It is too early to declare the Premier League a two-horse race for the title, but the blows Manchester City and Arsenal continue to trade are making for increasingly compelling viewing.
Arsenal will have to respond on Sunday after City's latest majestic showing against sorry Southampton.
Chelsea look re-energised under Graham Potter, while Eddie Howe continues to weave his magic at Newcastle United, who scored more goals than even City on Saturday.
Antonio Conte's Tottenham only needed one goal to round off the day by maintaining their impressive start to the campaign at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Before attention turns to events at Emirates Stadium, Stats Perform picks out the best data from Saturday's matches.
Chelsea 3-0 Wolves: Manager-less visitors far from cloud nine
The sacking of Bruno Lage did nothing to improve Wolves' fortunes, as their run of winless away Premier League games was stretched to nine (D2 L7).
That is their longest such run since going 10 games (D4 L6) without a win on the road in January 2012.
On top of that, Wolves remain winless in nine league away games with Chelsea (D3 L6)
Kai Havertz opened the scoring for the Blues and has now found the net twice in his last three league games, more than in his previous 12 matches in the competition. The German has netted in consecutive home league games for the Blues for the first time.
Mason Mount laid on two of the goals for Potter's men, marking the first time he has recorded two assists in a single Premier League games since a meeting Leicester City in February 2020.
Manchester City 4-0 Southampton: KDB the assist king for rampant champions
Pep Guardiola's men will be in the rare position of hoping Liverpool deliver a result against Arsenal on Sunday, after the champions leapfrogged the Gunners back to the top of the table.
Erling Haaland was on the scoresheet again, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, though he did only register one goal in this one-sided affair.
The Norway star is just the second player to score in seven consecutive Premier League games for Manchester City, after Sergio Aguero (May-September 2019).
Kevin De Bruyne provided the assist for Phil Foden to double City's lead after Joao Cancelo opened the scoring. De Bruyne's 94 assists mean he now has the outright most for City in the Premier League, overtaking David Silva (93).
City's incredible prowess in front of goal saw them become the first team to score at least four goals in five consecutive top-flight home games since Tottenham in September 1963 (a run of six).
Newcastle United 5-1 Brentford: Bruno the talk of the Toon
The Magpies are fifth after a dominant performance at St James' Park, and their fans can perhaps afford to hope of challenging at the top consistently for the first time since the days of Bobby Robson.
Newcastle's five-goal effort followed a 4-1 win at Fulham, making it the first time they have scored four-plus goals in successive Premier League games since September 2001, when Robson was in charge and oversaw wins over Middlesbrough and Manchester United. This was also the first time Newcastle have scored five in a Premier League game since May 2016 (5-1 vs Tottenham), a game that came after their relegation to the Championship was already confirmed.
Worries about the second tier look to be a distant memory now. Newcastle have lost just one of their last 11 Premier League games (W5 D5), while only City (66), Liverpool (61), Tottenham (61) and Arsenal (55) have won more points than the Magpies (52) in the competition this calendar year.
Newcastle's remarkable form under Howe is down in no small part to Bruno Guimaraes. The Brazil midfielder scored a fine double in this one and now has more goals (7) than any other Newcastle player since making his Premier League debut in February.
Brighton and Hove Albion 0-1 Tottenham: Conte defeats another compatriot
Conte is one of four Italian managers to lift the Premier League trophy and enjoyed success against another trying to make his way in England as Spurs saw off Roberto De Zerbi's Brighton side.
Conte is now unbeaten in all seven of his Premier League matches against fellow Italian managers (W6 D1) and has seen his sides keep clean sheets in four of their last five such games.
Son Heung-min teed up Harry Kane for the game's only goal, making it the 43rd time they have combined for a Premier League goal, extending their own record.
Kane has scored 12 goals in his last 12 league games, and has found the net in each of his last four, his joint-longest scoring streak in the competition and the seventh time he has achieved that feat.
Sessegnon rejoins boyhood club Fulham after Tottenham departure
Ryan Sessegnon has resigned for Fulham on a free transfer, five years after leaving the club.
The 24-year-old signed a two-year contract with the Cottagers with the option to extend for a further year following his departure from Tottenham last month.
In his first spell at the club, Sessegnon worked his way through the academy over 11 years, scoring 25 goals in 120 first-team appearances.
He then moved to Spurs in a £25million deal in 2019, though struggled to nail down a place in North London, making just 57 appearances in all competitions, and scoring three goals.
"It's amazing to be back. Emotional, as well," he told FFCtv. "It's where it started for me, where everything began, and it's amazing to be back.
"It will always be home for me. I think it had the feeling that it was meant to be, coming back here, so I'm delighted to get it done."
Sessegnon is Fulham's first signing of the transfer window, though they have seen plenty of first-team departures already, with Joao Palhinha, Tosin Adarabioyo and Bobby De Cordova-Reid all leaving the club.
Ederson slams reports of rift with Man City backup Ortega
Ederson has hit out at reports of a rift between himself and fellow Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
The Brazilian was substituted after suffering a fractured eye socket in City's penultimate game of the Premier League season, a vital 1-0 win over Tottenham.
Ortega replaced him and made a brilliant save to deny Son Heung-min as City maintained their slender lead over Arsenal at the top of the table, sealing an unprecedented fourth straight title by beating West Ham five days later.
Ortega was widely lauded for his role in that triumph, and an article published by The Athletic this week suggested Ederson took issue with that praise.
However, the goalkeeper – who missed the Copa America as a result of his injury – has now moved to shut down those suggestions with a post to his Instagram story.
"I would like to clarify that the note published by The Athletic yesterday, referring to my alleged dissatisfaction with a co-worker, is completely false," he wrote.
"The alleged day reported was, without a doubt, one of the most difficult days of my career, when I suffered a fracture that prevented me from playing in the final stretch of the season and, consequently, from representing my country in the Copa America.
"At the time of the injury, my only thought was to continue in the match, defending City in the fight for the title.
"But the emotion of the match would be greater than the reality and, inevitably, I would not be able to continue as I would have liked due to the damage it caused, completely blocking my field of vision. I remain focused on preparing for the season."
Ederson has been linked with a transfer in recent days, reportedly attracting interest from Saudi Pro League clubs.
Postecoglou urges Tottenham fans to be patient amid transfer 'misinformation'
Ange Postecoglou has urged Tottenham fans to have patience when it comes to bringing new players in during the transfer window.
Spurs have signed just two new faces so far, with Archie Gray joining from Leeds United in a deal reportedly worth up to £40million, and Lucas Bergvall signing from Djurgardens.
Alongside the two 18-year-olds, Timo Werner has also been resigned on loan for the upcoming season. He enjoyed an impressive start after initially joining in January, as he contributed two goals and three assists, but his season was ended prematurely by injury.
While the Spurs faithful are keen for their club to bring more reinforcements, Postecoglou asked for their trust as the club works towards adding to the squad.
"At this time of year, it's pretty hard for supporters because they don't have all the information, and it's fair to say there's plenty of misinformation out there," he said in a press conference.
"We're working hard to bring players in, and it's a process that you sometimes have to be patient with. But in terms of what we set out to do, that's still the plan, and you have to stay disciplined with that.
"Sometimes the timings don’t work out, and it doesn’t happen as quickly as you want, and you don't get them [players] in at the right time, but I think it's really important you stay disciplined and not run off and chase other things.
"So, what we started with at the start of summer is still there, and I wouldn't want to put timelines on it. A lot of that is out of our control, and we just need to be patient.
"From where I sit, at the moment, we're still in that phase where what we identified is still what we're after."
Spurs will face Japanese side Vissel Kobe in their next pre-season match on Saturday.
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