre and it showed in this game. The newly promoted Tractor Boys only fired a single shot and Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias completed more passes than the entire Ipswich team. Keiran McKenna won't be too disappointed after failing to beat Liverpool and Manchester City to open the Premier League season, but City couldn't have made a better start.

Two games, six points, six goals and just one conceded. Goal difference could ultimately matter, so City will need to be ruthless when they take the lead in games and that's exactly what they did on Saturday. With the return of Ilkay Gundogan, City are marching towards another Premier League title and the only thing that can stop them is themselves.

Savinho has provided two assists, Rico Lewis is coming into his own and Haaland is a destroyer of worlds. It's early days but there are signs that City are becoming a machine again in league play.

Manchester United has a Marcus Rashford problem

There are two Manchester Uniteds under Erik ten Hag. One is Marcus Rashford, who can score more than 15 Premier League goals, and the current version of the Red Devils. The conditions are there for a dynamic attack: Bruno Fernandes provides momentum, Alejandro Garnacho is coming into his own and Zirkzee was unpredictable in the early stages, but Rashford's inclusion in the lineup creates an imbalance. Amad Diallo has potential on the right side of midfield and Garnacho can play on either side, so ten Hag has options unlike previous seasons.

In Manchester United's loss to Brighton, Rashford was unremarkable in the 65 minutes he played, taking just one shot and failing to create a chance. With expectations rising for the Red Devils with signings such as Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt, something needs to change in the balance in attack.

Defensively, United have improved and if they can sign Manuel Ugarte that will help solve Casemiro's leg problem, but time is not on Ten Hag's side. He needs to learn the left wing quickly, only then can they really compete consistently.