After the Premier League’s best youth products were given some rare first-team minutes in the midweek slate of Carabao Cup third-round ties, the established stars of the top flight return to action on Saturday.

For the first time this season, as many as eight Premier League games have been crammed into one mouth-watering day of football. While defending champions Manchester City aim to preserve their 100% record, every team involved in European competition is in action and an early six-pointer at the other end of the table awaits.

Here’s everything you need to know about a jam-packed Saturday.

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Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off has the makings of a blockbuster. Aston Villa have perhaps been a bit too entertaining for Unai Emery’s liking as one of only two clubs to score and concede at least ten goals already this season.

Brighton are the division’s most prolific outfit – averaging three goals per game – but are yet to keep a clean sheet. If the Seagulls can outgun Villa this weekend, they would become the first non-Big Six team to win six of their opening seven Premier League games since Newcastle United in 1996.

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Arsenal may still be stewing over their 2-2 derby draw with Tottenham Hotspur last weekend but at least the memory of a Premier League win is fresh. Bournemouth fans have to cast their minds all the way back to April for the club’s most recent top-flight victory.

That hazy 4-1 win over Leeds United was ten Premier League matches ago (D3 L7) – no other club in the division is currently enduring a longer wait for three points. Andoni Iraola will have to outwit his fellow native of Gipuzkoa, Mikel Arteta, for a maiden triumph in England’s top tier.

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The most recent point Luton Town have earned in England’s top flight came at Everton’s Goodison Park – although, that was in March 1992. The Hatters are still searching for a victory in any venue and remain the only team in the entire division that is yet to even take the lead this season.

Everton, by comparison, bounce into the contest on the back of successive victories across the league and cup.

This may not be a match for the aesthetes; no club has attempted more long balls than Everton while Luton boast the highest proportion of passes in excess of 30 yards. Limber up those necks before parking them in a firmly skyward position.

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Roy Hodgson doesn’t come across as the grudge-bearing type but Erik ten Hag is concerned nonetheless. „I know the opponent is looking for revenge,“ Manchester United’s beleaguered manager fretted pre-game.

Crystal Palace may have been comfortably turned over by United in the EFL Cup four days earlier, but Hodgson boasts a four-game unbeaten record in the Premier League at Old Trafford. No visiting manager in the history of the competition has ever strung together five consecutive league visits to the Theatre of Dreams without defeat.

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Only one Premier League team has ever followed up an eight-goal display with a defeat in their very next league game – and it was Newcastle United in 1999. However, Burnley have offered little evidence to cause concern for the Magpies.

By finding the net eight times against Sheffield United last weekend, Newcastle scored twice as many goals as Burnley have managed across five Premier League games. The Clarets can’t even blame poor finishing; only Sheffield United have averaged less expected goals than Burnley this season.

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After an impressive start to the new season, racking up ten points from their first four matches, West Ham United come into the weekend on the back of consecutive Premier League defeats.

Yet, as David Moyes would not doubt point out, these reverses were dished out by Manchester City and Liverpool. Sheffield United, the team propping up the rest of the division with 17 goals conceded after six games, are more accommodating foes.

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This week, Wolverhampton Wanderers Gary O’Neil warned: „The Premier League is ruthless.“ No team offers less margin for error than the reigning champions Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola’s side are yet to drop a point in their pursuit of an unprecedented sixth league title in seven years but were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle in midweek. The last time City lost a game, they responded by scoring the fastest goal in FA Cup final history while defeating United at Wembley.

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Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has not suffered a home league defeat since November 2020, when he was at the helm of Yokohama F Marinos in the Japanese top flight.

Back then, there was no need for Postecoglou to play down his history of supporting Liverpool, a club with players who used to decorate his bedroom while growing up in Australia. „I used to love Happy Days too,“ Postecoglou argued this week in typically amiable fashion, „I don’t have posters of The Fonz any more either.“ But can Postecoglou preserve his perfectamundo home record on Saturday?

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