The Premier League was back this past weekend, and it provided the thrills and spills we’ve all come to expect.
Aston Villa and Crystal Palace both completed miraculous comebacks, Arsenal and Tottenham played out a fierce north London derby, and (expectedly) Erling Haaland scored another few goals.
But what did we learn from these results?
Well, we’re glad you asked.
Here’s four things we at 90min learned from the weekend’s action.
Sorry Everton fans, but we’re guessing we’re stating the obvious here.
Having watched the Toffees make their worst start to a season in 66 years by losing their fourth game on the spin – despite having a 2-0 lead at one stage against Aston Villa – it’s pretty clear that the club’s days in the top flight are numbered.
It was an avoidable situation too.
They needed to heed the warning of narrowly surviving the drop in 2023/24 by upgrading their squad during the summer and, put simply, they didn’t.
As a result, Everton could be trying to fill a new 52,000-capacity stadium in the Championship in 2025/26. That’ll be fun.
To be honest, we were all a bit confused by the sheer volume of interest in Jhon Duran – a striker who started just three Premier League games all last season – during the summer transfer window.
Four games into 2024/25, and that interest is a lot more understandable.
The young striker has been genuinely fantastic in the first few weeks of the new season, netting three goals in just 103 minutes of football.
His third, and Villa’s third, in their win over Everton is an early goal of the season contender too. Nice one.
Whisper it, but Jadon Sancho might be back.
The wide forward was given a Premier League lifeline by Chelsea late in the summer transfer window, signing on loan for the Blues, and early indications show that he’s hellbent on repaying that faith.
Sancho’s appearance off the bench at the Vitality Stadium at the weekend completely turned the game in his new club’s favour. As well as causing problems with his dribbling ability, he set up the only goal of the game too – cutting inside to deliver an incisive pass into the feet of Christopher Nkunku.
It was the sharpest he’s looked in the Premier League in a very long time.
For a squad that hasn’t managed to win a Premier League title, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal sure played like a team who have.
The Gunners, despite dealing with a whole host of injuries, showed their mettle on Sunday afternoon in the north London derby. Arsenal hit the front thanks to a Gabriel header in the first half, and were able to hold form against an attacking Tottenham lineup thereafter to seal all three points.
It’s the sort of game that Arsenal probably wouldn’t have won a few seasons ago. Now, though, after a few near title misses under their belts, they seem to have worked out how to win ugly.
