Premier League MD7: Leicester City Celebrates First Win While Newcastle Faces Disappointment

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Matchday seven in the Premier League was filled with excitement and drama. Manchester City and Arsenal both had to rally from behind to secure home victories against Fulham and Southampton, respectively. Brentford's thrilling 5-3 win over Wolves featured six first-half goals in west London. Liverpool maintained their lead at the top with a narrow 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace, while Manchester United managed a draw against Aston Villa, marking their lowest points tally after seven games in any Premier League season.

Leicester City finally secured their first win of the season, while Anthony Gordon had a disappointing return to Goodison Park with Newcastle United. In the weekend's final match, Brighton shocked Tottenham by staging a second-half comeback to win 3-2 at the Amex Stadium. The question remains: which teams were fortunate or unfortunate based on underlying metrics?

Leicester City clinched their first top-flight win of the season by narrowly defeating Bournemouth 1-0. Facundo Buonanotte's impressive run and finish sealed the victory for Steve Cooper's side at King Power Stadium. However, it was more of a smash-and-grab as Leicester managed only six shots, with two on target, and an expected goals (xG) tally of just 0.79.

Bournemouth, on the other hand, had 19 attempts and created five big chances, accumulating an xG of 2.16. Despite these opportunities, Bournemouth's wasteful finishing cost them dearly as they only managed two shots on target.

Anthony Gordon aimed to impress against his former club but missed his chance as Newcastle drew 0-0 with Everton. James Tarkowski conceded a penalty by pulling Sandro Tonali's shirt, but Jordan Pickford saved Gordon's spot-kick attempt. Everton sought a penalty in the second half but were largely outplayed.

Newcastle ended with an xG of 1.26 from 14 shots, while Everton accumulated an xG of 0.67 from eight attempts.

Manchester City's Lucky Escape

Fulham gave Manchester City a tough challenge at Etihad Stadium, finishing with an xG of 2.6—the fourth-highest in the league this weekend—and creating five big chances. Pep Guardiola expressed no concern about City's unusually open defence but will expect improvements after the international break.

City capitalised on three excellent finishes—two from Mateo Kovacic and one from Jeremy Doku—despite generating only one big chance from their 20 shots and achieving an xG of 1.57.

The weekend's matches highlighted both fortunate wins and unlucky outcomes for several teams based on performance metrics rather than just results alone.