Premier League takeaways: Ronaldo back in business, Saka spot on, tears at Tottenham

We pick out the talking points from the latest round of English top-flight fixtures

PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKEND RESULTS: Saturday, October 8, 2022 - Bournemouth 2 (Billing 68', Christie 71') Leicester City 1 (Daka 10'): Cherries' caretaker manager Gary O'Neil makes it five games unbeaten with prospective new owner Bill Foley in the stands. "It's a great first day for him and I'm sure he enjoyed it," said O'Neil. "The full focus for me though is on prepping for the next one." Reuters

Chelsea 3 (Havertz 45+3', Pulisic 54', Broja 89') Wolves 0: Armando Broja scored his first goal for Chelsea as they coasted to victory over managerless Wolves, who had former Blues striker Diego Costa in their starting XI. "The week we've just had has been fantastic," said Chelsea manager Graham Potter. "The attitude of players has been really good. Their effort to what we've been trying to do is fantastic." PA

Manchester City 4 (Cancelo 20', Foden 32', Mahrez 49', Haaland 65') Southampton 0: Just the one goal for Erling Haaland this weekend as City ripped apart Southampton at the Etihad taking their league tally to 33 in nine games. "The result is good, we play quite good," said manager Pep Guardiola. "Some players were not at their best but we create a lot of chances. We were solid." AP

Newcastle United 5 (Guimaraes 21, 56, Murphy 28', Almiron 82', Pinnock og 90') Brentford 1 (Toney pen 54'): Newcastle marked a year since their takeover by a Saudi-led consortium by thrashing Brentford on Tyneside, aided by a woeful Bees defensive peformance. Magpies manager Eddie Howe said. "We had a slow start but responded to that with the first goal and that changed it for us." PA

Brighton 0 Tottenham Hotpur 1 (Kane 22'): England captain Harry Kane made it 12 goals in his last 12 Premier League games with the winner at Brighton. "It was a good response [to the Arsenal defeat] ... now we have the chance to play two games in our stadium, our fortress," said Spurs manager Antonio Conte. "It is important for the fans to create a good atmosphere in our next game to push us until the end." Getty

Sunday, October 9 - Crystal Palace 2 (Edouard 24', Eze 76') Leeds United 1 (Struijk 10'): A first win in five games for Palace who moved up to 15th in the table thanks to Eberechi Eze's first goal of the season. "Today wasn't pretty, but we showed different tools that we need to win football matches," said Eagles manager Patrick Vieira. PA

West Ham United 3 (Bowen pen 29', Scamacca 62', Antonio 90+1') Fulham 1 (Pereira 5'): West Ham came out on top at the London Stadium thanks to goals from Jarrod Bowen, Gianluca Scamacca and substitute Michail Antonio. "We deserved the win," said Hammers manager David Moyes. "We started slow, maybe an impact of playing on Thursday, but we grew into the game as it went on." PA

Arsenal 3 (Martinelli 1', Saka 45+5', pen 76') Liverpool 2 (Nunez 34', Firmino 53'): A double from Bukayo Saka helped Arsenal return to the top of the table after a thrilling win over Liverpool at the Emirates. "In the past two or three years, Liverpool have been a team we have struggled against," said Saka. "To win in front of our fans is special and it shows how much we are progressing." Reuters

Everton 1 (Iwobi 5') Manchester United 2 (Antony 15', Ronaldo 44'): United recovered from Alex Iwobi's brilliant early goal to take the points at Goodison Park with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his first league goal of the season - and his 700th in club football. "We were quickly 1-0 down but the reaction of the team was good," said United manager Erik ten Hag. "One of our aims is to deal better with setbacks and ... It was quite impressive from our side." AFP

Nottingham Forest 1 (Dennis 15') Aston Villa 1 (Young 22'). Ashley Young’s spectacular strike earned Aston Villa a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest, who ended a five-game losing streak. Young struck from distance to cancel out Emmanuel Dennis’ opener as a feisty Midlands derby finished all square at the City Ground. AFP

Ronaldo back with a bang

Cristiano Ronaldo found himself back in the spotlight for the right reasons this weekend after the Portuguese veteran bagged the winner for Manchester United against Everton.

The 37-year-old started the summer angling for a move away from Manchester after the club's failure to make the Champions League, then spent most of the rest of it sitting on the Old Trafford bench as no transfer materialised.

And that was where he started the match on Sunday at Goodison Park before he was called into action early on after Anthony Martial's latest injury setback.

Within 15 minutes, Ronaldo produced a calm finish to score his first league goal of the season and the 700th of a glittering career.

But it's another Manchester-based attacker who continues to hog the limelight as Erling Haaland made it 20 goals this season in Manchester City's 4-0 thrashing of Southampton. The Norwegian's standards are clearly slipping, though, as he failed to make it four home games in a row with a hat-trick to his name.

Fearless Saka is spot on

It was little over a year ago that Bukayo Saka was in tears and inconsolable on the Wembley Stadium pitch after missing a shoot-out penalty in England's Euro 2020 final defeat against Italy.

If that wasn't enough for any 19-year-old to handle, Saka then had to deal with sickening racist abuse on social media after the match. It is testament to the player's mental strength at such a young age that he would go on to have a magnificent season with club side Arsenal, finishing the campaign with 12 goals in 43 games.

On Sunday, with the Gunners' game against Liverpool on a knife edge at 2-2, Thiago Alcantara was adjudged to have fouled Gabriel Jesus in the box with 14 minutes remaining and it was Saka who coolly stepped up to convert from the spot and earn his side a victory that would take them back to the top of the table.

“Credit to the boy, especially with what happened a year ago,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.

Guimaraes leads flying Mapgies to anniversary win

It was celebration time at St James' Park on Saturday as Newcastle United marked the one-year anniversary of their Saudi Arabian-led takeover by hammering Brentford 5-1 on Tyneside, coming hot on the heels of last week's 4-1 demolition of Fulham.

The three points lifted the Magpies up to fifth in the table, a marked contrast to the relegation battle that greeted the new owners 12 months ago.

The club is already a very different beast with more than £200 million spent on new players and the team revitalised under a high-pressing, high-energy playing style under manager Eddie Howe.

Two of those new arrivals were at the heart of their latest win with full-back Kieran Trippier's crossing a constant threat while Bruno Guimaraes marked the occasion with two goals and a man-of-the-match performance in midfield.

Potter enjoys magic week at Chelsea

It has been a very good week for new Chelsea manager Graham Potter that has seen some not-so-familiar names on the Blues' scoresheet as they recorded back-to-back wins over Crystal Palace, AC Milan and Wolves.

Last week saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Conor Gallagher score their first goals for the club in Chelsea's win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, a trick repeated by Armando Broja on Saturday as Wolves were brushed aside 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Sandwiched between those two victories was an impressive Champions League win over the Italian champions that again saw Aubameyang on target while Wesley Fofana also registered his first goal for the club.

“Thanks to the fans for the support. It’s unreal, I’ve been waiting for my first goal. It's a surreal moment,” said Broja on Saturday.

Ventrone tribute leaves Conte in tears

An emotional minute's applause was held before Brighton's match with Tottenham Hotspur after the death of Spurs' fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone.

Manager Antonio Conte was left in tears by the supporters' tribute for the Italian who had died aged 61 after only recently being diagnosed with leukaemia, while Tottenham players had warmed up for the game in shirts bearing the words 'Always in our hearts, Gian Piero'.

“I have to be honest, it was really, really difficult for us to be here and to focus on the game because what happened in the last three days was incredible,” said Conte.

“It was a really tough week for us, not only for me – my staff and players and all the Tottenham environment. He [Ventrone] was a person who was in the heart of every single Tottenham person. It was really tough for us.”