Not for the first time Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho found himself headlining a Premier League weekend.
Press Association Sport looks at five talking points from the resumption of the season after the international break.
Spotlight on Jose again
Having recently claimed he was the victim of a media “manhunt” Mourinho was splashed across the back pages after his touchline clash at Stamford Bridge in the weekend’s highest-profile game. However, for once it appears this incident one was not of the Portuguese’s making with Chelsea assistant coach Marco Ianni sparking the melee with his celebration at a last-minute equaliser. Mourinho still managed to have the last word, however, bringing out his three-finger salute to remind Chelsea fans how many titles he won with the club.
Has Klopp finally found answer to Liverpool’s title quest?
Last season Jurgen Klopp’s side were the great entertainers, scoring goals for fun, but coming up short in the trophy department. For that reason they were touted as the closest challengers to Manchester City’s crown but it is considerably different Liverpool on show this season. The 1-0 win at Huddersfield was as scrappy as they come but it helped set a new record as never in 126 years of the club’s history have they conceded three goals or fewer in the first nine league games. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker, the £65million summer signing, has six clean sheets in his first nine league matches and only Chelsea’s Petr Cech (seven) has kept more at the start of his Premier League career. They have not conceded a home league goal since February.
Life in the Welsh dragon yet
Cardiff produced the surprise of the weekend by scoring four times, thereby equalling their tally from their previous eight matches. The win over Fulham, their first of the season, lifted them off the foot of the table, out of the bottom three and ended a five-match losing streak. Manager Neil Warnock relishes being the underdog but for that to work they have to frequently bite back and the performance against the Cottagers offered that. Next up…Liverpool.
Terriers need to find some bite
Fellow strugglers Huddersfield find themselves in the same boat, having scored only four times in nine matches. It is not a reflection of the way they are playing as they gave Liverpool a real test at the John Smith’s Stadium but just did not have the cutting edge to punish the off-colour visitors. They share similarities with Roberto Martinez’s Premier League Wigan side between 2009 and 2013 in that they are determined to play good football under David Wagner. The approach is admirable but without an end product it will be in vain.
Super subs
Everton boss Marco Silva is entitled to feel very pleased with himself after the Toffees’ 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace made it three Premier League wins in a row. They were heading for a stalemate until Silva threw on Ademola Lookman and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in a double substitution with eight minutes remaining. Five minutes later Lookman crossed for Calvert-Lewin to head in the opener. The points were then secured two minutes later when the other substitute, Cenk Tosun, raced away and beat Wayne Hennessey. Everton are now only three points behind Arsenal and look to have put their slightly rocky start behind them.