The Full Time Report — Episode 135: Three Points Clear, Two Points Apart
Brian Brobbey scored a hat-trick in the Premier League yesterday afternoon, and he walked off with the match ball and nothing else.
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The Full Time Report — Episode 135: Three Points Clear, Two Points Apart
Sunday's football ended with Manchester City three points clear at the top of the Premier League, Rangers two points behind Celtic, and no club football in Britain or Europe for three weeks. It also produced a hat-trick in a losing cause, an own goal that cost Fulham a win, and a Madrid derby decided by a penalty and a red card.
Sunday's results
Premier League
- Manchester City 5-3 Sunderland. Antoine Semenyo scored twice, and Enzo Fernández, Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland once each; Brian Brobbey scored all three of Sunderland's. 1
- Bournemouth 0-1 Liverpool. Alexander Isak (57). 2
- Fulham 1-1 Manchester United. Lisandro Martínez own goal (63), Matheus Cunha (89). 3
- Leeds United 0-0 Crystal Palace. 4
Scottish Premiership
- Celtic 0-1 Rangers. Ryan Naderi (33). 5
Around Europe
- Atlético Madrid 2-1 Real Madrid (La Liga). Álex Grimaldo scored a penalty and Jonathan David added the second; Dean Huijsen was sent off and Antonio Rüdiger pulled one back late. 6
- Marseille 1-2 Paris St-Germain (Ligue 1). Ferran Torres and Marquinhos scored for Paris; Timothy Weah was sent off. 7
- Serie A. Juventus 2-0 Atalanta, AC Milan 3-0 Lecce, Fiorentina 1-1 Napoli, Frosinone 2-0 Como, Parma 2-1 Genoa. 8
- Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga). 9
A five-three that showed City's problem
City have now won all five league games and lead Arsenal by three points going into the international break, and they needed five goals at home to do it. Sunderland led nothing and equalised twice, and a side that had played in the Europa League on Thursday looked the more settled team for long spells.110
Enzo Fernández put City ahead after nine minutes from a quickly taken free-kick, curling into a near post that Robin Roefs had left open with only two men in the wall. Enzo Le Fée then slid the ball between Rúben Dias and Matheus Nunes for Brobbey to level, and Kevin Danso's loose pass out of his own area let City back in through Rayan Cherki.10
Brobbey's second, from Thomas Meunier's cross, survived a long video check for offside, and Antoine Semenyo restored the lead before the interval from a scramble after a Cherki cross. Sunderland claimed a handball; nothing was given. City's fourth came early in the second half, again through Semenyo, and Brobbey completed his hat-trick on the hour, forcing Nilson Angulo's effort over the line rather than leaving it to chance.10
City nearly conceded a fourth when Gianluigi Donnarumma made a mess of a cross and Dias had to hook the ball off his own line. Haaland, who had already missed an open goal, settled it nine minutes from the end. Régis Le Bris thought Sunderland should have had a penalty for a handball by Elliot Anderson in the area.1 Sunderland's first Premier League hat-trick from Brobbey leaves them fourteenth on four points.1112
Two points, and a gulf
Rangers have now beaten Celtic twice in eight days, after the 3-0 League Cup win at Ibrox, and the second of them cut Celtic's lead at the top of the Premiership to two points.5
Ryan Naderi scored it on 33 minutes, following up after Viljami Sinisalo saved from Min-Su Kim. Auston Trusty had already had a goal ruled out for offside in the build-up, and Kieran Tierney hit the bar. Rangers should have had more: Djeidi Gassama hit the woodwork, Ivor Pandur saved Colby Donovan's header at the back post just after half-time, and Olwethu Makhanya's volley on 74 minutes was taken away by the video assistant for handball.5
Derek McInnes became the first manager since 1991 to win his first two Old Firm games. "We had to deliver a big performance and we did exactly that," he said. Martin O'Neill said he did not think there was much between the teams, and that Celtic would "rethink and reset" when the international players return.5
Celtic are top on 18 points and Rangers second on 16.13
Isak, and Iraola's return
Alexander Isak scored the only goal at the Vitality Stadium on 57 minutes, finishing from the edge of the six-yard box after Cody Gakpo beat Adrien Truffert and pulled the ball back. All four of Isak's goals this season have been set up by Gakpo.2
Andoni Iraola's first return to Bournemouth as Liverpool manager ended with him embracing his old players and staff. "I love it because I love this club and it is growing," he said. His successor, Marco Rose, was left still waiting for a first Premier League win: "You don't get points for good performances. One error is too much, that's the point."2
Bournemouth are 17th on three points; Liverpool are sixth on nine and unbeaten in seven games in all competitions.12
An own goal, a deflection, and an argument about effort
Fulham's first Premier League win under Álvaro Arbeloa is still waiting. Calvin Bassey outmuscled Matheus Cunha in midfield on 63 minutes and shot from the edge of the area; Senne Lammens's parry was weak, Lisandro Martínez jabbed the ball towards his own goal and Lammens then failed to clear it with his feet. It was Martínez's third Premier League own goal, as many as any other Manchester United player has scored.34
Cunha rescued the point in the 89th minute, his shot deflecting off David Affengruber and past Bernd Leno. He was also the one who questioned United's energy afterwards: "In the beginning of the second half, Fulham put in more energy than us and we cannot accept this." Fulham's players covered 6.6km more than United's. Michael Carrick disagreed with his own centre-forward, saying he was happy with how his team finished the game.14
Gary Neville, on Sky, called United's opening 15 minutes of the second half "absolutely pathetic" and the worst he had seen from them in more than 45 years. Arbeloa was unhappy with the officiating too, claiming after the game that United would not be allowed to lose at Craven Cottage, and rowing back from that in his main press conference. Fulham are 19th on two points; United are 12th on five.1214
Leeds are still unbeaten after five games and fifth on nine points. Crystal Palace are 15th on four.412
Madrid, and the rest of Europe
José Mourinho's first Madrid derby back at Real Madrid ended in a 2-1 defeat. Dean Huijsen pulled down Giuliano Simeone inside the area, the referee upgraded the card to a red after a video review, and Álex Grimaldo scored the penalty. Jonathan David turned in Simeone's low cross for the second, and Antonio Rüdiger's late header set up a tense finish that Atlético survived.6
Mourinho arrived at his press conference with a photograph of two challenges he believed should have been red cards for Atlético. His team, though, barely touched the ball inside Atlético's penalty area until they scored. Barcelona lead La Liga on 21 points from seven games; Atlético and Real Betis are on 16 and Real Madrid are fourth on 15.615
In France, Paris St-Germain won Le Classique 2-1 at Marseille, who finished with ten men. In Italy, Milan ended a three-match winless run by beating Lecce 3-0, with Christian Pulisic scoring on his first start of the season, and Juventus beat Atalanta 2-0 through Francisco Conceição and Bremer. Fiorentina held Napoli 1-1, and Como, who could have gone joint top, lost 2-0 at Frosinone. Bayer Leverkusen beat RB Leipzig 2-0 in Germany.89
Elsewhere
Wolves beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 in the Championship, and Bolton Wanderers won 4-3 at Norwich City. In the Women's Super League, Tottenham won 7-0 at Crystal Palace and Everton won 1-0 at West Ham. Porto beat Benfica 3-1 in Portugal, and Feyenoord beat Utrecht 5-0 in the Netherlands.9
What happens next
There is no club football for three weeks. The Premier League returns on 10 October, and England begin the international window at home to Spain on 26 September, then travel to Czechia and Croatia before hosting Czechia on 6 October.416
The transfer desk
The window is shut until January, so none of this is a completed deal.
- Tottenham have now put a number on Morgan Gibbs-White, 26, of Nottingham Forest: a possible £125m January move, after the club refused to sell him in the summer (Football Insider).17
- Manchester United are monitoring Antonio Conte, 56, as a possible replacement for Michael Carrick if his position becomes untenable (Hard Tackle), with Milan and Juventus also watching the former Napoli manager (Calciomercato).17
- United still want to keep JJ Gabriel, 15, who has been linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona, with Chelsea now in the race (Teamtalk).17
- Atlético Madrid have revived their interest in Ibrahim Maza, 20, of Bayer Leverkusen (Goal).17
- Liverpool have gone a step further on Lamine Camara, 22, the Monaco midfielder, by holding initial talks over a January move (Caught Offside).17
References
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- 8Milan and Juventus end blips with home wins
sports.yahoo.com
- 9
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- 12Premier League table 2026-27
footballwebpages.co.uk
- 13William Hill Premiership table 2026-27
footballwebpages.co.uk
- 14
- 15Spanish La Liga table 2026-27
footballwebpages.co.uk
- 16
- 17
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