Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week - Haaland, Salah, Diaz

Liverpool are now the closest challengers to the Citizens' crown after Arne Slot laid down another marker in a 3-0 thrashing of Manchester United, while 10-man Arsenal dug deep to hold on for a 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion following a highly controversial red card.

The Gunners' London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur did not have the last laugh, though, as the Blues were held to a 1-1 home draw by Crystal Palace, while Ange Postecoglou's men were defeated 2-1 by Newcastle United.

Another two low-scoring stalemates took place at the City Ground and Portman Road, as Nottingham Forest shared the spoils with Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Ipswich Town and Fulham shook hands on a point apiece too.

Elsewhere, Aston Villa got the job done against Leicester City by two goals to one, Southampton's winless start continued in a 3-1 loss to Brentford, while Bournemouth pulled off one of the Premier League's greatest ever comebacks in a 3-2 victory over Everton.

Here, Sports Mole selects its Team of the Week for the latest round of Premier League fixtures.

DEFENCE

Even when Arsenal went down to 10 men against Brighton, the Gunners still fashioned some gilt-edged chances at the Emirates, and Bart Verbruggen often had to save the day, literally. The Dutchman's second-half saves from Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz in particular were pivotal, and he made six stops in total to send a strong selection message to Fabian Hurzeler.

However, with Arsenal chances came dominant periods of Brighton possession, and Gunners defender Gabriel Magalhaes stood incredibly tall to preserve a point for his troops, making four clearances and two blocks while also creating two chances for his side at the other end of the field.

While Brentford's attackers lapped up most of the fanfare in their victory over Southampton, a word for Bees defender Nathan Collins, whose defensive contributions did not go unnoticed. The 23-year-old made five clearances, three blocks, two interceptions and two tackles, while also winning all four of his aerial battles in an exceptional performance.

Moved to a back three to accommodate an attack-heavy side, Ipswich Town left-back Leif Davis flaunted his chance-creating prowess in the draw with Fulham, making a driving run and laying the ball off inside for Liam Delap to score his stunner. That was one of three key passes Davis made on the day, in addition to two successful dribbles and two tackles.

MIDFIELD

Once again proving that Brentford should cope just fine without Saudi Arabia-bound Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo's name was up in lights at the Gtech Community Stadium with a terrific brace in the beating of Southampton, and the Cameroonian was also unfortunate that neither of the two big chances he created led to an assist.

Over at the City Ground, Wolves fulcrum Mario Lemina put in what could only be described as a duelling masterclass in the draw with Forest. From 11 individual battles, the Gabon midfielder remarkably won all 11 of them, putting in eight tackles, two interceptions and one successful dribble, not to mention providing the final pass for Jean-Ricner Bellegarde's thunderbolt.

We will get onto City's hat-trick hero in just a minute, but a special mention for Rico Lewis, who did not look one bit out of place in the engine room and registered an assist for himself in the win over West Ham, as well as winning all six of his ground duels and completing 93% of his passes. He will not want to look at his miss again, though.

While City's triumph was on the straightforward side, Bournemouth set a new record for the latest time to come back from two goals down to a win a Premier League game, a historic turnaround inspired by Luis Sinisterra, who crossed for Lewis Cook to equalise before heading in an astonishing back-post winner to trigger a mass exodus of apoplectic Toffees supporters.

ATTACK

Before making headlines with his post-match contract comments, Mohamed Salah enjoyed his latest visit to his Old Trafford playground with two assists and a goal in the thrashing of Man United. Netting for the seventh game in a row at the Theatre of Dreams, he now has 10 in total at Old Trafford; only Alan Shearer has also hit double figures at a single Premier League away venue since 1992.

The Egyptian's two first-half helpers were both for Luis Diaz, who is also thriving under Slot and beat Dominik Szoboszlai to a back-post header before a clinical finish into the corner. After a summer of intense speculation, the Colombian has surely showed that his future belongs in Anfield red.

To own or not to own Erling Haaland in fantasy football has been the question this season, and those in the former category rejoiced in the Scandinavian's second hat-trick in as many weeks at the London Stadium. Now on eight Premier League trebles in total and seven from his first three games this term - a new competition record - Haaland alone has either matched or scored more goals than each of the other 19 teams in the division. Brentford, who the champions face after the international break, would do well to spend the next fortnight formulating a plan just to quell the 24-year-old sensation.

SPORTS MOLE'S PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK

Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week (3-4-3): Verbruggen; Collins, Gabriel, Davis; Mbeumo, Lemina, Lewis, Sinisterra; Salah, Haaland, Diaz