Liverpool won 3-0 over Crystal Palace on Saturday, taking the lead in the Premier League.
Title rivals Manchester City could only draw at home to Southampton, but Manchester United and Chelsea later joined Liverpool with 13 points.
Here are some of the most curious facts from the entire Premier League weekend.
First in the Premier League for the Reds trio
Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Naby Keita scored Liverpool’s goals in victory over the Palace at Anfield.
It is the first time in the Premier League that a match has ended 3-0, with all three goals scored by African players.
Mane opened the scoring with his 100th goal for Liverpool. The Senegalese forward has scored in each of his last nine league appearances against Palace, making him the first player in Premier League history to score in nine consecutive games against a single team.
All three of Liverpool’s goals came from corner kicks. Not since City beat West Brom in March 2015 has a top-flight match not finished 3-0 with all the goals coming from the corners.
100 – Sadio Mané has scored his 100th goal for Liverpool in all competitions, 10 of which against Crystal Palace, his highest against a single Reds opponent. Centurion. pic.twitter.com/gJ4x7qNl34
– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 18, 2021
Dave saves … finally
There was drama aplenty at the London stadium on Sunday as United joined Liverpool at the top of the table thanks to a 2-1 win over West Ham.
After Cristiano Ronaldo continued his fantastic start to his second stint with United to drag the level of the Red Devils, Jesse Lingard came to break West Ham hearts at the end of the match.
The London Stadium is the 66th different stadium where Ronaldo has scored in matches played in the five major European leagues, and has scored in more unique places than any other player since his United debut in 2003-04, ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic (64) .
Lingard, meanwhile, became the 47th player to score for and against West Ham in the Premier League. Barring own goals, West Ham have scored more players for and against them than any other team in league history.
But it was David de Gea who proved he was United’s hero, when he saved a last-ditch penalty from Mark Noble, which was specially brought by David Moyes to take the penalty kick.
De Gea’s rescue ended a drought that dates back to 23 April 2016 of 40 penalty kicks faced without saving for both the club and the country, helping United to secure a dramatic victory at the London stadium in the process.
Of those penalties, 11 were scored by Villarreal players in the Europa League final in May, with De Gea ultimately missing the decisive kick in the Red Devils’ penalty shoot-out defeat.
The 30-year-old avoided a Jordan Ayew penalty in last September’s league match with Palace, but was caught and scored by Wilfried Zaha after De Gea was considered out of his line.
Veteran Silva helps give Spurs the blues
At the age of 36 years and 362 days, Thiago Silva became the second oldest Chelsea player to score in the Premier League behind only Didier Drogba, who scored against Leicester City at the age of 37 years and 49 days in April. 2015, when the Brazilian led Thomas Tuchel’s side at Tottenham.
N’Golo Kante’s deflected shot is 2-0. The midfielder has scored for the first time in 49 league appearances, having found the net against Manchester City in November 2019. Three of his last four goals in the top flight have come from outside the box.
Antonio Rudiger sentenced the Spurs to a second consecutive 3-0 defeat; they lost consecutive Premier League games by a 3+ goal margin for the first time since their first two games of the 2011-12 season.
Harry Kane, meanwhile, has made a desperate figure at the top for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team. He failed to score in his first four Premier League appearances of a season for the first time since 2015-16, attempting only four shots so far.
Super-sub Bailey blows Benitez’s bubble
Everton’s undefeated start under Rafael Benitez came to a halt when Leon Bailey starred with a searing cameo in Aston Villa’s 3-0 win.
Bailey stepped off the bench and made an immediate impact. With Matty Cash’s first Premier League goal putting Villa ahead, the Jamaican striker hit in a corner that Lucas Digne turned into his own goal.
Digne has now scored three own goals in the Premier League, on par with Younes Kaboul for the French player who has done so on the most occasions.
The Villa didn’t finish there, however, and Bailey exploded to unleash his first Premier League goal. Moments later, he walked away with an apparent thigh injury, becoming the second Villa player to come as a substitute, score and then be replaced in a Premier League match, following Julian Joachim against Derby in September 2000.
2 – Leon Bailey is only the second Aston Villa player to enter the pitch, score and then be substituted in a @premier League match, after Julian Joachim against Derby in September 2000. Cameo. pic.twitter.com/sor1vSwvU8
– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 18, 2021
Farke’s losing streak continues, Toney on top
Ivan Toney scored and assisted another Saturday in Brentford’s 2-0 win over Wolves.
Since the start of last season, Toney has been the overall top scorer in the top four levels of English football (excluding playoffs), with 33 goals to his name.
Another promoted club, Norwich City, suffered their fifth defeat of the campaign. In total, the Canaries have lost each of their last 15 Premier League games, meaning Daniel Farke is the manager with the longest losing streak in top flight history.
Mick McCarthy (14) was the last manager to go nearly as close as Farke without a top-flight win, even though it was in 2005.