The Big 6 Review: Haaland scores in a Manchester Derby, water is wet

September 14, 2026 Olaoluwa Nwobodo 0 Comments

The Manchester derby was not as goal-laden as previous ones, and whether that’s good or bad depends on who you ask. Arsenal has continued keeping clean sheets and winning games. Chelsea’s defense is still appalling, maybe even more so. As for Tottenham, whether they finally score before or after Roberto De Zerbi is sacked, remains to be seen. Liverpool simply couldn’t find a goal against Fulham, let’s get into the Big 6 Review for Gameweek 4.

Manchester United: Flat. Lacklustre. Empty

Man United clearly needed more than a man advantage to get past Man City. The Manchester derby had some drama, especially when Bruno Fernandes got Phil Foden sent off, while himself escaping a booking. Of course, Foden did deserve the red, and the Red Devils captain deserved a yellow, at worst.

None of Michael Carrick’s players made any meaningful impact. It was a poor performance from everyone, and a particularly rubbish one from Bryan Mbeumo.

FT: Manchester United 0-1 Manchester City

Manchester City: Inevitable Haaland decides another derby

Erling Haaland did not get much space against Man United as he usually does. This is mainly because the Cityzens had to play with 10 men for over 67 minutes. His goal, however, allowed Enzo Maresca to maintain a perfect start to his league season.

Erling Haaland against Manchester United

Word has since gone out that Man City’s goal probably should not have stood, but that ship has sailed, and Man United will just have to make do with an apology from the Professional Games Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).

FT: Manchester United 0-1 Manchester City

Arsenal: Back on top

A 2-0 win looks comfortable, but this game was anything but, for the Gunners. In fact, Mikel Arteta’s men allowed more shots than they took, and conceded just as many big chances as they created (3). This is just another indication that Arsenal has not been having as easy a time as the league table suggests.

Arsenal got lucky when Enzo Le Fee missed a penalty just minutes before Bruno Guimaraes gave the away side the lead. Bukayo Saka added another in the 97th minute to cement the win and return the champions to the top of the pile. It’s just four games in, but the Gunners have started well, and are storing points up for when things get tricky.

FT: Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal

Tottenham: Worse than they look

Yes, Spurs are actually worse than the results have suggested, and I’m aware of how the results look. A deeper look at the performance shows that they should probably be lower down the table.

De Zerbi has overseen four games and has not seen his team score a goal from the touchline. This is made worse by the fact that his team is creating just 1.8 big chances per game. That is just 0.3 more than Frank Lampard’s Coventry City in 20th place.

The former Marseille coach has no excuse to be producing just 1.8 big chances per game, not after all the money spent. It’s not helped by the fact that the team is only managing three shots on target per game, out of 12.8 total shots per game (23%). This is comfortably the lowest shots to shots on target ratio of any Big 6 team.

To say “the goals will come” will warrant the question “from where?”.

FT: Tottenham 0-0 Everton

Liverpool: Not losing…just not winning

Liverpool is one of eight teams in the league still yet to lose a game. The problem is that Andoni Iraola’s men are also one of nine teams that have only won a single game. This would be frustrating for the former AFC Bournemouth manager, no doubt.

The Reds need to turn these “almosts” into actual wins. Sitting in 7th place now, the 2024/25 champions may soon slip into double digit positions if they don’t start scoring goals when they need them. Their scoring woes can also be tied to the quality of chances, only creating two big chances per game.

FT: Liverpool 0-0 Fulham

Chelsea: Bullied by Hull City

As difficult as it is to read, that is what happened. Chelsea fans were overconfident going into the game, but it seemed like some of that overconfidence spilled into the players minds. Pure disorganization saw the Blues concede an equalizer in the 28th minute, and a goalkeeping error lead to the Blues going behind not quite six minutes later.

These defensive issues seem to be a feature of Xabi Alonso’s playing style, not a bug. The Blues look as poor defensively now as they did during preseason.

FT: Chelsea 2-2 Hull City

Conclusion

As we said in the last Big 6 Review, many things have remained the same. Spurs are still unable to score, and Chelsea is still a joke out of possession. Meanwhile, the marquee game of this weekend, the Manchester derby, under-delivered.

Chelsea was third when this round started, but Alonso’s men have now been pushed down two places. Man United, Liverpool and Tottenham all maintained 13th, 7th and 17th place. Man City and Arsenal, meanwhile, swapped places. See you in the next one.