Liverpool hit three at Palace, with three £100m+ players - Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and, with an assist, Bradley Barcola - involved in the goals. But it was their goalkeeper Alisson who was Liverpool's best performer.

Crystal Palace will be so frustrated because on another day, the narrative could have swung their way. But the brilliant Brazilian delivered in key moments in the game.

His save from Daichi Kamada's volley was an exceptional reaction stop. Two minutes later Liverpool took the lead.

Alisson was then at full stretch to push away Adam Wharton's header to ensure Liverpool went into the break with the advantage. And on 77 minutes, with the score 2-0, he prevented Yeremy Pino from setting up a grandstand finish by shutting down the angle to save the one-on-one.

Alisson may have had fortune with Pino hitting the bar when he was beaten early in the contest and he lost out on a clean sheet due to a controversial late Eddie Nketiah penalty, but in between he reminded everyone why he has been the Premier League's standout goalkeeper since his arrival in 2018.
Peter Smith

Just when you think Chelsea are about to change and show some form, they go right back to square one.

They went into the last international break on the back of a damning 3-0 defeat to Brentford, where without star man Joao Pedro, they were bullied, outfought and deservedly beaten by the Bees.

Sunderland, who started the day bottom of the table, are now another team in red and white who have overpowered them to three points - right in time for the next international break.

In the first half, Chelsea lost 63 per cent of the duels as Brian Brobbey wreaked havoc on the Blues backline. This time it was Levi Colwill who was showing defensive frailties as he was hooked off at half-time, with Wesley Fofana the culprit of some unpunished blunders against Manchester United last week.

Ultimately, this match showed that Chelsea don't have enough defensive solidity and the injured Pedro is their most important player. But we've known that for weeks. More concerningly, Xabi Alonso insists his Chelsea team were "not bullied" despite the eye test and the data backing it up.

The first part of solving these problems is recognising they exist. Until that changes, Chelsea will always end up going the same places.

They are now outside the top four, and with Everton and Bournemouth picking up form behind them, they are drifting towards the middle of the table again.
Sam Blitz

While Sunderland's defensive solidity to beat Chelsea owed everything to a team effort, there was no-one taking the credit for their best attacking performance of the season away from Brian Brobbey.

Even ignoring the big Dutchman's role in winning the penalty for Sunderland's winner, it was testament to his unrivalled threat that Xabi Alonso sacrificed Moises Caicedo from his midfield to shackle the forward at half-time.

Brobbey is unparalleled in what he does across the Premier League. He has held the ball up 28 times this season, comfortably more than anyone else despite missing two of the 10 matchdays with injury.

He is the only player to have completed 10 or more hold-ups where more than half have retained possession - and he keeps it almost 70 per cent of the time.

Sunderland fans were delighted to see the 24-year-old sign a new deal on Wearside earlier this week despite only scoring in one game this season. But his game is about so much more.

Roy Keane described his bustling run to win Sunday's penalty as "brilliant centre-forward play". Chris Sutton said he "bullied" Fofana. That feels a fitting description.

Sunderland's first concern for their survival hopes must be to keep up their rediscovered defensive compactness to stop leaking goals at an unsustainable rate.

But at the other end, so long as Brobbey is fit and firing they will be a nuisance for anyone.
Ron Walker

Crystal Palace delivered arguably their best performance of the season against Liverpool but still lost 3-1. Pierre Sage has not lost the players but may well lose his job.

Bottom of the table after 10 games and, alarmingly, Palace have conceded more goals at this stage of a league season than they have for 25 years.

Sage's porous defence have shipped 24 goals in the Premier League. That is what will cost him his job if, indeed, he is to be sacked.

Palace came close to scoring on three occasions in the first half against Liverpool only to be undone by the simplest of free-kick routines. That is the sixth non-penalty set piece Palace have conceded this season.

It is a pattern that they cannot afford to keep repeating.
Zinny Boswell

Across their first five Premier League seasons combined - 190 games - Brentford players were shown a total of eight red cards. With 10 games gone in 2026/27, they have already been shown three - and they have all come in their last three games.

Vitaly Janelt's late dismissal at home to Liverpool on October 17 was the result of a second booking. There's nothing really to discuss in that case.

But earlier in that game, Yehor Yarmoliuk was shown a straight red, after a VAR review, for headbutting Jeremy Jacquet. "I do think they were cute, clever - but Yarmo needs to do better," said Bees boss Keith Andrews afterwards.

Brentford were leading at that point and looking good value for their advantage, but the red changed the game and they conspired to lose 2-1.

Against Brighton, they were 1-0 down when Igor Thiago was shown a straight red after catching Chema in the face with his arm, splitting his opponent's lip in the process. Again, referee Michael Oliver was sent to the monitor, where he upgraded his original decision - and again, there was no way back for Brentford.

For a team that has a tendency to drop points from winning positions, this recent lack of discipline is another thing hindering their positive start.
Dan Long

European football is supposed to come with a health warning. More games, more travel, more tired legs and, supposedly, a dip in domestic performance. Somebody should tell Bournemouth.

They have played nine times in the last month and have won eight of their last eight. That is an extraordinary return given the relentless schedule.

There is clearly something working brilliantly behind the scenes at the club. Whether it is the conditioning, recovery methods, squad management or simply the infectious culture the players have, Bournemouth look anything but a team running on empty.

Ipswich were the latest to discover that. The 2-1 scoreline was flattering to Gary O'Neil's side, who were second best for large spells and struggled to live with Bournemouth's intensity. The gulf in energy levels was striking.

Bournemouth are not just surviving the extra workload, they are thriving on it.
Lewis Jones

Ipswich have a Enciso problem. More specifically, they have a problem when Enciso is thwarted.

The Paraguayan has become the creative heartbeat of the newly-promoted team but Bournemouth exposed the danger of building so much of an attacking gameplan around one player. Shut off the supply line to Enciso and suddenly Ipswich look rather ordinary. There was precious little invention elsewhere.

Despite trailing for almost the entire contest, Ipswich mustered just 0.30 expected goals from open play. Even more damning, they failed to register a single touch inside the Bournemouth penalty area in the second half until Clarke converted his penalty in the 73rd minute.

That is quite some attacking impotence when you are chasing a game.

Ipswich cannot afford to be so predictable.

Premier League opponents will have watched that performance closely. The blueprint is out there. Ipswich need a plan B.
Lewis Jones