Man City And Liverpool Suffer First Losses On Eventful Day Of EPL Action

Author:
Robert Summerscales
Publish date:
Oct 1, 2023 3:48 AM EDT

Manchester City's perfect start to the Premier League season ended on Saturday when Pep Guardiola's side suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at Wolves.

A Ruben Dias own goal gave Wolves an early lead before Julian Alvarez equalized with a fine free-kick in the 58th minute.

But Wolves then struck again against the run of play eight minutes later when Hwang Hee-chan finished off a swift counter-attack.

City's defeat was good news for Arsenal, who closed the gap on the EPL leaders to just one point by thrashing Bournemouth 4-0 at the Vitality Stadium.

Bukayo Saka and Ben White both scored from open play for the Gunners, with the other two goals coming from penalty kicks taken by Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz.

Tottenham also moved within a single point of City on Saturday following a dramatic and controversial 2-1 win over Liverpool in London.

Liverpool ended the game with just nine men after red cards for Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota.

Jones was sent off midway through the first half for a dangerous challenge on Yves Bissouma, before Jota picked up two yellow cards in the first 24 minutes of the second period.

Referee Simon Hooper pictured looking at a pitch-side monitor moments before sending off Curtis Jones during Liverpool's 2-1 defeat at Tottenham in September 2023 — Referee Simon Hooper pictured looking at a pitch-side monitor moments before sending off Curtis Jones during Liverpool's 2-1 defeat at Tottenham
IMAGO/Sportimage/David Klein

The red card shown to Jones was the result of a VAR review but it was not the most controversial moment of the first half.

With the game poised at 0-0, ten-man Liverpool appeared to have taken the lead thanks to Luis Diaz, but he was denied by an offside flag followed by an unusually quick VAR check.

That VAR check incorrectly upheld the offside call and the organization in charge of EPL referees, the PGMOL, would later "acknowledge a significant human error occurred".

Son Heung-min fired Spurs in front before Cody Gakpo injured himself in the process of equalizing on the stroke of half-time.

Jurgen Klopp's side almost held on for an impressive point but a Joel Matip own goal in the sixth minute of added time ended Liverpool's unbeaten start to the season.

Spurs and Arsenal are now the only two EPL teams yet to lose a league game this season.

But the north London duo are still just two points above Aston Villa, who ended Saturday in fifth place after beating Brighton 6-1 at Villa Park.

Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick and also assisted a goal for Jacob Ramsey. Ansu Fati netted his first ever EPL goal for Brighton.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Luton Town recorded a first ever Premier League victory by winning 2-1 away at relegation rivals Everton.

Manchester United suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, while there were 2-0 home wins for Newcastle and West Ham - over Burnley and Sheffield United respectively.