EPL Winners and Losers After Sunday's 2019 Week 8 Premier League Results

Both Manchester giants suffered serious slips in Week 8.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United looked limp losing 1-0 at Newcastle United and are yet to win away from home this Premier League season.

Manchester City lost 2-0 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, leaving the Citizens eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool approaching the international break.

Nuno Espirito Santo's side inflicted upon City their first defeat of the season at the Etihad Stadium, while Wolves clinched their biggest win of the campaign to date thanks to Adama Traore's brace.

Frank Lampard's Chelsea secured their fourth straight win after hammering Southampton 4-1 at St. Mary's Stadium, where Christian Pulisic made an impact off the bench in his first league game since August.

Arsenal edged Bournemouth 1-0 at home following David Luiz's decider at the Emirates Stadium, though Unai Emery's side were far from convincing as they climbed to third.

Sunday's Results

Arsenal 1-0 Bournemouth

Southampton 1-4 Chelsea

Manchester City 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Newcastle United 1-0 Manchester United

Winner: Nuno Espirito Santo

Wolves took one point from their two league meetings with City last season, but they've already bested that total in 2019-20 following a stunning clean-sheet win at the Etihad on Sunday.

Espirito Santo has the third-best record of any manager to have faced City counterpart Guardiola three times or more, per OptaJoe:

The visitors' plans looked to have been stunted when midfielder Roman Saiss was forced off through injury after 13 minutes, though replacement Ryan Bennett looked impressive in defence.

Traore was the man of the hour following his brace at the Etihad. The 23-year-old benefited after his manager pushed him forward from wing-back, and the speedster targeted praise at Espirito Santo for the faith placed in him, via beIN Sports:

That's the other aspect of Wolves' feat that can't be monitored in tactics or tracked as a statistic: Espirito Santo has built a sense of belief in the squad that has the potential to lift his team far beyond the sum of their parts, though his tactics undeniably played a necessary role.

Following a run of three successive losses in September, Espirito Santo has led Wolves on a run of five games unbeaten and won the last three of those to restore order at Molineux.

Loser: Manchester United's Strikeforce

Manchester United's attacking philosophies look almost abandoned, with the Red Devils failing to score in their third successive away game Sunday when they lost 1-0 at St. James' Park.

The summer sale of striker Romelu Lukaku looked all the more regrettable after a tame display in the northeast ended with Matthew Longstaff scoring the only goal on his senior Magpies debut.

Marcus Rashford—who has recently contended with an injury—failed to have a shot at goal and was eventually aided by substitute Mason Greenwood, with usual attack partner Anthony Martial still injured.

There is blame way beyond just the strike force, though, as Match of the Day showed how little time Rashford spent even inside the Magpies area:

Sportswriter Warren Haughton laid out the scale of the attacking issues at Old Trafford, which he added threaten to have a negative impact on others in the squad:

Solskjaer's side sit 12th in the table and have scored nine goals. Crystal Palace are the only team above them with fewer (eight).

The "Babyfaced Assassin" returned to Old Trafford with a view to upholding the club's traditions, but United's attacking flavour looks to have been lost in attempting to build a new recipe from scratch.

Winner: Chelsea's Underdogs

Sunday's trip to Southampton was a bountiful one for those Chelsea players who had previously spent time watching on from the boundaries.

Former academy outcasts Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount each scored to put the Blues in a 2-0 lead. Newly fit N'Golo Kante then netted his second goal in as many league games following Danny Ings' strike for the Saints.

Pulisic made his first appearance in three matches and came off the bench to assist Michy Batshuayi for Chelsea's fourth, with the United States winger having struggled for involvement under Lampard of late.

Football writer Ives Galarcep highlighted the budding chemistry between Pulisic and Batshuayi, who have a history playing alongside one another:

Lampard will hope Batshuayi's first league goal of the season will help restore some of the Belgian's confidence and remind him he has a role to play for the Blues following this summer's transfer ban.

Chelsea have won back-to-back league games for the first time since Lampard took over, and the club has their band of formerly scorned stars to thank for the latest result.

Loser: Unai Emery

It's not often a fanbase can afford to feel unfulfilled following victory, but Arsenal's had an underwhelmed sense about it in the wake of their narrow 1-0 win against Bournemouth.

David Luiz's ninth-minute header from a Nicolas Pepe corner was all that stood between the two teams, and it wasn't often the Gunners came close to increasing that lead. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the woodwork and had Arsenal's only shot on target aside from the goal, per WhoScored.com.

Emery's team are unbeaten in their last eight games across all competitions, though a record of two wins and three draws in their last five league games doesn't sound as impressive. Victories have seldom been convincing, either, as each of Arsenal's four top-flight wins this season have been by one-goal margins.

Journalist Chris Godfrey found fault in Sunday's performance and the apparent brand being promoted under Emery:

Former England goalkeeper Rob Green also appeared on BBC 5 Live Sport and questioned the ongoing absence of highest-earning Arsenal player, Mesut Ozil:

His omission hints there's something going on behind the scenes preventing the German playmaker from participating, but it robs the team of an asset who can be transformative at his best.

City's slip at home to Wolves leaves them only one point ahead of Arsenal, but the north Londoners will be wary of the cracks already apparent in their setup.