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As usual, the Premier League dished up plenty of high drama, goals and talking points at the weekend.
The champions Chelsea bounced back with a dramatic late winner at Wembley and Liverpool battled to their first three points of the campaign.
Here, Sportsmail’s Ralph Ellis shares 10 things he learned from the weekend.
- Chelsea new boy Tiemoue Bakayoko isn’t afraid to get stuck in if the midfield battles get a bit tasty.
The £40m arrival from Monaco added drive to the midfield against Spurs but also gave a bit of bite, giving away six free kicks as the worst offender of a Chelsea side which committed 21 fouls on their way to their 2-1 win.
Bakayoko, who should really have been booked by ref Anthony Taylor for persistent fouling, was maybe trying to show he can deal with the physical side of English football. His disciplinary record in the last two seasons at Monaco shows only eight yellows and one red in 67 games across all competitions.
- Liverpool could have had a bargain in the current transfer market by paying less than £10m to Hull for Scottish left back Andy Robertson.
The 23-year-old, not involved in Jurgen Klopp’s first two competitive squads of the season, made up for lost time with a storming debut in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.
He looked solid defensively but also added an attacking dimension, playing an astonishing 61 passes in the forward half and setting up three chances.
- Credit to 36-year-old Gareth Barry for keeping himself superbly fit while he tried to sort out his future after learning he couldn’t expect regular game time with Everton.
The veteran former Aston Villa and Manchester City midfielder, starting his 20th top flight season, was immediately up to Premier League pace at Burnley.
He ran 6.7 miles in the 1-0 win at Burnley, further than any opposition player except Jack Cork (6.90), and beaten in his own team only by Jake Livermore (7.1) and Jay Rodriguez (7.0).
- Theo Walcott ought to be worried at the start of a World Cup year about whether he’ll get enough game time to get back in England’s squad.
Gareth Southgate left him out earlier this year because he’d not been a regular for Arsenal, and despite a promising pre-season this campaign has begun with more time on the bench.
Now 28, and in his 10th season at The Emirates, Walcott didn’t get on at Stoke until 12 minutes from the end. He has two years left of a £140,000 a week contract, but must surely feel that he needs to be playing regularly.
- Southampton must be relieved they persuaded midfielder Oriol Romeu to sign a new contract in January as the Spanish midfielder continues to be their unsung star.
The stocky 25-year-old, linked in the summer as a potential target to return to Barcelona where he began his career, was voted player of the year last season by Saints fans.
And he’s started this campaign with the same level of quality, winning the ball back more than any of his team mates in the 3-2 win against West Ham but also playing 101 passes.
- What is it with Shinji Okazaki and getting subbed before the final whistle? The Japanese international has scored in both Leicester’s games this season and each time been brought off with just over 75 minutes gone.
It’s been a recurring theme ever since he signed for the club at the start of their title winning season.
In 82 appearances so far in all competitions, the 31-year-old has completed 90 minutes only six times.
- Huddersfield did good business by agreeing an option to buy Danish international keeper Jonas Lossl at the end of his season-long loan from FSV Mainz.
The Terriers have paid an £850,000 loan fee for the 6ft 5ins giant, but can get him next summer for as little as £3.5m when he will have only 12 months left on his contract with the German club.
Lossl, 28, looked dominant in the 1-0 win over Newcastle but also made five good saves that protected the club’s 100 per cent record so far.
- Gary Rowett seems to have found a way to get the best from veteran striker David Nugent, who had pretty much flopped under previous boss Steve McClaren following his £2.5m arrival from Middlesbrough in January.
The 32-year-old had scored just twice under the regime of the former England boss, but scored both goals in a 2-1 win at Bolton to bring his total to seven in just nine starts since Rowett took charge.
- You suspect Karl Robinson must have had an agreement with MK Dons not to go back to the club where he spent six years as the boss to poach any of their players.
The Charlton manager has brought in eight since taking charge at the Valley last December, and not one of them from his old club despite its excellent record of developing young players.
The nearest to an exception is midfielder Jake Forster-Caskey who had two separate loan spells at Milton Keynes but as a Brighton player presumably wouldn’t breach the deal. He’s turned out a good acquisition, though, scoring twice in the 4-1 over Northampton to make it four goals in his last six games.
- Losing play-off finalists often suffer a hangover at the start of the following season, but Exeter are proving the exception.
After just two weeks of the new campaign their hard fought 1-0 win over Lincoln makes them the only one of the sides who missed out at Wembley last season to still have an unbeaten league record.
Much travelled former Plymouth striker Reuben Reid got the crucial goal.
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