Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins, center, scores his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Mauricio Pochettino listened to the boos ring out at Stamford Bridge after his Chelsea side slumped to another disappointing loss in the Premier League.
Across London, Ange Postecoglou was greeted by a standing ovation from his Tottenham supporters after another impressive performance by Spurs against archrival Arsenal.
The two managers’ contrasting starts to the season were underlined Sunday by Chelsea’s 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa while Tottenham drew 2-2 at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
That was followed by Newcastle equaling its biggest Premier League win with an 8-0 rout of Sheffield United in the late game.
Pochettino, the former Tottenham manager who took over Chelsea in the offseason following a chaotic season that saw the Blues go through three coaches, now has just one win and three losses to show for his first six games in charge. The latest defeat came after Chelsea’s Malo Gusto was sent off in the 58th minute and Villa forward Ollie Watkins scored the winner in the 73rd.
Son Heung-min scored both goals for Tottenham, which came from behind twice after an own-goal by Cristian Romero and a penalty by Bukayo Saka. The second equalizer came just 23 seconds after Arsenal had regained the lead, following a huge mistake by Jorginho, who dawdled on the ball in midfield and gave the ball away.
On a busy Sunday schedule featuring five Premier League games, Liverpool climbed into second place with a 3-1 win over West Ham at Anfield, while Brighton beat Bournemouth 3-1 behind two goals from substitute Kaoru Mitoma.
CHELSEA SHUT OUT AGAIN
Chelsea’s attacking woes were on display again despite dominating much of the game until Gusto’s sending off. The Blues have scored just five goals in six league games, with only one of those coming from starting striker Nicolas Jackson.
“I am not frustrated, just disappointed,” Pochettino said. “We are confident in the way we perform. The only thing we are missing is scoring. If we keep working hard we will change.”
Jackson missed his best chance in the first half when he was teed up by a defense-splitting pass from Mykhailo Mudryk but saw his shot saved by Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez.
Gusto was sent off for a challenge on Lucas Digne that was upgraded from a yellow card to a red after a VAR review, and Villa took advantage when the visitors won the ball back high in the Chelsea half to launch a counterattack.
Levi Colwill slid in to block Watkins’ initial shot, but the Villa striker reacted quickest to seize on the rebound and lash his second effort past Robert Sanchez from an angle and in off the far post.
SON RESCUES SPURS
Coming to the hostile environment of the Emirates Stadium promised to be a good indicator of whether Postecoglou’s attack-minded “Angeball” style of play can work even in big away games.
Son and James Maddison made sure it worked just fine.
Maddison set up Son for both goals, first breaking in from the left and squaring the ball for a first-time finish to level the score at 1-1 shortly before the halftime break. After Saka restored Arsenal’s lead from the spot in the 54th, Maddison responded immediately by robbing Jorginho of the ball and sending Son clear through on goal to beat goalkeeper David Raya with a low finish.
“It’s a derby, it’s always a tough game. But the performance was fantastic from the lads until the last whistle,” Son said. “I think we gave everything so I think the fans can be proud of the game. Obviously we wanted to win, but I think the performance was perfect.”
NEWCASTLE RUNS RIOT
The game at Sheffield United began with a poignant tribute before kickoff for Maddy Cusack, the club’s women’s player who died at the age of 27.
Newcastle went on to earn its biggest away league win ever and equaled an 8-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in September 1999 when Bobby Robson was the manager.
The goals came from eight different players, with Sean Longstaff, Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Miguel Almiron, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak all finding the net.
“The big thing for us was that we really wanted to score and we weren’t content with three and I want that mentality to run through the team,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said.
RESURGENT NUNEZ
Darwin Nunez looks to finally have settled in well as Liverpool’s No. 9.
Nunez began the season coming off the bench but looks undroppable after netting his fourth goal of the campaign to put Liverpool ahead 2-1 in the second half.
Jurgen Klopp’s side has won five successive Premier League games after drawing at Chelsea on the opening weekend, to sit two points behind defending champion Manchester City.
Nunez netted with a 60th-minute volley after Jarrod Bowen’s diving header in the first half had canceled out Mohamed Salah’s penalty.
Substitute Diogo Jota made sure of the win in the 85th. Liverpool scored at least three goals in their opening three home league games for only the second time in the last 43 years.
FLYING HIGH
Brighton is third after taking its goal tally to a league-best 18.
The Seagulls trailed to Dominic Solanke’s first-half goal for Bournemouth but leveled through an own-goal by Milos Kerkez.
Mitoma then netted a double after coming on as a substitute to leave Bournemouth still winless.
