Five best Premier League performances this weekend – and five worst

Just three weeks into the Premier League, and England’s top flight is already seemingly in full swing as far as drama and results go.

The biggest result of the gameweek came on Monday night, as Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford to condemn Jose Mourinho’s men to back-to-back defeats. It was also the former Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager’s worst ever home defeat in all competitions.

Elsewhere, Liverpool, Chelsea and Watford joined Tottenham with 100 per cent records by beating Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United and Crystal Palace respectively.

There were also wins for Arsenal over West Ham United, Leicester City over Southampton and Fulham over Burnley while Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City, Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town, and Bournemouth and Everton all drew.

The results recapped, here are the five best and five worst Premier League performances for the third gameweek.

Best

Lucas Moura (Tottenham Hotspur)

What a performance by Tottenham at Old Trafford to beat Manchester United, and what a performance by Lucas Moura.

The Brazilian has had an underwhelming start to life in London since his move from Paris Saint-Germain in January but has really come to life in the absence of Son Heung-min especially against United.

Playing the full match, Moura doubled Tottenham’s lead in the 52nd minute after Harry Kane had put them ahead and wrapped up the win minutes from full-time to complete Mourinho’s misery.

His two goals came from his only shots in the match, with the forward also completing both of his take-on attempts while creating one chance.

Key stat: Lucas Moura is the first visiting player to score 2+ goals against Man Utd in the Premier League since Sergio Aguero in April 2015.

Roberto Pereyra (Watford)

Watford are enjoying a very good start to the season, winning each of their opening three games, with Roberto Pereyra starring so far.

Against Crystal Palace, Pereyra scored his third goal of the campaign and was instrumental in seeing off the south London side with their own attacking threat in Wilfried Zaha.

The former Juventus man had more shots than any player on the pitch on Saturday from either side, hitting the target with two of them and barely gave Crystal Palace’s defenders any rest.

Key stat: Roberto Pereyra has been directly involved in seven of Watford’s last eight Premier League goals at home (six goals, one assist).

Jean Michael Seri (Fulham)

Fulham finally got the first win of their Premier League return on Sunday, beating Burnley 4-2 at Craven Cottage, with some of their summer signings on top form.

One of those was Jean Michael Seri, whose arrival at Fulham had initially came at a shock given he had previously been linked to Barcelona.

And against Burnley he showed why, scoring his first goal for the Cottagers as part of a good all-round performance.

The Ivorian midfielder had 103 touches of the ball on Sunday and attempted 92 passes, with an accuracy of 92%, with four chances created.

Key stat: Jean Michael Seri goal against Fulham came from his first shot on target in the Premier League.

Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Starting for the first time this season after substitute appearances against Huddersfield Town and Arsenal, Eden Hazard was a constant hassle for Newcastle’s defenders with much of Chelsea’s play going through the Belgian.

Playing on the left of Maurizio Sarri’s front three, Hazard was at the forefront of the Chelsea attack, often cutting inside to try and hurt the defence while also swapping wings with Pedro, although Newcastle proving resolute for most of the match.

Such was Hazard’s influence, the Belgian was consistently targeted by Newcastle’s defence for fouls – seemingly the only way to truly stop him – and initially looked to have had too much in the first half going down injured.

But the Belgian continued and scored the opening goal for Chelsea from the penalty spot, helping them on their way to three consecutive wins.

Key stat: Eden Hazard was fouled five times against Newcastle United, more than any other player this week.

Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur)

While Lucas impressed in attack, at the back for Tottenham Toby Alderweireld was a rock as they kept United’s offence at bay.

The Belgian had been heavily linked with a move to United in the summer and showed Mourinho and Co. what they were missing, alongside Jan Vertonghen.

No player from either side made more interceptions than Alderweireld on Monday night, at four. This was two more than the highest totals posted by any United defenders, in Luke Shaw and Phil Jones.

Key stat: Toby Alderweireld made the joint-most clearances (three) of any Tottenham Hotspur defender against Manchester United.

Worst

Phil Jones (Manchester United)

Manchester United were terrible defensively against Spurs on Monday night and Phil Jones was the summation of their performance.

Given his first minutes of the season as part of a back three alongside Chris Smalling and Ander Herrera, the Englishman lasted just 58 minutes before succumbing to a hamstring injury.

The former Blackburn Rovers man looked lost in defence, making two interceptions and four clearances, and was fortunate not to concede a first-half penalty after bringing down Lucas inside the area.

Jones then lost Harry Kane for his compatriot’s opener from a corner and allowed Christian Eriksen far too much space in the build-up for Lucas’ first.

Key stat: Phil Jones made just one successful tackle against Tottenham Hotspur.

Asmir Begovic (Bournemouth)

Bournemouth may have come from two goals down to rescue a point against Everton but it was because of Asmir Begovic they had to mount a comeback in the first place.

The Bosnian goalkeeper has proven himself to be a capable goalkeeper in the past, but he endured a game to forget on Saturday, in which he was caught out for each of Everton’s goals.

For the first, he allowed Theo Walcott to beat him at his near post with the ball going between his left arm and leg. For the second, he fumbled Michael Keane’s header through his own legs and into the back of the net.

Key stat: Asmir Begovic made two errors leading to goals against Everton, the most of any player in a single match this season.

Richarlison (Everton)

Richarlison had been doing so well for Everton this season but will now miss their next three games owing to a moment of madness.

Against Bournemouth, the Brazilian was poor in his 41 minutes on the pitch, failing to create a single chance or take a shot.

Richarlison also completed just one of his four dribble attempts against Bournemouth before being sent off for a stupid headbutt on Adam Smith, which could have hurt his side’s chances.

Key stat: Richarlison completed just 10 passes against Bournemouth.

Jonathan Hogg (Huddersfield Town)

Another player to have left his side down this week by getting sent off was Huddersfield’s Jonathan Hogg.

The Terriers were looking to get their first points of the season against newly-promoted Cardiff City, having endured a tough start against Chelsea and Manchester City.

But their task was made harder in the second half after Hogg was shown a straight red for a scuffle with Harry Arter, in which the Huddersfield midfielder appeared to aim a headbutt at his opponent while shoving him to the floor. This gave Cardiff the impetus to attack and should have punished Huddersfield, but poor finishing let the Bluebirds down.

Key stat: Jonathan Hogg failed to win a single tackle against Cardiff City.

Cedric Soares (Southampton)

One of a few good performers for Southampton in the Premier League last season, Cedric disappointed as they lost to Leicester City on Saturday.

The Portuguese full-back was largely at fault for Demarai Gray’s equaliser in a calamitous moment Cedric will want to quickly forget. Following a tame cross into the box, Cedric responded with a similarly poor defensive header which went upwards.

Losing sight of the ball, Cedric moved out wide as if ready to attack, but could only watch on as the ball dropped to Gray for the finish.

Key stat: Cedric Soares made one defensive error against Leicester City, leading to a goal.

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