Premier League: Ten storylines to follow this weekend
Tottenham host Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday in the Premier League this weekend, with both sides still searching for a first league win. The fixture opens a weekend of matches that begins with Brentford v Chelsea on Friday and includes high-profile Sunday ties such as Bournemouth v Liverpool and Fulham v Manchester United.
The west London derby between Brentford and Chelsea carries historical weight: Chelsea have not won the fixture since Brentford’s first Premier League season, and the last Chelsea victory was a 1-0 win in October 2021 with Ben Chilwell the scorer. Brentford’s continuity contrasts with Chelsea’s ongoing overhaul, and Chelsea may field Danny Welbeck for a first league start should doubts over João Pedro’s fitness persist; Pedro has three goals and three assists this season. Kevin Schade, fresh from two goals at Bournemouth, could test a Chelsea defence still adapting to Xabi Alonso’s configurations, while 20-year-old Jannik Schuster, who replaced Nathan Collins, earned credit on his first Premier League start despite a stern examination from Evanilson.
Tottenham v Aston Villa is a low-scoring but urgent fixture: the two clubs have netted only one goal between them in the league so far and are desperate for a first Premier League victory. Pedro Porro’s return is significant for Roberto De Zerbi and should end the Archie Gray experiment at right-back, while Spurs’ starting XI is described as unsettled. James Maddison, having come off the bench against Everton and Liverpool in the past week, will be keen to start and influence proceedings for Tottenham.
Brighton’s attacking form centres on 20-year-old Malick Yalcouyé, who moved to the south coast in 2024 after a brief spell with IFK Gothenburg and subsequent loans to Sturm Graz and Swansea before making his senior Brighton debut this season. Yalcouyé has scored twice in the Premier League as Brighton sit atop the division’s scorers with 13 goals from their opening four matches. Arsenal, who visit Brighton on Saturday, face Brighton having played three away games in succession, and Mikel Arteta has been warned to prepare for the south-coast side’s form.
At Everton, Vitalii Mykolenko’s early-season improvement has coincided with defensive solidity: he signed a new three-year contract in the summer, appears to have bulked up, and Everton’s defence has kept four clean sheets in six matches. The club’s decision to loan Adam Aznou to Málaga has left limited cover at left-back, but Mykolenko’s displays have eased concerns about the position. Ipswich’s new forward recruits, Emersonn and Zian Flemming, will provide a test for Everton as they aim to close out the pre-international-break weekend with a win.
Newcastle’s upcoming match against Hull follows Monday night’s 4-1 defeat at Leeds and a run of injuries, prompting questions about tactical change to a back five; Matthias Jaissle’s reply to that suggestion was plain: "No." Eddie Howe’s successor described the club’s approach in full: “It’s a brave journey the club is going on and I’m fully committed in that,” said Eddie Howe’s successor. “If there’s one setback, we shouldn’t delete our journey or our vision. We’re fully committed. We’re fully aligned. We anticipated that something like that against Leeds would happen. It’s on us to respond. But while still believing. We don’t change.” Newcastle have also signed eight players aged 24 and under this summer.
Nottingham Forest’s summer £45m signing Liam Delap is presented as a younger analogue to Chris Wood after his showing in the away win at Villa, where he and Morgan Gibbs-White appeared to form an early understanding; Forest face a Coventry side that has conceded eight goals in the past two games. Plans to increase the City Ground’s capacity from 31,000 to 52,500 at an estimated cost of £790m were approved by the local council on Wednesday. Andoni Iraola returns to Bournemouth on Sunday having led the club into the Europa League; his assistants Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper are former Bournemouth players, Marco Rose spent a couple of hours with Iraola before starting in June, and Eddie Howe failed to beat Bournemouth in the eight league games he managed against them. Dominic Calvert-Lewin seeks to score in six consecutive home league games for Leeds, a run not achieved since Arthur Hydes in 1932, after a switch to 3-5-2 late last November that improved his output when paired with Noah Okafor or Lukas Nmecha; Leeds have eight points from their opening four matches, their best top-tier start since David O’Leary’s 2001-02 side. Manchester City sit on a maximum 12 points from four games — 1-0 wins over Coventry and Manchester United, a 2-1 victory at Bournemouth and a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace — having scored eight and conceded two, and Régis Le Bris will attempt to halt that perfect start after guiding Sunderland to a share of the points against the FA Cup holders last season at the Stadium of Light. Oscar Bobb, whose first Fulham goal since joining in January came as a late Carabao Cup winner against West Ham, should carry confidence into Fulham’s home match with Manchester United as they seek a first league victory.
The Premier League weekend begins with Brentford v Chelsea on Friday at 8pm BST and concludes with Fulham v Manchester United on Sunday at 4.30pm BST, with a full slate of fixtures across Saturday and Sunday including kick-offs at 3pm and multiple 2pm matches on Sunday.