Premier League Notebook: Solskjaer sacked, Liverpool put the league on Red Notice

Another weekend, another Premier League casualty. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left Manchester United after the 4-1 defeat to Watford was the final straw for the Red Devils. Meanwhile, each of the top three won in this thrilling early battle for supremacy, while we got treated to two 3-3 draws.

Here’s your round-up of the five key talking points from the weekend.

Theatre of Broken Dreams

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign in the Manchester United hot seat has come to an end after a disastrous weekend away to newly promoted Watford. The pressure was on Ole after the 5-0 defeat at home to Liverpool was closely followed by the 2-0 defeat in the Manchester Derby, but the 4-1 loss on Saturday was the final nail in the boss’s coffin.

Captain Harry Maguire was sent off as Watford shocked the league, putting four past David De Gea and dominating the Red Devils. United have now won just one of their last seven league games, and only Newcastle and Norwich have a worse defensive record.

Former United midfielder and now coach Michael Carrick has stepped in as caretaker manager and his first test in the league isn’t an easy one, as United travel to Chelsea on Sunday.

Chelsea can add to United’s troubles

Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea certainly won’t show any mercy to Manchester United, as the Blues stayed top of the table after sweeping Leicester City aside 3-0. It takes Chelsea’s unbeaten streak to nine games in all competitions (won seven, drawn two), and maintained their three-point lead in the Premier League.

They look simply unstoppable at the moment, keeping clean sheets in eight of their 12 games, conceding just four times, and scoring on average 2.5 goals per game. The squad is also getting healthy again with Timo Werner back training and Romelu Lukaku rumored to potentially be close to a return.

Chelsea are +240 to win the league for the first time in five years.

Liverpool put the league on Red Notice

Going into Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal, Jurgen Klopp’s men had dropped points in back-to-back league games, just watched Chelsea dominate Leicester, and were facing an Arsenal side who were unbeaten in 10 games.

Despite the added pressure, Liverpool simply took Arsenal apart. They had 63% of possession, won the shot count 12-3, and most importantly were ruthless in front of goal on the way to a 4-0 victory.

The win was a huge statement from Klopp’s side, who are just four points off Chelsea and making sure the league know they aren’t going away any time soon.

Canaries on the climb

Norwich had pretty much been written off this season, losing eight and drawing two of their opening 10 Premier League games. Pundits everywhere felt it was only a matter of time before the Canaries were sent back down to the Championship.

But there’s still plenty of fight in Dean Smith’s side. The new boss saw his side come back from going behind inside four minutes to beat Southampton 2-1, and that’s now back-to-back wins for Norwich who have moved off the bottom of the table.

They are now just three points off Leeds in 17th, and have a huge tie at the bottom of the table with Newcastle before the end of the month.

Conte’s Champions League charge

After more than three hours of football, Tottenham Hotspur finally had a shot on target at the weekend. Spurs ended their mini slump by coming from behind to beat Leeds 2-1.

Not only did the result heap pressure on Leeds, but it gave Antonio Conte his first win as Tottenham boss and puts them just four points off West Ham in the Champions League spots. There’s still plenty of work to do at Tottenham, but Conte has his first win, and he can build momentum with his next three league games all coming against bottom seven sides.