With no London derbies this week, there are seven games to catch up on and none more significant than the one at Selhurst Park in South London.

Crystal Palace extended their unbeaten run to 18 games but more crucially ended Liverpool’s 100% league record this season and threw the gates of the EPL title wide open.

They took an early lead through Ismaila Sarr and then faced systematic pressure from the Merseyside team. Eventually, the Eagles cracked in the 87th minute when Federico Chiesa pounced on a loose ball.

At that point, it looked like their ambition had been reduced to taking a point off Liverpool but there is something irresistible about this Palace side.

With the stoppage clock ticking down, substitute Eddie Nketiah popped up in the box to score a winning goal for the Eagles.

Jean-Philippe Mateta was outstanding in posing a continual threat to Liverpool and with better finishing, he could have extended Palace’s lead on several oocasions.

Liverpool commaned 71.9% of possession but only managed four shots on target, a testament to how well Palace defended and protected their keeper, Dean Henderson.

Liverpool had won all seven of their matches this season since losing to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield and that might not be all. They have been drawn together in the League Cup quarter finals on October 29th where Palace will get to achieve the unthinkable, beating Liverpool in three different competitions in one season.

The win lifts Palace to third place but the long trip to Dinamo Kiev is up next, although the match will be played in Lublin in Poland and they return to league action at Everton on October 6th.

They have 12 points from six games and have only conceded three, joint best in the EPL with Arsenal. By contrast Manchester City, Liverpool  and Chelsea have conceded six, seven and eight respectively.

The Gunners recorded an impressive result to move second with a 1-2 win at Newcastle. They had to wait until minute 96 when Gabriel headed in a Martin Ødegaard corner.

The Islington side had actually been trailing until twelve minutes previously when Mikel Merino headed home a deserved equaliser. The man who Eddie Howe had brought into replace Isak, Nick Woltemade had opened the scoring for the Geordies.

Coach Mikael Arteta told the media afterwards:

“We showed we can play various ways and win in a certain way. This is one of the most difficult grounds and Newcastle are a very good team, so to win in the manner that we have done it, wow what a feeling!”

Chelsea however are lurching from disappointment to disappointment.

Enzo Fernandez had given them an interval lead againdst a lacklustre Brighton & Hove Albion until Trevor Chalobah was rightly sent off early in the second half for a clear denial of a goal scoring opportunity with Diego Gomez breaking through.

He showed little faith in his keeper Robert Sanchez who had been sent off for the same offence at Old Trafford.

From then on, the Seagulls sensed a gift and monopolised the second half. Once again, as they had demonstrated at Old Trafford, Chelsea showed no clue how to defend with only ten men.

Two from Danny Welbeck and one from Maxim de Cuyper, the latter two in stoppage time earned a surprise three points for the Sussex side.

The Blues now have just one win from their last five matches and that was against League One side Lincoln in the League Cup. Their next two games are also at home to Benfica and Liverpool.

With Graham Potter now sacked at West Ham, the vulture-like crosshairs of the English tabloid media will se their cross hairs on the Chelsea boss Maresca if they lose those two matches.

Brentford played superbly in their 3-1 home demolition of Manchester United, a result which, on another day, might have registered higher on the national media scale.

No Bees fan will claim that the visitors were anything but awful but it still took a disciplined Bees’ performance to guarantee a much needed three points.

Brazilian Igor Thiago scored twice for Brentford in the first half. For the first, he narrowly beat the United offside trap and on the 18th minute, he reacted first to slot home a cross pushed out weakly into the six yard box by Altay Bayindir in the United goal.

Benjamin Sesko pulled one back for the visitors before Mathias Jensen scored the best goal of the game in second half stoppage time.

They leapfrog United into 13th place but Manchester City are their next league opponents. Still, on this showing, a top half finish is more than possible.

Tottenham however missed out on the chance to close in on the top with a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers who had hitherto lost every game.

Mohammed Kudus headed against the bar when it looked easier to score, then had a goal chalked off as he had needlessly strayed offside in a scoreless first half.

However Santiago Bueno gave Wolves a 53rd minute lead after Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario weakly parried the ball onto his team mate Joao Paulinha who was rooted to his feet and reacted too slowly, as he watched Bueno fire home.

Paulinha made amends by accurately firing home a stoppage time equaliser but Spurs will see this as two points dropped when they could have overtaken Arsenal and gone second.

Fulham looked insipid in their 3-1 loss at Aston Villa despite taking a 3rd minute lead through Raul Jimenez. The West Midlands side were yet to score a goal all season but had no problem finding the net against a fairly spineless Fulham side.

The Cottagers looked unable to reshape after their goalscorer was forced off eight minutes after scoring to be replaced by Adama Traoré.

Ollie Watkins, John McGinn and Emi Buendia all ended goal droughts of some nature. It was Watkins’ first goal since May 2025, 14 shots ago.

With Nuno in charge for the first time, West Ham secured a worthy draw when Jarrod Bowen equalised in the second half after a poor beguinning. They stay 19th just behind Burnley on goal difference.

Overall, the side looked better and more defensively organised but it would be too early to make too many judgments on the rest of their season. Their next test though is even harder.

Arsenal finally begin their London Derby League Table campaign when they host West Ham who have already lost three London derbies.

Liverpool and Manchester City are in West London next weekend to play Chelsea and Brentford where the Middlesex side can complete a Manchester double.

High flying Crystal Palace head to Everton, seeking a Merseyside double.

Tottenham visit Leeds and deflated Fulham head south to sixth placed Bournemouth who looked very solid in their 2-2 draw at Leeds.

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