Gameweek 3 of the 2025/26 Premier League season delivered another weekend full of drama, goals and unexpected Fantasy Premier League talking points. Liverpool's narrow 1-0 win over Arsenal grabbed the headlines, but Chelsea, Everton, Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace also produced eye-catching results that will shake up both the table and FPL transfer trends.
Chelsea 2-0 Fulham
Joshua King is a $4.5m option, Joao Pedro's set-piece prowess
King has been a well-known name in the England youth setup and has secured a starting role in Marco Silva's Fulham side at 18. The attacking midfielder has started all three of Fulham's games, taking a shot on target in each.
This didn't include the disallowed goal against Chelsea, which showed his speed and calm head. The goal was disallowed due to a supposed foul in the buildup by Rodrigo Muniz. VAR intervened and the PGMOL followed up, suggesting that VAR were wrong to get involved. As a $4.5m player with an attacking threat and consistent minutes, he's a perfect fifth midfielder.
Chelsea have picked up another with Liam Delap (muscular) but have brought in Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United. Joao Pedro picked up nine points, scoring for the second game in a row, both coming from corners.
Wolves 2-3 Everton
Jack Grealish at his brilliant best
Grealish has hit the ground running with two assists in each of his first starts for Everton. In this game, he helped open the scoring by heading across the face to Beto unselfishly to give the striker an open net. He also had a key role in the second goal as he played Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall through behind the defensive line to play the ball across to Iliman Ndiaye.
For the third goal, Grealish played a very similar ball through to Dewsbury-Hall, and this time he decided to smash the ball in off the bar. In four Premier League seasons at Manchester City, he only provided four or more assists once. He has hit that total in 197 minutes at Everton.
The added attacking threat of Everton's new signings has opened up Everton slightly defensively but this may also be due to the Jarrad Branthwaite injury.
Spurs 0-1 Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola has the ability to weather the changes
Many doubted the problems that Bournemouth would face at the beginning of the season. They lost four of their starting defensive options from last season, but Iraola has constructed a new defense that completely smothered Tottenham in Gameweek 3.
His attack is still very dangerous, with Antoine Semenyo creating two chances and taking three shots, while it was Evanilson who struck the only goal of the game. David Brooks, Marcus Tavernier, Alex Scott, Justin Kluivert and the newly signed Amine Adli will be crucial rotating pieces alongside these two.
Sunderland 2-1 Brentford
Second-half Sunderland shouldn't be underrated
Brentford looked dominant in this game in the first 80 minutes, with a missed penalty and a disallowed goal for a narrow offside. However, it was only a one-goal lead, and they fell into the same trap as West Ham on the opening day.
Sunderland are dangerous aerially, winning their penalty for the opening goal from a corner routine. Wilson Isidor scored a tremendous header in the 96th minute, the attacker's second stoppage-time goal of the season.
Brentford are missing the finishing quality of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, who scored 39 combined last season.
Manchester United 3-2 Burnley
Are Manchester United untrustworthy in FPL?
Manchester United just got their first win in the Premier League after a last-ditch Bruno Fernandes penalty saved them. However, besides the defeat against Arsenal, their overall performances have been poor. They've conceded sloppy goals in all three games. They were lucky that they didn't fall 3-2 behind themselves as a Lyle Foster goal was disallowed by the finest of offside margins, and then Burnley scored again moments later.
Bruno Fernandes has always been the go-to option for Manchester United FPL options, but he's been playing much deeper in the midfield, and the options in front of him don't look confident in scoring goals. He created six chances in this game and five in the opener against Arsenal.
Jaidon Anthony looks great at $5.5m, but as a midfielder, I don't think he will ever make it in my best five when playing for Burnley.
Leeds 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle need their strikers to start scoring quickly
Newcastle have scored only two goals in their three matches and picked up two points through two scoreless draws. Their two goals were helped by the fiery atmosphere at St James' Park against Liverpool due to the bad blood over the Alexander Isak transfer situation. With transfer deadline day coming, it will be important for Newcastle to get their attacking options off and running.
The big question will be over the already confirmed Nick Woltemade and any other new signings. The German giant will be looking to transfer his form from the Bundesliga last season where he scored 12 goals.
Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham
Graham Potter's changes pay off
Potter's side struggled in the opening two games of the season, conceding eight goals and only scoring once. These negative results came after playing five at the back, including their Cup defeat to Wolves. For this game, Potter changed to a more traditional 4-2-3-1, which gave them more defensive stability. They limited Nottingham Forest for the first 80 minutes and only allowed Chris Wood 15 touches in his 73 minutes.
A further change to bring on Crysencio Summerville in the 82nd minute made all the difference. His dribbling led to both of the first two goals as he broke through the Forest defense to open up a shooting angle for Jarrod Bowen, and won the penalty for the second. A Callum Wilson header sealed the game 3-0.
This lesson goes to show that last season's form doesn't mean form this season. Forest provided crucial FPL defensive assets last season but have failed to keep a clean sheet through the first three matches.
Brighton 2-1 Manchester City
Brighton have the depth to challenge any side on their day
Brighton and Fabian Hurzeler delivered a massive blow to Manchester City, who have now lost two of their opening three games. City continued to miss big chances, producing three in this game and only scoring from one. Rodri made his first start, which should help City develop defensively, but they still looked dramatically open when hit on the counterattack.
Having lost Joao Pedro to Chelsea in the summer, Brighton no longer have a standout attacker, but have an incredibly well-balanced and deep squad. The game shifted when Hurzeler made a quadruple sub on 60 minutes. James Milner slotted the penalty to score his first Premier League goal since 2019/20. Brajan Gruda showed the quality of replacements available with his brilliant dribbling, seeing him go past James Trafford with ease.
Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal's away style is very different to home style
Liverpool won the game with an absolutely incredible Dominik Szoboszlai free kick, who has been playing at right-back since Jeremie Frimpong's injury.
From the Arsenal perspective, it was a hard watch. Liverpool's press compressed them to passes around the back in the first half, and Noni Madueke was the only attacking option of note. The tactics appeared to revolve around getting into positions that would win corners. This was similar to the opening game of the season at Old Trafford where they pressured in the hopes of a counterattack and taking advantage of their set-piece prowess.
These away performances have left Viktor Gyokeres struggling. He only touched the ball 17 times against Liverpool without a shot and 22 times against Manchester United without a shot.
Mohamed Salah again didn't look like he has in the past. He seems a little disconnected on the right-hand side, and the attacking flow between Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Salah hasn't found its rhythm yet.
Aston Villa 0-3 Crystal Palace
Villa could be in trouble
Aston Villa look a shell of their former selves. The late withdrawal of Emiliano Martinez ahead of his move to Manchester United seemed to throw Unai Emery off in his pre-match interview. The team also haven't looked at their best at all this season.
Ollie Watkins was a popular FPL pick before Gameweek 1 and has only managed two shots on target in total. Morgan Rogers has also struggled with only one shot on target in three games and two chances created in total.
Crystal Palace, on the other hand, have dealt well with the change that has been forced upon them, including having to play in Norway this week. Oliver Glasner has maintained Palace's undefeated run in the league by getting their first win.
Without Eberechi Eze, they dominated Villa. Daichi Kamada, who played on the left wing in this game, won the opening penalty while Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta showed their attacking quality. Yeremy Pino made his debut off the bench and showed a particular moment of spark. There will be more to come from him.
