Premier League Talking Points: Chelsea's Derby Drought and Spurs' Struggles
Chelsea have not beaten Brentford in the league since October 2021, when Ben Chilwell’s strike settled a tight contest. Every trip across west London since that night has ended level. The pattern says stalemate; the mood around both clubs says something very different.
Brentford look like Brentford: organised, coherent, built on years of continuity. Chelsea look like Chelsea 3.0, or perhaps 4.0, as Xabi Alonso tries to bend another expensively assembled squad into his image. His back three is still a work in progress, and history offers a warning: only one side have ever won the Premier League using a defensive trio – Antonio Conte’s Chelsea in 2016‑17. That was a machine. This is still a sketch.
Kevin Schade will sense an opening. Fresh from two sharp finishes at Bournemouth, the German forward goes up against a defence still learning Alonso’s angles and distances. If Brentford can drag Chelsea’s wide centre-backs into the channels, Schade has the speed and timing to punish any hesitation.
At the other end, Chelsea’s main creative spark, João Pedro, sits under a fitness cloud despite three goals and three assists already. If he is not deemed ready to start, it could hand Danny Welbeck his first league start of the season. Welbeck offers craft and graft, but Chelsea lose some of Pedro’s chaos between the lines. For a side still trying to find fluency, that could tilt the balance in a derby that has stopped being a novelty and started to feel like a measuring stick.
Spurs stuck in neutral as Villa come calling
What happens when a very stoppable force meets an extremely movable object? Tottenham against Aston Villa might provide the answer.
Nineteenth-placed Villa arrive in north London with one league goal between the sides and no Premier League win to show for their efforts. This is not a clash of heavyweights; it is a scramble for a foothold. Both teams need something to cling to.
For Spurs, Pedro Porro’s return is significant. It should spell the end of the Archie Gray experiment at right-back, a trial that always felt like a short-term fix rather than a long-term plan. Yet the bigger issue runs through the whole XI. No starting lineup in the division feels less settled. Almost everyone looks a mistake away from the bench, and that anxiety seeps into their football. Safe passes, cautious runs, a team that plays not to lose rather than to impose itself.
James Maddison could change that mood. After two appearances from the bench against Everton and Liverpool, the injury-hit playmaker will be desperate to start. Spurs need someone willing to take responsibility, to demand the ball when others are hiding. If Maddison is that man, Tottenham might finally stop tiptoeing through games and start dictating them. If not, another anxious afternoon beckons.
Brighton’s structure and a new No 10 menace
Fabian Hürzeler talked about Brighton being “well structured” after their comeback at Old Trafford. He might as well have held up a picture of Malick Yalcouyé.
The 20-year-old Ivorian arrived on the south coast in 2024 after a brief spell with IFK Gothenburg, then disappeared into the loan circuit: Sturm Graz in Austria, Swansea in the Championship. He had to wait for his chance. Now, with Jack Hinshelwood sidelined until after the international break, Yalcouyé has seized the No 10 role and refused to let go.
Two Premier League goals already, sharp movement, a willingness to press and probe. Brighton, the division’s top scorers with 13 goals from four games, look even more dangerous with him buzzing behind the forwards. Arsenal are next, another away test for the champions in a run of four straight league games on the road.
Mikel Arteta will not need telling: Brighton’s threat is not confined to one man. But Yalcouyé has added a new wrinkle to a side that already pulled opponents apart with their rotations and passing lanes. If Arsenal switch off between the lines, the youngster has shown he will make them pay.
Mykolenko steps up as Everton lean on experience
Vitalii Mykolenko’s resurgence has slipped under the radar. It may stay that way for some of his critics, but David Moyes will not care. He needs leaders; his left-back has started to look like one.
A new three-year contract in the summer, a visibly stronger frame, and a series of composed displays have steadied Everton’s left flank. Four clean sheets in six matches tell their own story for a defence that was expected to creak. The problem is depth. With Adam Aznou loaned to Málaga, there is little cover at left-back. For now, Mykolenko’s form has smoothed those worries.
Ipswich’s new forwards, Emersonn and Zian Flemming, will test that resilience. Both offer movement and variety in attack. If Everton can shut them down and sign off with a win before the extended international break, Moyes will feel his thin squad has delivered an unexpectedly solid opening chapter.
Jaissle refuses to blink as Newcastle ride out the pain
Matthias Jaissle does not do waffle. Asked if Monday’s 4-1 hammering at Leeds and a growing injury list might tempt him into a back five or a tweak to his beloved “vertical” game plan for Hull’s visit, he gave a one-word reply: “No.”
That is the point. Newcastle have chosen a path and Jaissle is determined to walk it, even when it stings. Eight summer signings aged 24 or under signal a club leaning hard into youth, just as they adjust to life without Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon. There will be turbulence. Jaissle insists that does not mean ripping up the blueprint.
“It’s a brave journey the club is going on and I’m fully committed in that,” he said. One heavy defeat, he argues, does not invalidate the vision. Newcastle expected bumps like Leeds. Now comes the response.
Hull arrive knowing they will face a side that wants to play fast, direct football through the lines. If Newcastle can keep their nerve and their vertical passing, Jaissle’s refusal to compromise might look less like stubbornness and more like conviction.
Delap finds the right stage as Forest look up again
Many scoffed at the £45m fee for Liam Delap. Nottingham Forest, though, might be exactly where that price tag starts to make sense.
Forest thrived with Chris Wood as their focal point last season. Delap feels like a younger version of that idea: strong, instinctive, happy to bring others into play. In the win at Villa, his understanding with Morgan Gibbs-White already looked promising. One drops, one spins in behind, both hungry to exploit space. Coventry, who have shipped eight goals in their past two matches, will not relish that partnership.
Off the pitch, Forest are thinking big. The local council has approved plans to expand the City Ground from 31,000 to 52,500 at an estimated cost of £790m. After a nervy previous campaign, the club suddenly feels as if it is moving forward on every front. If Delap keeps growing into the role of spearhead, that sense of momentum will only intensify.
Iraola returns to Bournemouth with Liverpool in his hands
Andoni Iraola watched Bournemouth’s European debut from afar in San Sebastián, a city he knows intimately. On Sunday he walks back into his old home, this time as Liverpool head coach.
He left Bournemouth with their best-ever Premier League finish – sixth – and a Europa League ticket in his pocket. Assistants Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper, both former Bournemouth players, were part of that rise. A warm reception is guaranteed.
The Cherries have stuttered under Marco Rose so far, but they remain awkward opponents. Rose spent a couple of hours with Iraola before officially taking over in June, trading ideas and impressions. Both coaches favour intensity and ambition. That should produce an all-action contest.
Eddie Howe never managed to beat Bournemouth in eight league attempts with Newcastle. Iraola knows his old club well enough to expect a similarly awkward afternoon, even from the away dugout.
Calvert-Lewin chases history in Leeds’ flying start
Dominic Calvert-Lewin walks into Elland Road on Saturday with history in his sights and Crystal Palace in his way. Score again and he becomes the first Leeds player to find the net in six consecutive home league games since Arthur Hydes in 1932.
The turning point came last November. Daniel Farke shifted to a 3-5-2 and Calvert-Lewin, previously stranded as a lone striker, suddenly had company. Whether paired with Noah Okafor or Lukas Nmecha, he looked transformed. The goals followed. Even when Leeds occasionally flip to 3-4-3 or a back four, Calvert-Lewin has kept stressing the value of strike partnerships.
Eight points from four games represent Leeds’ best top-flight start since David O’Leary’s 2001‑02 side. Palace now have to decide whether to go man-for-man against a confident front line or protect the space where Calvert-Lewin has been thriving. If the run continues, Hydes’ record will not be the only thing under threat. Opponents may soon be forced to rethink how they set up against Farke’s 3-5-2 altogether.
City’s perfect start faces a familiar challenger
Manchester City have opened with four wins from four: 1-0 against Coventry and Manchester United, 2-1 over Bournemouth, 4-1 against Crystal Palace. Eight scored, two conceded. Efficient, controlled, ominous.
Only Arsenal have a marginally better defensive record among the 12-point starters, with one goal conceded and the same tally scored. The numbers suggest Enzo Maresca’s City are ready to mount a serious title challenge.
Régis Le Bris will try to disrupt that narrative. He took Sunderland to a draw against City in the FA Cup last season at the Stadium of Light, proof that his sides can organise and frustrate elite opponents. The problem for him is the venue. At the Etihad, in the corresponding fixture, City strolled to a 3-0 win.
Maresca has installed control and clarity early. Le Bris has shown he can complicate City’s rhythm. One of them will bend. The question is whether this City can be knocked off their stride at all, or whether this start is the first chapter of something far more daunting for the rest of the league.
