EPL Round-Up: Lucky Liverpool, rampaging Arsenal and the crisis in Manchester

Premier League GW2 review: Chelsea rise, City stumble, Liverpool survive, Arsenal shine, Leeds punished, and United still searching for answers.

Rio Ngomoha celebrates after powering Liverpool to victory against Newcastle at St. James's Park. The champions won 3-2. (Photo credit: ESPN)

Game Week 2 is done and dusted in the Premier League, and what this means is that we have the liberty to review things as we witnessed them over the weekend.

It started with Chelsea beating West Ham, and the latter might just conveniently swim in the relegation zone until the end of the season. You look at the Hammers’ squad, and you see why they will continue to struggle; the lack of quality in important areas will haunt them. Graham Potter is on a thin ice.

For the Blues, three points forward with a four-goal advantage after the stalemate at home against Crystal Palace. Many have tipped Chelsea to be in the title mix; they have the strength in depth, and they now need cohesion and consistency.

Manchester City has started chasing already. It felt like more of the same as they hosted and lost to Tottenham; Thomas Frank continues the tradition of beating Manchester City, and you wonder if it’s just a blip or a return of the problem that saw City lose their crown to Liverpool last season.

Speaking of Liverpool, it wasn’t pretty for them at St. James’s Park on Monday night as they laboured to a 3-2 win, having led 2-0 and played the entirety of the second half against ten men with Anthony Gordon sent off for a reckless challenge on Virgil Van Dijk.

Liverpool lost their two-goal lead against Bournemouth and rallied to restore it before full time; they did the same against Newcastle and were lucky to see their youngster Rio Ngumoha score at the death to hand them three points. Is something wrong with the champions?

Newcastle was careless. How did you play so well and then undo it with a silly red card? And then, despite being two goals down, you fought back and then lost it by reckless forays when you could have taken the point; they helped Liverpool out, and now the Kops must be wary of this pattern.

Arsenal looks like a major problem for Liverpool this season. The signing of Eberechi Eze seems to have completed the squad for Mikel Arteta, and the Spaniard now needs to learn how to tinker with the team to success; he won’t have any excuses this season.

Arsenal destroyed Leeds United 5-0, and despite having two key players injured in the game, the team seems unbothered, as the quality in depth is now a thing they can brag about. Up next for them is Liverpool at Anfield; let’s see how they fare against a stronger side.

Leeds may have lost to Arsenal scandalously, but they have what it takes to avoid relegation. Daniel Farke must re-evaluate his style; their overambition against Arsenal was suicidal. He needs to learn how to be pragmatic against top opposition. It was a harsh experience at the Emirates; he will learn from it.

The other two that got promoted met at the weekend, and the result ensured every one of the newly promoted sides has a win in two games. It took almost half of the season for the three newly promoted teams in the last campaign to record three wins; this season is different already.

Burnley beat Sunderland convincingly, showing that there’s something in Scott Parker’s side, and the likes of West Ham and Brentford must be wary of the drop. The Bees beat Aston Villa 1-0, a huge surprise, but they’re still hot candidates to go down.

Manchester United hasn’t changed much. They lost a lead to settle for a 1-1 draw against Fulham in a game where Bruno Fernandes missed from the spot. The stubbornness of Ruben Amorim is another problem. Will United get a grip, or will they sink into another level of despair?