Having escaped a ban, Antonio Conte paced furiously up and down the touchline, infuriated at the display his side put in in front of a packed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs went into the break with no shots on target, dominated by a Wolverhampton Wanderers side made up of seven Portugal internationals.
But, things turned around after the break as Spurs got a much better hold on the proceedings. They got their reward, just past the hour-mark, when Ivan Perisic flicked a corner at the near post, and the ball was headed in by Harry Kane subsequently at the back post. That was the Englishman’s 185th goal for Spurs – the most by an individual for a single club – which helped with the three points.
While Spurs won their battle in London, rivals Arsenal did the same on the South Coast. A tricky trip to Bournemouth beckoned – the Cherries have already taken points off Aston Villa this season despite many earmarking them as relegation favorites – but two goals from Martin Odegaard inside 11 minutes set the Gunners up for a comfortable win.
The Norwegian scored his first in the fifth minute, turning in the rebound after Mark Travers had denied Gabriel Martinelli. The second arrived six minutes later, with a whip of his boot after Gabriel Jesus’s heavy touch had set the ball up for him perfectly. William Saliba sealed the win with a stunning effort from the edge of the box in the 54th minute to send Arsenal top of the league – for now.
Elsewhere, Demarai Gray’s late effort helped Everton to their first points of the season, coming at the expense of the newly-promoted Nottingham Forest. Meanwhile, Wilfried Zaha’s double and Jean-Philippe Mateta’s late goal saw Crystal Palace beat Aston Villa 3-1.
Che Adams came off the bench to score twice late on as Southampton saw off Leicester City. Brentford, as they had done on matchday one, came from two goals down to level the scores against Fulham in the West London Derby, only for Aleksandar Mitrovic to land a knockout blow in the 90th minute – 3-2; the Cottagers won.
