Premier League Matchweek 3: Villa Manage a Shot on Target!

Matchweek three brought Premier League football back to its own proper chaotic self.

Here's what may have slipped under the radar.

Villa's First Shot on Target Took 200 Minutes

Aston Villa arrived at Hull City still searching for their first shot on target of the season, a genuinely remarkable sentence for me to be writing about a club that finished fourth last season. Two matches into the campaign, a home defeat to Arsenal followed by a 4-0 loss at Brighton, Unai Emery's side had failed to register a single effort worth the goalkeeper's attention. That changed in the 13th minute at the MKM Stadium, when 19-year-old academy graduate George Hemmings forced Hull keeper Konstantinos Tzolakis into a save, finally ending a run that had stretched past 200 minutes of football.

It summed up the afternoon that Villa's best moment came from a teenager who was not supposed to be the headline act. Hull, unbeaten since their promotion back to the top flight, held on for a goalless draw that suited them fine and left Villa still searching for their first win and first goal of the season. The shot on target, at least, is off the list.

Probably more to be said about Hull than Villa really, but noteworthy nonetheless.

Everton's Flags Stayed at Home

If Hill Dickinson Stadium looked unusually bare for Everton's game against Manchester United, that was entirely deliberate. The 1878s, the fan group behind the flags, banners and tifos that David Moyes has previously called unbelievable, announced days earlier that they were standing down their displays in protest at how the summer transfer window had ended. Collapsed moves for Folarin Balogun and Manchester United's own Joshua Zirkzee, plus Nathan Patterson, Beto and Iliman Ndiaye all heading out the door, left Everton, by the group's own reckoning, drastically short at both full back and up front.

The result was a stadium that looked full but sounded strangely empty. Former Everton winger Pat Nevin said afterwards he could not believe how little noise there was around the ground during the 2-2 draw, and it is hard to blame the fans. The 1878s were clear this was not about the new signings themselves, who they welcomed, but about a boardroom they feel has lost touch with a support that has had plenty to be angry about over the years. A flag boycott will not fix a transfer window. It does make the point rather well.

646 Days Out For Doping

Some football comebacks arrive with fireworks. Mykhailo Mudryk's arrived in the 74th minute of a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest, and it very nearly slipped past unnoticed given how little else happened in the game. The Ukrainian winger had not played competitively since November 2024, after the FA provisionally suspended him for doping, a case that was not overturned until this summer. He joined Tottenham on a deadline day loan from Chelsea, reunited with former Shakhtar Donetsk manager Roberto De Zerbi, and made his first appearance in 646 days as a substitute for Mathys Tel at The City Ground.

There was no fairytale winner, just a lively cameo that included winning a dangerous free kick. De Zerbi was quick to stress afterwards that Mudryk is not the finished article yet and needs time to rebuild both fitness and sharpness, which is a fair assessment rather than a damp squib for a player who had barely kicked a ball in nearly two years. Getting back onto a Premier League pitch at all, after everything that came before it, is the actual story here.

Just as De Zerbi claimed he could win the Balon D'or by the way.

Centre Backs Doing No-Look Passes…

Ipswich Town were already 2-0 down inside 9 minutes at Portman Road, Alexander Isak scoring twice for Liverpool in a rapid opening burst that gave new head coach Andoni Iraola his first win in charge. What followed for the rest of the game was Ipswich being slowly picked apart, and no moment summed up quite how comprehensively as the sight of their own captain, Dara O'Shea, playing a no-look pass straight to Liverpool's Cody Gakpo.

Not a misjudged through ball intercepted at the last second. Not a deflection. A genuine, unforced pass to the opposition, from the man wearing the armband.

Tough to watch, that.

Same Spot, Same Keeper, Different Ending

Some things take eight months to put right.

Back in January, Enzo Le Fée stepped up for a penalty against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, went for a Panenka, and watched goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher catch it without needing to move. Sunderland were well beaten that day. Fast forward to this weekend's return fixture, same ground, same goalkeeper, same opponent, and Sunderland found themselves 1-0 down again after Vitaly Janelt's second-half strike.

Then, with 11 minutes left, Wilson Isidor was fouled in the box and Le Fée stepped up once more. No Panenka this time. He leathered it low into the corner, Kelleher had no chance, and Sunderland left the Gtech with a deserved point from a game they had largely dominated. It is a small thing in the grand scheme of a Premier League season, but football does not often hand out a rewrite this neat.

That is matchweek three wrapped up. If we have missed something from your club, let us know and we will chase it down for next time.