To follow the claiming of both the major footballer of the year awards by scoring a hat-trick in Manchester United’s first home game was some Bruno Fernandes act, and points to an intent to continue his stellar form of last season.

Ipswich came to scythe through Michael Carrick’s side via the pace of Julio Enciso, Issa Diop and Daizen Maeda, and when Leif Davis gave them a 29th-minute lead victory looked on. However, the contest turned with Marcelino Núñez’s slip as the break neared. Suddenly Fernandes was rifling in a left-foot bullet and from this point on United cuffed Gary O’Neil’s team aside.

In the fullness of time Chelsea’s surrender against Brighton in April may be seen as the turning point. The humiliation accelerated Liam ­Rosenior’s demise and forced the Stamford Bridge hierarchy into a ­reckoning leading to the appointment of Xabi Alonso, a shift in ­transfer ­strategy, the birth of the JP Morgan front three and the end of ­Robert Sánchez’s time in goal.

For now, though, the argument that Emiliano Martínez is the final piece in the jigsaw seems a touch ­premature. With seven goals scored and five conceded while winning their first two league games, it is not hard to see where Chelsea need to improve in order to sustain a title challenge. They have to be savvier when ahead, and although the good has so far outweighed the bad Alonso could do with his side not dropping their guard when they have the ­opposition on the ropes.

At the final whistle Álvaro Arbeloa provided a study in pensiveness while Régis Le Bris simply looked relieved. For protracted periods an almost palpable fear of losing formed the subtext of a match decided when two of the Sunderland manager’s ­second-half substitutes, Habib Diarra and Wilson Isidor, combined for the latter to score.

Isidor’s goal not merely supplied Sunderland with their first win of the season while leaving Arbeloa’s side pointless, but also ended his side’s 17‑year run without a Premier League home victory against Fulham.

These nascent moments of the new season can often provide false hope but, as both sets of players shook hands after what was indisputably the correct result at Elland Road, it was difficult not to imagine we had just witnessed a contest between two sides that should have lofty ­ambitions for the months ahead.

Leeds and Brentford were vic­torious on the opening weekend in differing circumstances. Leeds crafted a hard-earned but ultimately deserved win at Nottingham Forest, while Brentford Tottenham. Time will tell what the ceiling of both these sides is but, as they each continued their unbeaten starts here, hopes should be high.

• Premier League updates from the 4.30pm (BST) kick-off

• Live scoreboard | Mail Tim and follow us over on Bluesky

Out come the players, some of them holding babes in arms – including Marcus Rashford, who has a big smile on his face.

The first email of the afternoon comes from Dave. “Hi Tim, loving the MBM.” Thanks! “Just wondered if there’s any insight into why Sesko seems to find it so hard to get a start.”

• Premier League updates from the 2pm (BST) kick-offs

• Live scoreboard | Mail John and follow us on Bluesky

Mark Slater gets in touch: “I will be following the Chelsea vs Brighton match particulary, but am happy to see a Joy Division quote in the opening paragraphs. In Chelsea’s case, Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester City, and Aston Villa most recently...”

Tom: “A+++ for getting Joy Division into the Sunday MBM.”

If ever you wanted to understand the distinction between “winning the transfer market” and winning an actual football match, then this was the game for you. Tottenham’s first home fixture of the Premier League season began with adulatory focus on all their new players. It ended in decisive defeat to Newcastle as recruit after recruit failed to make their presence pay, while Newcastle’s forgotten forwards made hay. “Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again,” sang the Toon Army as if it needed pointing out.

Tottenham should have taken the lead in a first half they had the better of, but they had no response to impressive second-half strikes by Anthony Elanga and Yoanne Wissa. What had looked like green shoots of positivity withered to nothing. For a Newcastle team themselves a work in progress under Matthias Jaissle, this was a heartening victory achieved with many of their own additions to come in.

• Updates from 5.30pm (BST) kickoff

• Email Barry and follow us on Bluesky

Fun fact: Tottenham and Newcastle have met 61 times in the Premier League era without ever playing out a scoreless draw. Today could be the day for a dreary stalemate but it seems unlikely – fingers crossed for a glut of goals.

Premier League: Hull City have made it back-to-back wins upon their return to the top flight, with Liam Millar scoring the only goal of their game at Coventry City to deposit another three precious points in the bank. James Tarkowski left it until added time to cancel out Alex Scott’s opener as Bournemouth were held by Everton at the Vitality Stadium. In today’s early game, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest served up an entertaining 2-2 draw at Anfield, where the hosts had to come from behind twice to rescue a point.

A malfunctioning electronic board will not have been on anyone’s bingo list of Liverpool complaints for the first Anfield game of Andoni Iraola’s tenure, but others sounded all too familiar. A slow start, a lack of intensity and defensive shortcomings were again evident as Liverpool salvaged a point against Nottingham Forest, while showing stronger foundations are required along with the excitement of £123m Bradley Barcola.

In front of some of the billionaires behind Liverpool, Iraola’s opening act on home soil offered more food for thought than the feast they may have been expecting. Forest were good value for the second 2-2 draw of the new Liverpool head coach’s reign and created enough clear openings to justify their frustration at the final outcome. A superb finish from Liverpool’s summer signing Víctor Muñoz cancelled out Morgan Gibbs-White’s penalty, after Alexander Isak had done the same to Dan Ndoye’s opener.

• Live updates from Anfield 12.30pm kick-off (BST)

• Email Scott | Reds finalise £123m Barcola deal

The teams are out! Liverpool all in red, Forest wearing a third-choice shirt that looks awfully like a recent Manchester City number. You’ll Never Walk Alone rings out, as Liverpool principal owner John Henry and the new vice-chairman Amit Bhatia watch from the stand. We’ll be off in a minute … and that minute will see fans remember the legendary Kevin Keegan, the star of Bill Shankly’s second great team, who recently passed. The warmest applause from all four corners of the ground, a mosaic on the Kop that reads KEVIN 7, and a chant of One Kevin Keegan.

On the subject of Forest and big-money transfers … David Ornstein of the Athletic was on TNT Sports earlier, reporting the possibility of their buying 19-year-old midfield prospect Harrison Armstrong from Everton for £40m. Should that come to pass, it’ll probably result in the Hill Dickinson toppling into the Mersey, but only after the whole structure is launched a couple of miles into the air by the steam from Everton supporters’ lugs. Armstrong is extremely highly rated, but Forest have pockets full of cash after selling Elliot Anderson to Manchester City, so this one is worth keeping an eye on.

All who attend the Rayan Cherki show know the ticket comes with a guarantee of entertainment. Enzo Maresca, a manager famed for his obsessive positional control, does not need to put limits on the Manchester City wizard. Cherki has to feel free and he was at his creative best against Crystal Palace, who were in this game before City’s creative heartbeat took it away from them in the second half.

It has been a fine start to the former Lyon player’s second year in England. Cherki was inspired against Bournemouth last week, coming off the bench to spark City’s fightback from 1-0 down with two assists, and this was better. The Frenchman scored twice and the first, a little prod with the outside of his left foot after a mazy run, left you wondering if you have seen something like it before.

With 110 matches to feature two coaches appointed this year, tactical history may be more insightful than teams’ head-to-head records

New managers are facing an almost one-in-two chance of being fired before the end of the season, a finding from Guardian analysis that shows 22 of the past 50 permanent Premier League managers to leave their roles lasted less than a year.

The betting markets reflect this reality. Six of the eight Premier League managers deemed most likely by bookmakers to be next to leave their post were appointed in 2026. Football management is a very precarious employment position. It looks inevitable that some of the 11 men who have only been in their role since earlier this year will fall before the end of the 2026-27 season – even if none of them are the first to move on.