Haaland’s drought, other two talking points from EPL

Arsenal ended an eight-year wait to beat Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday to leave the title race wide open.

Both sides of the north London divide lead the way with Tottenham ahead of Arsenal only on goal difference after their hard-fought 1-0 win at Luton.

The top six are separated by just four points but with none of the sides from third down to seventh winning this weekend, Manchester United and Chelsea clawed back some ground.

United needed two stoppage-time goals from Scott McTominay to beat Brentford 2-1, while Chelsea showed signs of clicking under Mauricio Pochettino in a 4-1 win at Burnley.

Here are three talking points from the Premier League weekend.

Haaland’s drought leaves City toothless

As Erling Haaland and his Manchester City teammates squabbled with a member of Arsenal’s security team after the final whistle in their damaging 1-0 defeat on Sunday, it was tempting to suggest that was the most fight shown by the champions all afternoon.

Toothless City mustered just four shots, which ranked as the fewest a Pep Guardiola side had managed in a top-flight game since Barcelona had the same tally against Espanyol 13 years ago.

City’s second successive league defeat — the first time they have suffered that indignity since December 2018 — won’t necessarily be fatal to their bid for a fourth successive title.

But Arsenal undoubtedly exposed a few chinks in the treble winners’ armour, not least the lack of contribution from Haaland, as they moved two points above City.

Haaland started the season with a flurry of seven goals in five league games, but since then the striker has scored just once in his last five appearances in all competitions, including three in a row without a goal.

He barely had a significant touch in the Arsenal penalty area as Gunners centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel subdued him in a manner that might give Guardiola a few sleepless nights as he ponders City’s slump during the international break.

Do Tottenham dare to dream?

Eight games into their first league campaign under Ange Postecoglou and having sold Harry Kane, there are precious few Tottenham fans who would have believed they would sit top of the table heading into October’s international break.