Arsenal defeated Aston Villa 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday to maintain their perfect record in the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta’s side once again showed a tenacity so often missing from Gunners teams in recent seasons.
Arsenal struck in the 30th minute thanks to a gift from their former keeper Emiliano Martinez, who pushed a tame Gabriel Martinelli cross straight to Gabriel Jesus for a simple finish.
Second bottom Villa were level when Douglas Luiz’s corner flew straight past Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale in the 74th minute despite the hosts’ appeal for a foul.
But Arsenal, who came from behind to beat Fulham on Saturday, responded impressively as Martinelli restored their lead three minutes later from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Villa boss Steven Gerrard, jeered off after losing at home to West Ham on Sunday, will come under renewed pressure following his side’s fourth defeat in five games this season.
LIVERPOOL
At Anfield, Liverpool left it late to secure a second win this season as Fabio Carvalho’s 98th-minute goal saw off Newcastle.
Away striker Alexander Isak rocked Liverpool in the 38th minute of his debut following his £60 million move from Real Sociedad, netting with a composed finish from Sean Longstaff’s pass.
But, building on the momentum from Saturday’s 9-0 rout of Bournemouth — which equalled the record for the Premier League’s biggest win — Liverpool equalised when Roberto Firmino slotted in Mohamed Salah’s 61st-minute pass.
And, well past the original five minutes of stoppage time, Carvalho — a day after his 20th birthday — fired home to spark wild celebrations.
SPURS
Third-placed Tottenham had to settle for a 1-1 draw at London rivals West Ham.
Antonio Conte’s side took the lead in the 34th minute when Harry Kane’s cross was diverted for an own goal by Hammers defender Thilo Kehrer.
But West Ham levelled 10 minutes into the second half when Tomas Soucek rifled home from Michail Antonio’s assist.
WOLVES
Managerless Bournemouth drew 0-0 with Wolves at Dean Court in their first game following Scott Parker’s sacking after the humiliation at Liverpool.
Third-bottom Wolves are now without a win in their last 12 league games dating back to April.
MANCHESTER CITY 6-0 N'FOREST
Erling Haaland nets hat trick helps Manchester City hit six past Nottingham Forest
Erling Haaland continued the blistering start to his Manchester City career by scoring a perfect hat trick inside 38 minutes as the Premier League champions smashed promoted Nottingham Forest 6-0 on Wednesday.
Haaland has scored nine goals in five league games since joining City from Borussia Dortmund and has back-to-back hat tricks after netting three in Saturday's win over Crystal Palace.
"Amazing, nothing more to say," said the Norway international. "It was about keeping doing what we did in the second half against Palace, play, play, play -- it was nice. It's been good so far, I'm not complaining."
With City's other new forward, Argentine Julian Alvarez, scoring twice after the break, the win was a clear warning to title rivals of the extra attacking threat Pep Guardiola's side now possess.
The Spaniard said Haaland was simply repeating the form he had shown throughout his prolific career.
"What he has done in Norway, Austria, Germany he has started to do here. He is talented, we knew it and today we saw Julian as well. We have two incredible strikers with an incredible sense to score goals," Guardiola said.
The 22-year-old put City ahead in the 12th minute, latching on to a cross from Phil Foden to hook it past Forest keeper Dean Henderson.
Henderson's poor clearance then led to City's second when Bernardo Silva collected the ball and launched a counter with a swift exchange of passes and Foden again provided the assist to Haaland who slotted home from close range.
Haaland completed his treble, leaping to power in a far-post header after defender John Stones had nodded a corner back across the face of goal.
Forest were unable to contain an excellent City who made it 4-0 shortly after the break with a fine Joao Cancelo drive from the edge of the box.
Alvarez added two more for City, both powerful strikes, as Pep Guardiola's side made it four wins out of five games with 19 goals scored.
The Argentine's first Premier League goal came after some clever play from Riyad Mahrez with Alvarez driving home from a tight angle.
Haaland was then substituted in the 69th minute although Forest could hardly be relieved to see Kevin De Bruyne replacing him.
The Belgium international created City's sixth, charging up field after a Forest free kick struck the wall and then finding Mahrez, whose shot was blocked before Alvarez pounced and blasted home.
What Jurgen Klopp said.......
Jurgen Klopp calls Liverpool's late winner 'perfect response' to Newcastle time-wasting at Anfield
Jurgen Klopp on Liverpool's last-gasp winner against Newcastle, scored two minutes and nine seconds after the five minutes added on had concluded: "When we scored after 90-plus-eight minutes, it's the perfect response to that. I'm really happy about that, but nothing else to say"
Jurgen Klopp hailed Liverpool's last-minute victory the "perfect response" when asked about Newcastle's time-wasting at Anfield, calling the 2-1 win one of his "best nights".
The visitors, who looked set to secure a deserved point thanks to Alexander Isak's first-half goal, had frustrated Klopp's side with a number of incidents of running down the clock in the final 10 minutes of the game, and during the five minutes of added time indicated Nick Pope also called on the physio for treatment on his shoulder.
However, the addition of more than two extra minutes before Fabio Carvalho's last-gasp winner from a corner was enough to leave the visiting bench incensed, and tensions boiled over as Liverpool's backroom staff and substitutes celebrated the youngster's goal.
"When we scored after 90-plus-eight minutes, it's the perfect response to that, to be honest. I'm really happy about that, but nothing else to say," he told BT Sport.
"It was the perfect moment to win this game because it was a difficult game, very passionate, aggressive defending. It's difficult to pick up the rhythm from a game where everything clicked immediately and you find yourself in situations where it isn't clicking immediately.
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