Premier League football made a dramatic return with seven fixtures, 19 goals and a hat-trick on a busy Saturday afternoon.
The story of the day came at Nottingham Forest, who sacked Ange Postecoglou after their 3-0 defeat to Chelsea at the City Ground.
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Postecoglou went winless across all of his eight matches in charge and Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis stormed out of his seat.
Danny Welbeck scored two goals for Brighton in a 2-1 win at home to Newcastle, despite a lovely finish from Nick Woltemade.
Jean-Philippe Mateta bagged a hat-trick for Crystal Palace in a crazy 3-3 draw against Bournemouth, and should have netted a fourth deep into stoppage time.
Manchester City beat Everton 2-0 thanks to two goal from Erling Haaland, and Arsenal hit a 22-year first in their 1-0 win at Fulham.
Burnley won their second league match of the season with a 2-0 victory against Leeds United, with Sunderland beating Wolves by the same scoreline.
After all the excitement, talkSPORT co-hosts Jamie O’Hara and Jason Cundy selected their winners and losers of the weekend.
Winners
Erling Haaland
Haaland leads the Premier League scoring charts on 11 goals thanks to another two strikes against Everton.
“He’s in there every single week as a winner,” Cundy said. “He’s just an animal in front of the goal.
“He should have scored a hat-trick – another hat-trick!
“First one, a brilliant header, second one… He loves scoring goals. He’s a machine.”
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O’Hara then added: “You can’t get away from it. Anywhere in the box, goal.”
Jean-Philippe Mateta
Palace found themselves 2-0 down to Bournemouth at half-time, but a second half hat-trick from star man Mateta earned the hosts a point.
He could have scored a winner with the last kick of the game, but blazed his effort high over the bar from around eight yards out.
But O’Hara was still left mesmerised by the Frenchman, as he said: “He’s on fire.”
Cundy meanwhile remarked: “Hat-trick. Scored first goal for France midweek. Gets himself a hat-trick today. Should have scored four, by the way. He should have won it for Palace.
“My God, that, to have won that and scored four goals… It’s hard to score four goals in a season, let alone four in one game!
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“But JP Mateta, he’s a unit, he’s on fire at the moment. He is on fire.”
O’Hara later claimed: “He’d do well at Manchester United!”
Danny Welbeck
He may be 34-years-old, but Welbeck has once again shown his worth for Brighton with two crucial goals in their victory over Newcastle.
Welbeck has four for the season, and has been tipped for a surprise role for England at the World Cup under Thomas Tuchel.
Cundy said: “Another brace for Danny Welbeck!
“I’d love to know. I’d love to have a conversation with Tuchel, right, and just say, ‘Do you know about Danny Welbeck?'”
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He added: “He’s played for England, right? He’s probably over the hill. His England career’s probably over the hill.”
O’Hara insisted: “You’re never over the hill if you’re scoring goals in the Premier League. The [second] goal he scored today, that’s not an over the hill goal.”
Cundy replied: “You’re right, Tuchel is here for just one thing. Win the World Cup, right? That’s it
“After the World Cup, his contract expires. You expect him probably to move on.
“He doesn’t care about Adam Wharton, right? He don’t care about the future. Adam Wharton right here, right now, doesn’t appear to be in his plans. He wants players right now.
“Gareth Southgate had a vision to have a squad being built for the next campaign. The next campaign. Tuchel ain’t doing that. That’s why Danny Welbeck might force himself into the conversation.”
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Losers
Ange Postecoglou
Just 39 days after being appointed, Postecoglou was dismissed by Forest following a dismal run of form.
He has set the unwanted record of having the shortest managerial campaign in Premier League history.
O’Hara said: “Big Ange is in there, he’s in the losers. One more time! You know what? He might get a couple of weeks off!”
Cundy then asked: “Do you think we’ll see Big Ange again in English football?
“I don’t think we will. That’s probably it. I think he’s done.”
When O’Hara suggested a possible drop into the Championship, Cundy stated: “He ain’t taking a Championship job.
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“I don’t think so, I think Big Ange, he feels he’s bigger and better than that. He’s a European champion apparently!
“I think he’s done in English football, I don’t know how after 39 days, you can look at him and go, ‘He’s the man for me.’
“I don’t know how you can do that, I don’t, I think he’s done, I think he’s cooked.”
Vitor Pereira
Wolves are still the only Premier League side to have not won a single match this season.
Defeat at Sunderland has left them rock-bottom and five points from safety, with relegation possibly already looking like a real prospect.
O’Hara said of the Midlands outfit: “He [Pereira] ended the [2024/25] season unbelievable, now they’ve had an absolute stinker.”
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“Eight games in, not one win, two points, that’s terrible,” Cundy added. “That is terrible. They’re in a relegation dogfight.”
O’Hara added: “They’re going down. I think Wolves are going down. I think they’ve clung on and clung on and clung on.
“And this season, I think, no, you sold your players again. I think you’re done.”
Eddie Howe
Newcastle entered the international break on a high with a 2-0 win over Forest, but they’ve picked up a second loss in three.
They only managed to get three of their 16 shots on target against Brighton and have dropped to 12th in the table.
“I know it’s harsh,” Cundy said, although O’Hara tried to argue that Chelsea defender Malo Gusto should have been selected.
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Gusto was the fourth Blues player to pick up a red card so far this season having been shown a second yellow card late on at Forest.
However, Cundy batted away the suggestion and stressed that Newcastle boss Howe should remain.