The Score: Arsenal’s enigma, Fulham’s bad omen and hope for Hull City

This is The Score with Daniel Storey, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here. Hello and welcome back to The Score, my weekly column on the biggest talking points of the Premier League weekend. For the new season, we’ve given it a little revamp – with a new structure and some shiny bells and whistles at the end. Please let me know your (positive) thoughts on social media: @danielstorey85 The first truly heavyweight match of this Premier League season and we should be enthused by its quality. The Emirates on Sunday was a raucous cauldron, patently furious at every decision that went against them and then full of righteous cheer by the end. As they filed pass the press box, one gentleman might have had one too many: “We’re champions – put that in your f***ing report”. Kai Havertz was the difference maker. Scoring the Champions League final winner for Chelsea may still rank as his career zenith, a feeling not shifted by spending only 581 minutes of a title season on the pitch. But if this is his atonement season, then Havertz has started it as a ready-made champion. The defining moment was indicative of Havertz’s rediscovered belief. In the first half, he played a dummy to Martin Odegaard that didn’t come off and the Emirates basically groaned as one. Five minutes into the second half, he did exactly the same thing – perfectly. I simply don’t believe he would done the same last season. There probably isn’t ever going to be the natural instinct of an elite centre forward; he’s 27 now. But who cares? In games such as these, Havertz’s is a perplexing form of dominance, but it still equates to dominance all the same. He doesn’t dominate physically. He doesn’t really beat a man with the ball. He is slightly positionless, the natural raumdeuter replacement for Thomas Muller. But wherever you need him to be, there he generally is. That, I think, explains his complicated reputation: for better (usually) and worse (sometimes), Havertz is always there. He is a magnet for the ball in this Arsenal attack, the opposite force to Viktor Gyokeres with the Swede’s runs down the channels and heavy touches. It’s already clear which of the two line-leading options Mikel Arteta prefers. The Emirates too: an all-sides standing ovation for Havertz and the sarcastic ditty about £60m down the drain. Arbeloa has to organise Fulham’s defence Arbeloa could quickly find himself in hot water if Fulham’s fortunes don’t change soon (Photo: AP) We have seen plenty of attacking invention under Alvaro Arbeloa – unsurprising given most of the new signings are attacking midfielders or forwards. They are also the easiest Premier League team to create chances against. That was suggested in the first minute of their league season and has got worse. Last season, Fulham conceded three league goals at home before December. So far this season they have conceded six times in 180 minutes, both matches also against new managers to the Premier League. Marco Silva has gone and that seismic change will devastate Fulham if Arbeloa isn’t able to improve the defensive shape. Want a bad omen? Only twice before in Fulham’s history have they lost their first three matches of a top-flight season and both times they were relegated. If Arbeloa doesn’t shift the mood soon, he won’t make Christmas. Who is going to create Aston Villa’s chances? That a 32-year-old Ross Barkley has been Villa’s most creative player thus far highlights a potential problem (Photo: Getty) Nobody sensible thinks that Aston Villa will fail to surge up the table soon enough; they have new signings still unavailable or getting up to speed. Supporters trust the process here more than almost anywhere else. But despite all the replacements, I’m still a little worried about Villa’s chance creation. Two of their top three chance creators last season (Morgan Rogers and Youri Tielemans) have left. The three creative players signed are Johan Manzambi, Ibrahim Mbaye and Alejandro Garnacho – two very young, raw players and a winger who has been unfit for purpose in this division for two years. There’s early evidence for this take: Villa have so far had one shot on target in 270 league minutes, at least five fewer than any other club. Ross Barkley is the only player to have created more than two chances so far; he only played 855 minutes last season. Is this sustainable? Carrick is already chasing his tail With European football beginning, life is about to come at Michael Carrick fast (Photo: Getty) Our biggest concern for Michael Carrick as a full-time Manchester United manager was his ability to combine continued Premier League progress with European commitments that may well mean the club plays 15 extra matches this season. Well, cracks are appearing even before the Champions League has begun. United have conceded twice in each of their league fixtures, two against promoted sides and one at a supposed crisis club. Ipswich, Crystal Palace and Newcastle are the only teams to face more shots on target than Carrick’s men in their first three games. It’s a worrying pattern already, given those other three faced five ‘Big Six’ opponents between them and United are yet to face one. This matters because United are now behind the eight ball and their European campaign starts this week. They already look a little too passive, and their fixtures on the weekends immediately following their first four Champions League games – Manchester City (h), Leeds United (a), Bournemouth (h), Aston Villa (h) – suggest life is unlikely to get any easier. Gameweek 3 highlights Goal of the weekend – Harvey Barnes (Newcastle) Hear me out: Harvey Barnes is the closest thing that the Premier League has to Arjen Robben. When he gets the ball on the left wing and faces up a full-back, the opponent is deeply thick if he doesn’t realise that Barnes will cut onto his right foot, dribble inside and curl a shot. Knowing isn’t only a fraction of the battle. Villain of the weekend – Mike Dean (retired) Yes, I know it happened last week but I’m not missing any opportunity to call Mike Dean a prat. He went onto a podcast, tried to impress some bigger boys, presumed that nobody would listen and call him out on his guff. He then released a statement that seemed to suggest that it was someone else who said all the guff, such was its tone. It’s thick and it’s selfish, given how much harder it makes for those who haven’t retired. Mistake of the weekend – Gonzalo Garcia (Fulham) I didn’t think that a failure by a striker to clear the ball off the line could be considered a mistake, and then I watched the highlights. It’s like watching someone trying to run up a slippery slide, but sillier because he’s on flat grass and manages to get nutmegged by a ball going three miles per hour. Statistic(s) of the weekend "Seven points, if somebody offered me before season started I would sign immediately!" Sergej Jakirović on Hull's start to the season 😁 pic.twitter.com/aD3sBUsibY— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 5, 2026 No promoted side has ever been relegated after taking seven or more points from their first three matches of a Premier League season. Only three teams of any kind have done so. None of those kept clean sheets in their first three games. Hull – yet to concede a goal during wins over United and Coventry plus this weekend’s stalemate with Villa – have a platform.