Manchester United and City in a two-way fight for the title, while Alvaro Morata can become a genuine Chelsea legend… seven things we learnt from another exciting Premier League weekend
Crystal Palace need more than Roy Hodgson, they need a miracle, while Liverpool are indebted to Philippe Coutinho
IT was yet another exciting weekend in the Premier League, with no fewer than nine matches played out across the country.
Yet again, we were treated to a parade of goals, with big wins for Manchester City against Crystal Palace and Chelsea away to Stoke.
Meanwhile, a goal-filled encounter at the King Power Stadium saw Liverpool finally get back on the horse.
Watford and Manchester United snuck over the line for a solid three points on the road.
But Tottenham made it tough on themselves as they survived a late onslaught from West Ham.
Everton finally bagged a win at home to Bournemouth after a tricky start to 2017-18.
Elsewhere, Burnley and Huddersfield played out a bore draw, while Brighton got one over on fellow promotees Newcastle on the south coast.
But what can we take away from the past two days? Check out the seven things we learnt from the Premier League weekend, below...
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
1. MAN(CHESTER) ALIVE
CREDIT to the two Manchester clubs... they've really hit the ground running in 2017-18.
Going into the weekend's fixtures, the two giants were only separated on alphabetical order.
But now, Pep Guardiola's City lead the way after yet another five-star performance against Crystal Palace, who will be left licking their wounds after another utter humiliation.
But with all the focus on Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero, it would appear the rest of City's fearsome attacking ranks have been almost forgotten.
In turn, Raheem Sterling has rediscovered his spectacular best with five goals in five Prem games this term, while Leroy Sane has bagged three goals in six matches in 2017-18.
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho put in a performance Sir Alex Ferguson would have been proud of, with a gritty 1-0 win away to Southampton.
City are a steamrolling machine of late, already plundering 21 goals in just six games.
United on the other hand have demonstrated they can batter teams or just scrape by.
After all, at Old Trafford they look like a rampant force of nature, leaving defences strewn all over the pitch.
Meanwhile, away from home, Mourinho looks more than happy to score and then "park the bus" - as he ended the game at St Mary's with a six defenders on the pitch having taken an early lead.
Regardless, it's hard to look past either team for the Premier League title for now, already opening up a three point gap to third place.
But will it be Man City or Man United who claim the title come May?
2. DIEGO WHO?
DIEGO COSTA officially left Chelsea this week after agreeing to rejoin Atletico Madrid when their transfer ban is lifted in January.
There was a lot of pressure on £65million man Alvaro Morata to fill his boots, and boy did he in Saturday's 4-0 drubbing of Stoke - a notoriously tricky place to score goals.
After three headed goals this term, the Spaniard netted a sublime hat-trick with a trio of beautiful finishes to prove there is life after Diego... and then some.
While the Blues arguably lack depth in the striking ranks, it won't matter one jot if Morata keeps up his incredible start to the season.
In fact, the former Real Madrid man's six goals in his first six Premier League games is the second-best start by a Chelsea forward in the Premier League era.
Behind who, you ask? A certain Mr Costa...
3. DRAMA FROM TOTT TO BOTTOM
NO-ONE ever said it would be easy, but Tottenham sure are making things look difficult at times.
After a well-documented string of domestic failures at their new home, Wembley, Spurs have been getting things done on the road.
After taking a commanding 3-0 lead over West Ham at the London Stadium, that run looked to be all set to motor on.
However, a goal from Javier Hernandez set the nerves jangling, before Serge Aurier's needless sending-off really put them bums on the edges of seats around the ground.
The Hammers have clearly under-performed this season, but their late onslaught - whipping in dangerous balls from out wide - must have had Mauricio Pochettino crying for the full-time whistle.
They clung on, just... but it wasn't pretty.
4. MISSED YOU, PHIL
IN a repeat of the Carabao Cup clash of midweek, Liverpool would have been itching to get one back on Leicester at the King Power Stadium.
Having lost 2-0, Jurgen Klopp named a strong line-up for the clash, as the Reds looked to get back on track after a serious of horrendous results.
Drawing and even losing games they had dominated, including a 1-1 draw with Burnley having taken 35 shots... something had to change.
Re-enter Philippe Coutinho for his first Premier League start of the season.
His Goal of the Season-contender in the 23rd minute saw Liverpool go 2-0 up... but yet again it wasn't easy for Klopp and Co.
Shinji Okazaki netted on the stroke of half-time for 2-1, before skipper Jordan Henderson put Liverpool two goals to the good again.
Jamie Vardy netted a minute later, before earning himself a penalty, only to see Simon Mignolet spare the Reds' blushes.
In a game full of incident, it's hard to look past the impact of Liverpool's "Little Magician" Coutinho, who proved once more, he is indeed priceless to the Anfield crew.
5. PHEW, KOE
IF you spend well over £100m in the summer transfer window, then you're going to be under pressure as a manager.
But after just one win in their opening five Premier League games, Everton boss Ronald Koeman was one of the bookies' favourites for the sack.
1-0 down at home to Bournemouth with just 15 minutes on the clock and suddenly, the Dutchman was as good as gone.
However, a late five-minute double salvo from forgotten hero Oumar Niasse saw the Toffees scrape over the line at Goodison Park.
Koeman is by no means safe based on that one result, after all, Everton are still 14th in the league, despite their incredible spending.
But that result eased the pressure no end and may even prove to be a season-defining moment.
6. EAGLES CRASH LANDED
ROY HODGSON must have known he was taken on arguably the sternest test of his managerial career when he replaced Frank De Boer at Crystal Palace.
Having been sacked after four games in charge at Selhurst Park, the Dutch boss has seen his side pick up no points and no goals.
Ex-England chief Hodgson saw his side slip to a 1-0 loss at home to Southampton last week and knew he was up against mission impossible this weekend.
The Eagles descended on Manchester for an unenviable showdown with City.
No-one expected Palace to pick up anything, but a solid performance or even a single goal would have put fans' minds at ease.
Instead, Roy's boys were thumped 5-0 with games against Manchester United and Chelsea up next... for now, consider the Eagles as good as relegated.
After all, we could have seen this disastrous season coming considering their form towards the end of last season.
In their last 11 Premier League games, Palace have scored 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0... and while that's not bad in a cricket Test match, in football, it's utterly horrendous.
7. IN TOON, OUT OF TOON
LOSS, loss, win, win, win, loss... Newcastle just can't figure out what their season is going to be.
After two difficult defeats to start the season, Rafa Benitez's Toon strung together three impressive victories - including a 3-0 hammering of West Ham.
However, going up against Brighton on Sunday, Newcastle slipped to a disappointing 1-0 defeat.
Perhaps the long journey south got to them... or perhaps this is just the beginning of things.
For now it certainly appears the Toon are set to be the Premier League's most inconsistent team.
On their day, they're a well-drilled outfit, but when off the pace, they are startlingly poor.
Perhaps Rafa was right Mr Ashley, maybe he did need additional funds this summer, for consistency's sake if nothing else.
One thing is for sure though, keep Newcastle off your accumulators for now if you know what's good for you.