Matchday 4 of the 2025-26 Premier League is in the books. That can only mean one thing: we’re here to overreact to it all with our weekly dose of knee-jerk reactions.
It’s only September, but why let reason get in the way of a good overreaction? Here are our snap judgements from Matchday 4 of the Premier League season.
This is the Best Version of Erling Haaland We’ve Seen
Erling Haaland has had quite a week. After scoring five for Norway against Moldova during the international break, he returned to club duty with a brace in Manchester City’s 3-0 win over rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
We’re convinced this is the best version of Haaland we’ve seen. That’s a bold statement to make when talking about a player who smashed the Premier League’s single-season scoring record in his debut campaign, though he already has five goals in four games this season.
But don’t just take our word for it, his manager agrees:
“Erling has been incredible since the start, but this season he is better than ever,” Pep Guardiola said after the derby. “I would say better than the treble year [2022-23].”
Haaland has always been ruthless in front of goal, but his early-season numbers are extraordinary, even by his standards. Yes, it’s only four games, but he is averaging Premier League career highs across the board in goals, expected goals and shots per 90 minutes:
Erling Haaland per-90 stats Premier League
His non-penalty goals figure is particularly noteworthy. Across recorded Premier League history, no player has ever averaged above 1.0 non-penalty xG per 90 across a season, let alone 1.5. It’s very early days, but these numbers are wild.
Haaland also showed hunger without the ball on Sunday. He made six clearances in the derby – second only to centre-back Rúben Dias (7) among all players – setting the tone defensively after half-time as City began to dominate duels all over the pitch.
Haaland has now been directly involved in 11 goals in just six Premier League appearances against Manchester United (8 goals, 3 assists) – his highest tally against any opponent.
Those eight goals are the joint-most of any player in the derby’s Premier League history (level with Wayne Rooney and Sergio Agüero). Haaland’s have come in just six games, while it took Agüero 13 matches to reach that total and Rooney 21.
Aston Villa Could Break a Very Unwanted Record
Four games, four blanks. Aston Villa remain the only team yet to score in the Premier League this season, and in fact are the only side across the entire top four tiers in England without a goal. The only silver lining is that Unai Emery’s team have still managed to draw two of their matches.
Only four other teams have ever gone their first four Premier League games of a season without scoring: Sheffield Wednesday (1993-94), Newcastle (2005-06), Swansea (2011-12) and Crystal Palace (2017-18). Palace hold the record, though, eventually failing to score in their first seven games in 2017-18.
Here’s the good news: none of those teams were relegated, and the lowest finish among them was 11th.
But the bad news is obvious. Where do Villa’s goals come from?
They had just one shot on target in their 0-0 stalemate with Everton, from a total of seven attempts, and Ollie Watkins didn’t manage a single effort. Villa’s star striker simply isn’t seeing enough of the ball; his 25.0 touches and 4.3 touches in the opposition box per 90 this season are both career-lows during his Premier League time at Villa Park.
Aston Villa - expected goals map 2025-26
The underlying numbers don’t flatter Emery’s side either. Only Wolves (2.6) have generated a lower expected goals tally (3.1) than Aston Villa so far this season. Their current average of 0.77 xG per game is their lowest in almost a decade (2015-16 – 0.71).
Villa have three more games before equalling Palace’s record – against Sunderland (A), Fulham (H) and Burnley (H). On paper, they’re winnable fixtures, but with European commitments kicking in and those opponents proving defensively solid so far, it’s hard to predict when the goals will return.
Burnley Will Be Just Fine If They Stay Organised
Burnley may have eventually come up short against reigning champions Liverpool at Turf Moor on Sunday, but there was enough to suggest that their defensive qualities can help them avoid relegation from the Premier League this season.
Scott Parker’s side came up from the Championship last term having kept 30 clean sheets in 46 league games, equalling an all-time English Football League record originally set by Port Vale in 1953-54 in the third tier, and you can see why.
Sunday’s agonising 1-0 defeat came despite Burnley playing the lowest of low blocks and displaying both exceptional organisation and concentration as a defensive unit.
While true that they may have completely sacrificed any attacking intent in the second half in an attempt to win a point, it was a plan that was just minutes from working.
Burnley didn’t have a single touch in Liverpool’s box in the second half and only attempted one shot – from outside the box via Josh Laurent in the 74th minute – but they frustrated Liverpool in ways that many opponents haven’t been able to since Arne Slot arrived at the club in the summer of 2024.
Liverpool attempted 27 shots, but only four of those found the target, including Mohamed Salah’s added-time winner from the penalty spot. That 14.8% shooting accuracy was Liverpool’s worst in a Premier League game in which they’ve attempted at least 10 shots since March 2024 vs Nottingham Forest (9.1%).
Liverpool shots vs Burnley 2025-26
Much of that was down to how Burnley’s defenders put their bodies on the line to protect a clean sheet. Liverpool saw 12 of their shots blocked by Burnley players, which is the highest tally in a Premier League game this season and the most blocked against Liverpool since their trip to Brentford in January (15); another game they won in added time.
Burnley may have come away empty handed on this occasion, but there were enough signs to suggest that they could frustrate many teams heading to Turf Moor in 2025-26.
Liverpool’s Winning Formula Doesn’t Feel Sustainable
Liverpool kept up their 100% record in the Premier League this season thanks to Salah’s 95th-minute winner at Burnley on Sunday, but it was yet another late, late show from the Reds.
That Salah goal means that Liverpool have become the first side in Premier League history to win four consecutive matches via a winning goal scored in the final 10 minutes or later.
Federico Chiesa scored the match-deciding goal on the opening day against Bournemouth in the 88th minute, before Rio Ngumoha’s winner on MD2 against Newcastle arrived in the 100th minute. Then, on MD3, Liverpool beat Arsenal thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai’s sensational free-kick in the 83rd minute, before Salah’s winner in the fifth minute of added time at Turf Moor.
Of course, these wins are giving their supporters dramatic entertainment, but how sustainable is it?
The 1-0 wins over Arsenal and Burnley at least showed more control than their previous victories over Newcastle and Bournemouth, where they surrendered two-goal leads before eventually coming out victors thanks to their late strikes. They also lost the lead twice in the Community Shield penalty shootout defeat against Crystal Palace.
While Liverpool are the only team to have won their first four games of the Premier League season, six sides have currently been in a winning position for a longer amount of time (131 minutes, 29 seconds) and a higher proportion of game time (32.3%) than Slot’s side this season, including rivals Everton (157 minutes, 52 seconds – 39.9% of game time), who are up next on MD5.
Premier League Game State in 2025-26
Chelsea Lack the Consistency to be Anything Other than Premier League Hopefuls
Chelsea can beat any team in the world on their day. They proved that by winning the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup with a thoroughly convincing 3-0 win over Ligue 1 and Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.
The problem with Enzo Maresca’s side is that they lack any sort of consistency to challenge in a competition that runs over 38 matchdays. In fact, the only consistency they do have is the ability to fail to pick up points in games that they really should have won.
Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Brentford was the latest example of that. Working hard to come back from a 1-0 deficit at half-time to lead 2-1 thanks to goals from Cole Palmer and Moisés Caicedo, they let their lead slip in the third minute of added time after failing to deal with a long throw. Kristoffer Ajer out jumped every Chelsea defender to flick the ball on, and Fábio Carvalho tapped in at the far post. Before that goal, Chelsea had restricted the Bees to just six shots worth only 0.75 xG.
Chelsea are the youngest team in the Premier League, and perhaps that could be factor in their lack of consistency. Their average starting XI age of 24 years, 147 days is younger than any other team, just as it was last season (24 years, 36 days).
Another factor might be their bulging squad, with Chelsea using 37 different players in the Premier League under Maresca since the start of last season – only Wolves (41) have used more.
Based on Opta’s expected points metric, Chelsea should be leading the Premier League table after four matchdays of 2025-26.
Expected Points Premier League 2025-26
Since the start of last season, the gap between themselves and Liverpool is even closer than real-life points suggest, too.
Liverpool’s tally of 93 points is 17 more than Chelsea’s 76 across Maresca’s reign but looking at expected points – arguably a better indicator of performance over a long period – Chelsea (71.8) are just 11.7 behind the reigning champions (83.5).
The difference is that Liverpool have been able to win matches that they arguably should not have, based on the balance of play, outperforming their expected points by 9.5 compared to Chelsea’s overperformance of 4.2.
Expected Points in Premier League since 2024-25
Premier League Stats Opta
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