De Bruyne becomes City’s assist king
It is too early to declare the Premier League a two-horse race for the title, but the blows Manchester City and Arsenal continue to trade are making for increasingly compelling viewing.
Arsenal will have to respond on Sunday after City’s latest majestic showing against sorry Southampton.
Chelsea look re-energised under Graham Potter, while Eddie Howe continues to weave his magic at Newcastle United, who scored more goals than even City on Saturday.
Antonio Conte’s Tottenham only needed one goal to round off the day by maintaining their impressive start to the campaign at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Before attention turns to events at Emirates Stadium, Stats Perform picks out the best data from Saturday’s matches.
Chelsea 3-0 Wolves: Manager-less visitors far from cloud nine
The sacking of Bruno Lage did nothing to improve Wolves’ fortunes, as their run of winless away Premier League games was stretched to nine (D2 L7).
That is their longest such run since going 10 games (D4 L6) without a win on the road in January 2012.
On top of that, Wolves remain winless in nine league away games with Chelsea (D3 L6)
Kai Havertz opened the scoring for the Blues and has now found the net twice in his last three league games, more than in his previous 12 matches in the competition. The German has netted in consecutive home league games for the Blues for the first time.
Mason Mount laid on two of the goals for Potter’s men, marking the first time he has recorded two assists in a single Premier League games since a meeting Leicester City in February 2020
Manchester City 4-0 Southampton: KDB the assist king for rampant champions
Pep Guardiola’s men will be in the rare position of hoping Liverpool deliver a result against Arsenal on Sunday, after the champions leapfrogged the Gunners back to the top of the table.
Erling Haaland was on the scoresheet again, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, though he did only register one goal in this one-sided affair.
The Norway star is just the second player to score in seven consecutive Premier League games for Manchester City, after Sergio Aguero (May-September 2019).
Kevin De Bruyne provided the assist for Phil Foden to double City’s lead after Joao Cancelo opened the scoring. De Bruyne’s 94 assists mean he now has the outright most for City in the Premier League, overtaking David Silva (93).
City’s incredible prowess in front of goal saw them become the first team to score at least four goals in five consecutive top-flight home games since Tottenham in September 1963 (a run of six).
.
