Aadam Patel
Football Reporter

Alexander Isak says joining Liverpool last summer for a British record transfer fee of £125m was an "easy decision".

"[Liverpool] is a massive club, and everything about the club made it pretty clear," he told BBC Sport's The Football Interview.

Isak missed pre-season for Newcastle last summer amid uncertainty around his future. He struggled for goals in his first season at Anfield before a leg break ruled him out from December until April this year.

This campaign, the 26-year-old has already matched last term's tally of three Premier League goals after only four games.

"[The leg break] was tough. Anyone who had a long injury would know. But on the other hand, when you're in a good place and when you feel good, you don't really tend to look back because it doesn't really benefit you."

Image source, Getty Images

Crystal Palace's inconsistent start under Pierre Sage continued last weekend with a demoralising defeat by Ipswich, making it three defeats from four league games.

Although Axel Disasi's 34th minute red card didn't help matters, shipping multiple goals has continued an unwanted trend that started under Oliver Glasner.

The Eagles have conceded two or more times in 10 consecutive top-flight matches – second only to Fulham's Premier League record of 13 set in January to April 2019.

Defensively they have been all over the place, conceding the most goals (11), facing the most xG (8.15) and joint most shots on target (26), and allowing their opponents the most touches in their box (164).

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Up near the top of the table, just one defeat in 13 league matches - and just five in their past 29. These are great times for Leeds fans.

Having already earnd eight points from four matches, a win over Palace would see Daniel Farke's side equal their best start to a Premier League season after five games - set in 2001-02.

Central to their form has been striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who continued his red-hot streak with two goals and an assist on Monday.

It made him only the second player after Mark Viduka to score in five successive Premier League fixtures at Elland Road and he now has the chance to become the first Leeds player to score in six consecutive top-flight appearances at home since Arthur Hydes did so in 1932-33.

Warm-ups complete, the players at the Vitality Stadium, Elland Road and Etihad Stadium head back inside to their respective dressing rooms. Not long until the action gets under way now!

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Bournemouth's 2-2 draw with Brentford followed a frustratingly familiar pattern for head coach Marco Rose, who remains without a Premier League win.

The Cherries are the first team to have led in each of their opening four matches of a Premier League season without winning any of them.

Bournemouth have also drawn half of their top-flight games since the start of last season (21 of 42) and have dropped a league-high 31 points from winning positions during that period.

Their performances suggest a first victory won't be far away, but the Cherries have failed to win any of their opening five top-flight matches twice before, doing so under Eddie Howe in 2017-18 and during Iraola's first season in charge in 2023-24.

After Sunderland made a winning return to European football after 53 years away this week, boss Regis Le Bris has been speaking about managing the Black Cats' busy schedule:

"We earned it and it's challenging going from Arsenal to AZ Alkmaar and now Manchester City. This is exactly what we want to play so we need to embrace once again the challenge.

"We are getting better game after game and now it's time to show up once again to win."

On today's game, he added: "Manchester City have players everywhere. So if we start looking at their strength, we can't play.

"It's better to focus on us, how can we manage their threat and how we can create threat as well? I think we are getting better in this area."

Chris Sutton
BBC Sport columnist

Sunderland are a really good team and, on their day, they are more than a match for anyone.

The Black Cats are strong and robust, and when they get after teams and press you then they are phenomenal. All of that makes me think this is a really hard game for Manchester City.

Their derby victory was a brilliant win and Maresca's biggest result as their manager so far, with the way they did it.

This will be a very different task for Maresca's men, with the emphasis on them breaking down the Black Cats, but I don't feel it will just be one-way traffic.

I still think City will find a way though, and they need to for the sake of the title race. They already seem to be the only team capable of keeping pace with Arsenal.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Shamoon Hafez
Football reporter at Etihad Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Josko Gvardiol appears to be returning towards his best by helping Manchester City to an impressive start to the new campaign after his previous season was disrupted by a serious injury.

Following a 3-0 Community Shield defeat by Arsenal in August, City have recovered to win six straight games in all competitions and the Croatian has been part of a defence that has conceded just twice in their opening four Premier League games.

With new captain Ruben Dias and England international Marc Guehi beginning to form a solid partnership in central defence, Gvardiol has been deployed at left-back and making the position his own.

Sources close to Gvardiol have described him as being like a "soldier", accepting whichever position he is assigned to and performing to the best of his ability for the benefit of the team.

Read the full piece

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Manchester City are seeking to maintain their 100% league record under Enzo Maresca against Sunderland.

Maresca's tenure got off to a disappointing start with the Community Shield defeat by Arsenal, but his squad have rallied to ensure they are level on points with the Gunners at this early stage.

The Italian is aiming to become just the sixth manager to win his first five Premier League games in charge of a club.

The Blues are on an impressive run of league form, having lost just two of their past 30 matches, winning 20 and drawing eight.

Aadam Patel
Football Reporter at the Vitality Stadium

The Bournemouth fans gathered outside the stadium to welcome Andoni Iraola and catch a glimpse of the Liverpool players and it was very much a business-like response from Iraola, who got off the team bus and headed straight in.

Iraola said on Friday that his side need to be ruthless and that he would "leave all the talks for after the game." And that is very much the image that was portrayed by the 44-year-old on his return to the South Coast.

Image source, Getty Images

David James
Former Liverpool goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live

The last team to win here was Arsenal in January so to win here would be a massive statement.

There's still a question mark over how exposed Liverpool get and that will be a conversation I'm sure will go all the way through to the international break.

It would be a statement win for Liverpool but a massive problem for Bournemouth who've gone ahead in all of their games and failed to win.

Bournemouth have lost 14 of their 18 Premier League games against Liverpool (W3 D1).

All three of the Cherries' victories have come at home at home however.

They earned a famous 4-3 win in December 2016, won 1-0 in March 2023, and 3-2 in January earlier this year.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Liverpool have shared the points in three of their opening four league matches under Andoni Iraola, however few recent managers have started their Anfield reigns in truly convincing fashion.

Although predecessor Arne Slot had three more points at the same stage, Iraola is the first Liverpool boss this century to remain unbeaten after four Premier League matches.

He can also take some confidence from back-to-back top-flight clean sheets, given Liverpool had managed only one shutout in their previous 13 matches.

Chris Sutton
BBC Sport columnist

I think I am in love with Leeds boss Daniel Farke. What a guy.

To see Leeds beat Newcastle on Monday, and how emphatically they did it, was massive and more proof of their progress.

In contrast, Crystal Palace are almost on the precipice after their shaky start under new manager Pierre Sage, and I just don't see the Eagles getting anything here.

Leeds are so well organised at the back with new goalkeeper James Trafford, who is an upgrade on last season, and and a new centre-half I like too in Tarik Muharemovic.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is flying up front as well. He is fit, motivated and a real handful, which is another reason I can't see past a Leeds victory.

Sutton's prediction: 2-0

Here's a stat for you.

Since last December, Leeds have accumulated the fifth-most points in the Premier League.

That could improve to fourth after today too. What a job Daniel Farke is doing.

• Arsenal - 67
• Man City - 65
• Man Utd - 54
• Liverpool - 45
• Leeds - 44

Image source, Getty Images

Bournemouth

Some news to bring you from Bournemouth.

Cherries boss Marco Rose has just told Sky Sports that Justin Kluivert suffered an injury against Real Sociedad on Thursday and says "we're going to miss him for some weeks".