Liverpool once again needed a late goal to keep their phenomenal start to the season going at the weekend, beating Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park to maintain an eight-point lead at the top of the table courtesy of 12 wins and one draw from their opening 13 fixtures.
Leicester City remain their closest challengers courtesy of their victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, while champions Manchester City avoided falling further off the pace with a come-from-behind win over fellow top-four occupants Chelsea on Saturday evening.
The weekend's action kicked off with Jose Mourinho's return to English football as the new Tottenham Hotspur manager, with his side running out 3-2 winners over West Ham United at the London Stadium.
Arguably the game of the round came on Sunday, though, as Sheffield United salvaged a thoroughly-deserved draw against Manchester United after the Red Devils had launched a seven-minute comeback from 2-0 down.
Solskjaer's job remains under scrutiny, but not quite to the same extent as that of Arsenal boss Unai Emery, who watched his side come from behind twice to rescue a point at home to struggling Southampton.
Marco Silva is another manager seemingly on the brink after Everton slumped to a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of relegation battlers Norwich City, while there were also victories over Burnley, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 13.
Norwich were in growing need of a good result having dropped into the relegation zone following a relatively bright start to the campaign, and their triumph at Goodison Park owed a lot to goalkeeper Tim Krul, who made seven saves en route to a valuable clean sheet. Burnley's Nick Pope also deserve a mention, but Krul just about beats him to the gloves in this week's team.
Spurs enjoyed an immediate improvement following the brutal sacking of Mauricio Pochettino and subsequent appointment of Mourinho, and Serge Aurier was central to their win over West Ham. The full-back contributed an assist and, while he was unable to prevent Spurs from conceding twice in the final 20 minutes, by that stage they had done enough to make the points safe.
Burnley's James Tarkowski initially struggled to get to grips with Gerard Deulofeu in Burnley's 3-0 victory over Watford, but he went on to produce a towering display, making the most clearances and blocks for his side while also scoring a goal and playing a major role in the opener too.
While Tarkowski is your archetypal defender, Fernandinho is a player who has been thrust into the role by necessity. Nonetheless, he has arguably established himself as Man City's first-choice fit centre-back at the moment and he put in a typically committed display during his side's vital 2-1 win over Chelsea on Saturday.
Aston Villa are the best represented team in this week's XI following their Monday night victory over Newcastle United, with their left-sided unit in particular impressing. Matt Targett was one of those good performers, pipping Ben Chilwell to the left-back spot in this team, while in front of him Conor Hourihane was the star of the show with a goal and assist from midfield.
Jack Grealish also shone again to underline his England credentials once more, adding an assist to a fine all-round performance to complete the Villa trio and beat the likes of Sadio Mane and Riyad Mahrez to a place in this week's team.
In a week where Mourinho made most headlines, near-namesake Joao Moutinho enjoyed his own starring moment with a stunning free kick in Wolves' win at Bournemouth - his first goal in more than a year and one that capped off a classy display in the middle of the park.
Kenny McLean's performance perhaps went under the radar a little more, particularly given others got Norwich's goals at Everton, but the Scot had more touches and completed more passes than any other Canaries player and played a big role in the opener to edge out the likes of teammate Todd Cantwell, Dele Alli, Mateo Kovacic, John Fleck and James Maddison to a place in the team.
Mourinho hailed the return of the 'old Alli' in his side's win at West Ham, but Son Heung-min was even more instrumental to the result. The South Korean scored the first, created the second and made three key passes during the game as the new era got off to a winning start.
There was not quite as much joy for the other half of North London as the pressure on Emery grew courtesy of a poor performance at home to Southampton, and it was only the heroics of Alexandre Lacazette which rescued them a point. Two smart finishes from the Frenchman arguably flattered the Gunners, and it was telling that even Lacazette looked almost embarrassed to celebrate his second in the 95th minute.
Lys Mousset, Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane and Raul Jimenez all deserve honourable mentions too, but Lacazette almost single-handedly saved his side to earn his place in this week's XI.
body check tags ::
