Brighton and Hove Albion produced the performance of the Premier League weekend on Sunday, thrashing Crystal Palace 5-0 at the Amex Stadium on an afternoon that served up nine goals across the three completed matches.
Brighton 5-0 Crystal Palace
Danny Welbeck set the tone inside ten minutes, stooping to head home Kaoru Mitoma's cross, and from there the hosts never looked back. Mitoma scored twice himself, the second a sweeping team move that began with the goalkeeper, before Georginio Rutter curled in a fourth and Yankuba Minteh completed the rout late on. Palace, unbeaten away from home before Sunday, simply had no answer.
The margin flattered nobody. Brighton registered more than twenty attempts, and the home support spent the closing stages serenading a performance that lifts their club into the top half and plants them firmly among this season's early entertainers.
Sunday's Results
- Brighton and Hove Albion 5-0 Crystal Palace
- Leeds United 1-1 Manchester United
- Bournemouth 2-0 Sunderland
- Nottingham Forest v Arsenal: in progress at the City Ground at time of writing
- Manchester City lead the table by six points after winning all seven matches
Leeds United 1-1 Manchester United
At Elland Road, the oldest of rivalries produced the most absorbing game of the day. Bryan Mbeumo put Manchester United ahead early in the second half, finishing a counter-attack that had been rehearsed all week, and for twenty minutes the visitors looked capable of leaving with all three points.
Leeds had other ideas. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has made a habit of scoring in this fixture down the years, rose to meet a corner with eleven minutes remaining and sent the old ground into delirium. A draw was, on the balance of a breathless final half hour, about right.
Bournemouth 2-0 Sunderland
On the south coast, Bournemouth finally have a league win this season. Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring against Sunderland midway through the first half and Evanilson doubled the lead from the penalty spot after the break. The relief around the Vitality Stadium was audible; the visitors, for all their early season promise, were second best throughout.
All eyes on the City Ground
Attention now turns to Nottingham, where Forest and Arsenal were under way in the day's late game at the City Ground at the time of writing. The visitors kicked off knowing that victory would cut Manchester City's lead at the top to three points, after the champions made it seven wins from seven by surviving an Ipswich scare on Saturday evening.
Full coverage of that match, and reaction from across the grounds, follows in our Monday edition.