Arsenal won ugly, Spurs stumbled and Coventry crumbled. Who won the Premier League weekend?

Welcome to week four of The Athletic’s Premier League performance table — a ranking system that appears to have a weakness for a club that has yet to win a game this season.

In case you missed week one, week two, or week three, this is not the official standings, where results are the only thing that matters.

In our performance-based take, it is a clean slate at the start of each gameweek, which means you can go from top to bottom (and vice versa) in the space of a few days, with the 1-to-20 rankings assessed purely on how well each team played in their previous match.

In case you are wondering how we decide where to position teams, we watch all 10 Premier League games in full across Saturday and Sunday (and Friday and Monday too if required), and scribble away in a notebook about how many times Brian Brobbey – an immovable object if ever there was one on a football pitch – has pinned the centre back.

Gameweek four produced more than one outstanding No 9 display as well as a flurry of red cards that didn’t always help the team that ended up with an extra man. There was also a goal of astonishing quality from a 34-year-old centre-back who should know better than to shoot from that far out.

Hopefully, the summaries below continue to provide you with a weekly snapshot of each club’s performances across the 2026-27 Premier League, as well as allow us to appreciate the talent of some unsung heroes.

As ever, we welcome your thoughts.

1. Leeds United (last week: third)

Leeds United 4-1 Newcastle United

“My boys were brilliant.”

Pride will have been the overriding emotion for Daniel Farke following a special night at Elland Road, even if the Leeds manager couldn’t conceal his frustration at the sight of Newcastle scoring in the 90th minute.

Leeds were excellent. There was a relentlessness to their play in the first half in particular, when Jayden Bogle seemed to be everywhere (including getting in the way of Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goalbound header and, without knowing it at the time, ending up on the score sheet). Newcastle were totally overwhelmed, desperate to hear the half-time whistle as Leeds drove forward in waves over and over again.

Calvert-Lewin led the line superbly, intimidating Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw with his physicality and aerial threat – a goal and an assist were the least that the Leeds No 9 deserved. Noah Okafor, a creative force drifting in from the left, ended up on the score sheet too.

As for the Leeds midfield trio of Anton Stach, Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka, they ran all over Newcastle, barely giving them time to breathe.

“A top-class performance,” Farke added.

2. Brighton (last week: 17th)

Coventry City 0-5 Brighton

Two words: Lewis Dunk.

It was an early goal-of-the-season contender from the Brighton captain and rubber-stamped an emphatic victory on a day when you had to remind yourself that Fabian Hurzeler’s team are currently without three of their principal attacking threats.

Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter have made one Premier League appearance between them this season, and yet Brighton are comfortably the leading scorers in the Premier League, averaging more than three goals a game.

They were ruthless against Coventry, whether punishing some benign defending in the case of the increasingly impressive Malick Yalcouye (answers on a postcard as to why he didn’t feature more in the Championship for Swansea last season), or scoring a couple of exceptional individual goals via Charalampos Kostoulas’s ball-juggling and the evergreen Dunk’s leisurely 30-yard strike into the top corner.

As for centre midfield, there’s a lot to like about the way that Pascal Gross and Yasin Ayari, Brighton’s other two goalscorers against Coventry, complement one another.

3. Nottingham Forest (last week: 13th)

Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest

“It was not just the win. The performance, especially the second half, was really amazing to watch,” Oliver Glasner, the Forest head coach, said.

Forest were dominant for a spell immediately after the interval, first to every loose ball and playing with such intensity and confidence that it made you wonder what Glasner said to his players at half-time.

Liam Delap, who was the best player on the pitch, scored within a minute of the restart with a powerful shot from distance. He also headed into the side-netting and had another goal disallowed.

Elsewhere, Xaver Schlager was impressive again alongside James McAtee. The Austrian hit some lovely diagonal switches of play and was unlucky not to score with a header from Daniel Munoz’s cross.

Talking of Munoz, he had a field day on the Forest right, and all the more so when Ian Maatsen limped off injured (McAtee’s cynical challenge was arguably worse than a yellow but not a red), forcing Villa to play the last 14 minutes with 10 men. It was no surprise that Forest’s winner came down that flank or that Morgan Gibbs-White, with a clever flick, helped to set the goal up.

Oh, by the way, yes, we did see you pull that ball down out of the sky, Neco Williams.

4. Manchester City (last week: seventh)

Manchester United 0-1 Manchester City

Ignore the VAR shambles and focus purely on performance and the way in which Manchester City turned the nightmare of a first-half red card into a tactical advantage.

“They are a team that loves transitions (and) space in behind. With 10 players, we just drop waiting for them so we didn’t concede any transition (or) space in behind,” Enzo Maresca said.

The City head coach got his tactics spot on against Manchester United in the wake of Phil Foden’s dismissal, in particular (and this is a difficult thing to type for one of Rayan Cherki’s biggest fans), the decision to withdraw the club’s most creative player at half-time.

With his work ethic and his ability to carry the ball upfield, Iliman Ndiaye was the perfect substitute for the tricky scenario that City found themselves in after only 23 minutes, when Foden received a straight red card for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.

“When he came in, he looked a little bit like Neymar a few times there. He was amazing,” Erling Haaland said of Ndiaye.

It also helps when Elliot Anderson is covering every blade of grass, but that has already become the norm at Manchester City.

5. Arsenal (last week: first)

Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal

Winning ugly.

There were only fleeting glimpses on Wearside of the free-flowing football that made it impossible for Chelsea to live with Arsenal last week — and that’s a compliment to Sunderland rather than a criticism of the way the Premier League champions performed. This was a gritty Arsenal performance at a ground where plenty of teams will struggle this season.

Arsenal had to get their hands dirty to come away from Sunderland with a result, and that’s something that Mikel Arteta’s players don’t mind doing. In fact, they seem to enjoy, and even relish, that challenge.

Even the new additions are learning fast. Knocked out of his stride at Villa Park by Matty Cash, Christos Tzolis rolled up his sleeves at Sunderland, where the winger’s reaction to a decision that went against him was to sprint halfway across the pitch and make a sliding tackle.

David Raya, the best goalkeeper in the Premier League, once again demonstrated his worth with an excellent penalty save that gave Arsenal the impetus to take the lead moments later.

Bruno Guimaraes was a game-changer from the bench in that respect, spectacularly scoring from distance after replacing Myles Lewis-Skelly.

Sunderland never gave up, but Arsenal never caved in — those days belong to the past.

6. Hull City (last week: 16th)

Chelsea 2-2 Hull City

Arguably the most striking aspect of Hull’s latest we’ve-made-you-all-look-stupid-by-writing-us-off performance was the fact that they were trying to win the game at Stamford Bridge in the closing stages, rather than hanging on for a point.

Sergej Jakirovic’s team could easily have come away with three points had the substitute Mohamed-Ali Cho made a better connection with a terrific cross from Ryan Giles (it’s copy and paste with that last bit every week, by the way).

Dismissed as relegation fodder before a ball was kicked, Hull have made the third-best start of any promoted Premier League team in history, collecting eight points from four games.

By now, we know what to expect from them out of possession: a narrow and compact 5-4-1 formation in a low block. But they’ve also got the capacity to hurt teams with the ball, in particular through the craft and guile of Mohamed Belloumi, who has enjoyed an excellent start to the season and scored twice against Chelsea.

As for Hull’s work ethic, look no further than the sight of Regan Slater robbing the Chelsea substitute Valentin Barco of the ball in the 92nd minute – those boys don’t stop running for Jakirovic.

7. Fulham (last week: 20th)

Liverpool 0-0 Fulham

This was much more like it, Alvaro Arbeloa.

After an extremely testing start to the season, during which the Fulham players have faced heavy criticism (even from Arbeloa, their coach), a goalless draw at Anfield represented a significant step in the right direction — and not just because of the result.

With David Affengruber making his Premier League debut at centre-back in place of Joachim Andersen, and Alex Iwobi operating in a more advanced role on the left (albeit one that came with a lot of freedom), Fulham looked much better with and without the ball — Liverpool created very little.

Working in tandem with Antonee Robinson on the Fulham left, Iwobi had a lot of joy by drifting into a position that Arbeloa described as “an inside winger in the pocket”. Josh King was Josh King: running in behind, sitting Dominik Szoboszlai on his backside with a clever chop, and generally playing in a way that makes you think Fulham supporters should enjoy him while they can.

The only thing missing from this Fulham display was a goal — something that would have arrived but for Jeremy Jacquet clearing Gonzalo Garcia’s effort off the line.

8. Bournemouth (last week: fifth)

Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford

“I liked the way we attacked,” Marco Rose, Bournemouth’s head coach, said. “Even after the equaliser, my feeling was that we can win the game.”

We realise that this column is in danger of developing a soft spot for Bournemouth. Every week we say nice things about them, and every week Bournemouth fail to win. But when you watch their games in full, rather than focusing purely on the result, there’s so much to like about the way they play.

One move in the last 15 minutes on Saturday, which started inside the Bournemouth half and involved Ryan Christie, Alex Scott (excellent again apart from his finishing), Tyler Adams and Marcus Tavernier, was exceptional. Unfortunately, Rayan’s shot at the end of it all was poor — and that feels like the story for Bournemouth at the moment.

Antonio Silva, Rayan (earlier in the game too) and Scott all squandered really presentable chances to score on a day when Evanilson’s intelligent hold-up play and willingness to run in behind (Silva picked him out several times with passes from deep) caused Brentford plenty of problems.

“A tricky customer”, Keith Andrews, Brentford’s head coach, said about the Brazilian afterwards.

The frustration, of course, is that Bournemouth failed to hold onto a lead for the fourth game in succession. Individual mistakes continue to hurt them in that respect.

9. Ipswich Town (last week: 19th)

Crystal Palace 2-3 Ipswich Town

A strange game. The Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil felt that his team deserved to win, and it’s hard to argue with that when you look at the game in its entirety and marry that with the data. Ipswich had more shots, more attempts on target, more touches in the opposition penalty area and their xG was at least twice as high as Palace managed.

Yet despite having a numerical advantage for the best part of an hour following Axel Disasi’s first-half red card, Ipswich were under pressure for a sustained spell in the second period and fortunate not to concede a third with the game all level. Free at the back post, Anan Khalaili, Palace’s right-wing back, simply had to score.

O’Neil, with some justification, pointed to a couple of chances Ipswich passed up shortly after half-time. He also sang the praises of Leif Davis, who has been a standout performer for Ipswich this season and enjoyed another highly productive afternoon on Saturday, assisting Ipswich’s first with a wonderful cross, scoring their second and setting up the third with a header that came back off the crossbar.

Not bad for a left-back.

10. Sunderland (last week: second)

Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal

So, you want to see a back-to-goal No 9 masterclass?

Welcome to the Brian Brobbey appreciation society.

This data, to be clear, is from the old-fashioned eye test and a notebook and pen rather than Opta. In the 94th minute, Nordi Mukiele played a pass into the feet of Brobbey and for the ninth time in the game the Sunderland centre-forward held off Ezri Konsa, pinning the Arsenal defender while securing the ball, and found a Sunderland team-mate. Brobbey was close to unplayable against Arsenal.

Playing to the Dutchman’s strengths (bench-pressing must be up there), Sunderland made life extremely difficult for Arsenal at times with their direct, high-intensity approach. Seconds into the game, Granit Xhaka robbed Myles Lewis-Skelly. With less than two minutes gone, Brobbey had pressed and bumped Konsa over. Arsenal got the message.

Ultimately, the game swung on a couple of critical and match-defining moments in the space of little more than two second-half minutes, when Enzo Le Fee’s penalty was saved by David Raya and Bruno Guimaraes scored brilliantly for Arsenal.

Anyway, we like what we see, Sunderland.

11. Chelsea (last week: eighth)

Chelsea 2-2 Hull City

Conceding goals; it’s just what Chelsea do. It’s now 20 games in the Premier League without keeping a clean sheet, with Hull the latest side to benefit from Chelsea’s inability to defend well individually or collectively.

Chelsea are a curious team to watch right now. Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and Morgan Rogers combined neatly for the first goal after only seven minutes and that felt as inevitable as the Keystone Cops defending that followed.

“Don’t let the ball bounce” is one of the most basic messages defenders receive. Chelsea let it bounce twice in the lead-up to Hull’s equaliser. Malo Gusto and Jorrel Hato, Chelsea’s starting full-backs, were both implicated in that episode, as well as Wesley Fofana.

“If you are soft or if you are not prepared, you will get punished and we have been punished in that way,” Xabi Alonso, Chelsea’s manager, said.

But there are broader defensive problems too, including the way Chelsea are so open in transition, and the glaring hole in centre midfield in the absence of Moises Caicedo.

Still, it’s certainly entertaining. In the last five minutes, Chelsea had Palmer, Rogers, Joao Pedro, Estevao and Danny Welbeck trying to win the game at one end, and Hull pressing the life out of Chelsea’s midfield (Valentin Barco) at the other.

12. Everton (last week: ninth)

Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Everton

A point gained or an opportunity missed?

Spurs, David Moyes pointed out, nearly blew Everton away in the first 15 minutes. But, as the Everton manager also said, “The ’keeper didn’t have much to do.”

The first shot that Jordan Pickford had to save, from Matheus Fernandes shortly after the interval, was a pea-roller. Pickford’s second save came in the 89th minute and atoned for the Everton goalkeeper’s mistake — a mishit pass — moments earlier.

That’s not to say that Everton weren’t stretched defensively at times. The excellent Jarrad Branthwaite put his body on the line – two blocks in particular stand out to deny Fernandes and Sandro Tonali – while James Garner worked assiduously in front of him, snapping into tackles.

Garner also played a part in Everton’s best attacking moment of the game, when he linked with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to set up a decent opportunity for Brennan Johnson. Dewsbury-Hall also had a chance himself after Antonin Kinsky played ‘the most dangerous pass in football’ at the wrong time (Alisson, the Liverpool goalkeeper, did the same thing against Fulham).

Ultimately, though, Everton didn’t do enough to win the game. Could — or should — they have shown a bit more ambition against a Spurs team desperately short of belief?

13. Tottenham Hotspur (last week: 14th)

Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Everton

Rinse and repeat.

For the first 15 minutes, Spurs looked bright, exciting and full of energy.

Yet even then, in their best spell of the game by a distance, Spurs didn’t look like scoring. Mateus Fernandes, set up by Savio in the sixth minute, simply had to pull the trigger. Instead, he rolled the sole of his boot over the ball first… and then the chance was gone.

Spurs look what they are: a team painfully short of confidence. After that encouraging opening, they reverted to type: safe, slow, prosaic passing.

In the 38th minute, Micky van de Ven dispossessed Thierno Barry in the centre circle. Tonali passed six yards sideways to Fernandes. Fernandes passed back to Tonali. Tonali passed to Rodrigo Bentancur, who was next to Fernandes. Bentancur passed back to Tonali. It was maddening to watch as a neutral and, unsurprisingly, the Spurs fans in the stadium were annoyed.

Something similar happened between Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Bergvall with five minutes remaining: a pointless bounce pass that irritated the coach Roberto De Zerbi as well as the supporters.

Shots on target? Two. One of which was greeted by their own fans with ironic cheers.

14. Brentford (last week: 18th)

Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford

This wasn’t the Brentford that overwhelmed Spurs at home on the opening day and played Leeds off the pitch for 45 minutes at Elland Road the following weekend.

Kevin Schade, who scored both Brentford goals at Bournemouth, admitted that the visitors were “lucky” to leave with a point.

Schade’s goals were Brentford’s only two efforts on target — and one of those was a gift following a wayward pass by the Bournemouth goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic. Brentford never played with any rhythm even when ahead and were grateful for the fact that Bournemouth’s finishing failed to match the quality of their approach work.

Although Mamadou Sangare was involved in the build-up to the first goal, when he won possession from Adrien Truffert, the Brentford midfielder hasn’t quite managed to hit the levels that he did in the first two matches.

A far bigger concern, though, is the form of Igor Thiago, who has yet to score in the Premier League this season and offered little against Bournemouth. Right now, it feels as though Brentford’s attacking threat starts and ends with Schade.

15. Liverpool (last week: fourth)

Liverpool 0-0 Fulham

“It’s the kind of game that you need to win sometimes with a set play or a moment of brilliance from the offensive players,” Andoni Iraola, the Liverpool head coach, said.

Well, Liverpool had a couple of set-piece opportunities, including a header that the Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno kept out from Victor Munoz and a half-chance that came and went for Alexander Isak in the dying seconds. As for hoping for a moment of brilliance from the offensive players, the reality is that there was nothing.

Bradley Barcola is clearly still building his match sharpness. Florian Wirtz struggled and there’s no value in labouring that point. His best contribution was a clever flick that released Barcola in the second half, but the Frenchman’s cutback couldn’t pick out Isak, and that was the afternoon in a nutshell for Liverpool. Disappointing.

After back-to-back victories over Ipswich and Atletico Madrid, Liverpool looked flat, lethargic and devoid of ideas.

Fulham, on the face of it, were benign opponents. But Liverpool lacked the energy and — it has to be said — the quality to break them down.

16. Aston Villa (last week: 15th)

Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest

“How we played today, we didn’t deserve more.”

Unai Emery was unhappy with the challenge that James McAtee made on Ian Maatsen, which he felt should have been a red card, but the Villa manager had no complaints about the result. “It’s not an excuse in the second half — we played so, so poor.”

Forest had 22 shots to Villa’s seven. Emery tried anything and everything to shift the momentum of the game, including making all his subs by the 63rd minute, and that came back to bite Villa when Maatsen was forced to limp off.

In midfield, Villa were ragged. Within the first minute of the second half, Ross Barkley and Boubacar Kamara had both carelessly given away possession inside their own half. In Kamara’s case, it led to Forest taking the lead through Liam Delap, who was excellent and gave his team a focal point up front that Villa badly lacked.

Nicolas Jackson should, in theory, be that player for Villa but he was withdrawn at half-time because of concerns that he might be sent off after picking up a yellow card. Tammy Abraham, his replacement, was anonymous.

It was that sort of day for Villa, summed up by the sight of poor old Johan Manzambi volleying his first touch of the ball for the club straight out of play.

17. Manchester United (last week: 10th)

Manchester United 0-1 Manchester City

A reminder, just in case one is needed, that this summary isn’t about the result. In other words, take that dreadful VAR decision that allowed Erling Haaland’s goal to stand out of the equation.

Performance-wise, United were really poor. Indeed, it’s hard to escape the feeling that Phil Foden’s red card was the worst thing that could have happened to United. Their best efforts on goal were from distance (Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo both hit the post), and it wasn’t until the 70th minute that United registered a shot on target following Foden’s dismissal. Passing slowly and playing without creativity and imagination, United were their own worst enemies.

Key players underperformed — Bruno Fernandes was strangely out of sorts — and Michael Carrick’s tactics were highly questionable (surely Benjamin Sesko, an out-and-out centre forward, had to be introduced earlier against a team with 10 men).

All in all, it was a chastening day for United that underlined the gulf in quality between the two squads as well as the nonsense of VAR.

18. Crystal Palace (last week: 11th)

Crystal Palace 2-3 Ipswich Town

“We have to prevent the crosses and be more aggressive in the box to win the ball.”

Nail-on-the-head stuff from Pierre Sage, the Palace head coach, after another chaotic game involving his team.

There was a sense that Palace got away with it the week before against Fulham, but there was no reprieve on Saturday.

Axel Disasi’s first-half red card clearly didn’t help their cause, but the Frenchman’s reckless challenge on Jack Clarke doesn’t explain why Palace can’t do the basic things right around defending.

How could Emersonn, the Ipswich striker, have a totally free header, in between Disasi (appealing for offside rather than marking) and Honest Ahanor (in no man’s land) when Palace are playing with three centre-backs?

Why was Daichi Kamada so passive when Tyrick Mitchell found himself in a two-versus-one scenario prior to the second goal? Who were Anan Khalaili and Chris Richards marking when the ball was delivered? Could Will Hughes or Ahanor not have done more to stop Julio Enciso crossing the ball for the third? How did Khalaili let Davis win another header in the Palace box seconds later?

There are more questions than answers for Palace and Sage right now, including: How did Khalaili miss that golden chance at 2-2?

19. Coventry City (last week: sixth)

Coventry City 0-5 Brighton

“I thought we did some good stuff but then the game became very difficult for us.”

That was a fair summary from Frank Lampard, Coventry’s head coach. The problem, though, was that the “good stuff” didn’t last for long — or certainly not long enough.

The game was over as a contest after 53 minutes, when Taiwo Awoniyi received a red card, shortly after Coventry had conceded a dreadful second goal — Aurele Amenda had to get to the ball before Malick Yalcouye.

There’s a fragility and naivety about Coventry defensively. It was there when they lost their previous home match, against Hull City, and it was evident again against Brighton. Charalampos Kostoulas got to the ball a split-second before Bobby Thomas, leading to the penalty that was awarded prior to Brighton’s third goal, and that moment felt reflective of the game. Brighton were a step ahead of Coventry in every department.

It’s true that Coventry created chances at the other end, especially in a 10-minute spell around the half-hour mark, but even allowing for Bart Verbruggen’s excellent goalkeeping, the lack of conviction in front of goal is a concern — and that’s in danger of becoming a theme too.

20. Newcastle United (last week: 12th)

Leeds United 4-1 Newcastle

Writing on the social media platform X, Alan Shearer called it “an absolute s*** show from the Toon”, which was one way of putting it. That was posted by the club legend at half-time, when Newcastle were already 3-0 down, and it didn’t take long before Leeds added a fourth.

It was an embarrassing Newcastle performance during the first hour. Dominic Calvert-Lewin bullied Newcastle’s centre-back pairing of Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw. In central midfield, the loss of Nico Gonzalez to a concussion injury in the 19th minute led to the introduction of 18-year-old Sean Steur alongside 20-year-old Lewis Miley. It was asking far too much for that pair to deal with Anton Stach, Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka.

Unfortunately for Steur, his wayward pass led to Leeds scoring their second of the night — a goal that was credited to Jayden Bogle but really belonged to Calvert-Lewin, who dominated Botman and Thiaw to get to the ball first with an incredible leap.

Totally overrun in the centre of the pitch, Newcastle were weak defensively and offered precious little going forward until a wave of changes injected some life into the team (six of the visitors’ seven shots came in the second half). By then, though, the damage was done.

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