The manner of Manchester City's victory at Liverpool was an article of both vindication and vilification. Those gleefully wielding inflatable bananas in the Anfield away end could thumb their noses. Why not enjoy the dances of defiance until the music stops? The same went for City players, asked to perform under the darkest of clouds, able to focus, at last, on football, rather than legal argument and uncertain futures. Beyond City, the sight of a club found guilty of 100-plus charges laying waste to such rivals as Liverpool was deeply uncomfortable. The Premier League season and product are badly damaged until the matter is somehow resolved. What happened at Anfield should double the haste for a resolution. Chants of "cheat" whenever City players, the game already won, slipped the ball around, are bound to be repeated at other stadiums. Enzo Maresca has described his club's plight as "noise" but his team's victory did absolutely nothing to turn the volume down.

Andoni Iraola's Liverpool reboot will require patience. They showed plenty of drive and determination against Manchester City but also uneven edges, polish lacking. Iraola's aim was to get his players in their opponents' faces, deepening any doubts circulating in City's players. Mission mostly accomplished during the first half. A flurry of chances at the beginning of the second half had City rocking only for Ryan Gravenberch's dismissal to pull the rug. With Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo missing, Liverpool lacked the quality to cause the necessary damage. Lewis Koumas played well in the role of agitator as emergency centre-forward. Víctor Muñoz continues to be full of buzz but Bradley Barcola and Florian Wirtz, both players signed for £100m plus, are supposed to supply the cutting edge. Barcola has the mitigation of being a new arrival, while discussions about Wirtz border on football cliche. Once Gravenberch departed, and Trey Nyoni was required in midfield, the finger was always going to be pointed in the German's direction.

For the second time this season, Pierre Sage watched his Crystal Palace side win a Premier League game despite not being at their best; the Frenchman was honest enough to admit they had been slightly fortunate against Nottingham Forest. But after overcoming Oliver Glasner on his return to Selhurst Park, Sage can look forward to a reunion of his own against Lyon in the Europa League on Thursday. He will know Palace must improve defensively. Axel Disasi will be available again after being suspended against Forest, although he will miss the trip to face Palace's arch-rivals Brighton next weekend. "It's not normal to concede as many chances as we conceded," Sage said of the first 40 minutes against Forest, when Walter Benítez made a string of fine saves. "We need to be consistent but after the international break it's a good result that can help us in our future games."

Ainsley Maitland-Niles has some apologising to do. The right-back made two errors that ultimately cost Everton a first away victory in the league since February. The former Arsenal player contrived to botch what should have been an easy interception, gifting Sorba Thomas the chance to tee up Joe Gelhardt for Hull's opener. With the visitors having turned the game around to lead, Maitland-Niles then got too cute defending against Elliot Stroud in the corner, allowing the Swede to find Mohamed Belloumi for the equaliser. With a squad short on attacking options, Everton cannot afford to score twice away from home and come away with only a point.

With Manchester United so sluggish and shapeless, they did not serve as much of a barometer of Tottenham's progress under Roberto De Zerbi. Though if anyone can take positives from Saturday's clutter of a contest full of mistakes, it should be Spurs. "From a long time Tottenham played without this blood, this character, and I want it," said De Zerbi. He has plenty to improve upon. Dominic Solanke wore the captain's armband and got the late equaliser his team's efforts with 10 men had threatened. If only Spurs' finishing had not been so profligate in a first half when their energy made United fans mothball their jibes at Manchester City and resume worrying about the failings of Michael Carrick's team. "Work together, stay together, have dinner together and get to know each other better," is De Zerbi's prescription for improvement. He continues to talk of a work in progress. Slow progress, slower than desirable, but Old Trafford offered hope.

A key topic of discussion for Arsenal fans before the Leeds match was who Mikel Arteta would pick on the left in the absence of the injured Christos Tzolis. Noni Madueke got the nod and the England winger, who was dropped from the latest Three Lions squad, proved a point. "He deserved the chance and he took it," Arteta said of the wide man, who played out of position but whose pace was too explosive for Leeds' James Justin and Jayden Bogle. Madueke's deliveries were also consistently dangerous. He created the most chances in the game (three) and had the most touches in the box (eight). This was good news for a player who had looked to be receding from view at both club and international level. But it also cast a dim light on the range of attacking options available to Arteta after a summer in which Tzolis was the only addition to the forward line. Arsenal took a gamble on Madueke here and it worked out. How many more will they have to take over a long and arduous season?

Chelsea have scored during the first 10 minutes in five of their six games this season. Xabi Alonso says the fast starts are nothing to do with him but Morgan Rogers had a different view after the 5-1 win against Bournemouth. "I put it down to the manager's team talks," Rogers said. "He gets us firing, gets us going. We always want to start off on the front foot. It's about starting well and getting the lead. A lot of games, especially at home, we have won after jumping on the back of early goals – it's a good trait to have. We need to keep going."

Home form has been a cornerstone of Unai Emery's extraordinary success but a victory at Villa Park this season is proving elusive. It's early days, of course, with Wednesday's Champions League date at home to Fenerbahce offering another chance to get off the mark – but Emery recognises the value of a fortress. The stadium is different on the eye this season, the North Stand being rebuilt to take the ground's capacity north of 50,000. Can a three-sided ground impact things? "I certainly hated it as a player," said Brentford's head coach, Keith Andrews, whose side remain unbeaten this campaign. "It just feels wrong, doesn't it? When I was growing up as a kid, some Irish legends played here – Ray Houghton, Paul McGrath, Andy Townsend – so it's always been a special place for me and you can feel the history of it. With a stand missing, it's a bit different."

Six games in Ipswich are well ahead of the run rate on points required for survival. Gary O'Neil, the modern Premier League firefighter, has brought a doggedness to the Tractor Boys that they lacked when Kieran McKenna took them into the Premier League two years ago. The new Ipswich manager has been ruthless too. The summer signing Kjell Scherpen was dropped for a known quantity in Christian Walton after the win at Palace and, while it did not secure a first clean sheet of the league campaign, the veteran keeper does look a more assured presence. The goals against column will concern O'Neil – only two sides in the division have conceded more – but his side's stamina will be pleasing. Ipswich have now have scored winners after the 90-minute mark three times. It is not a sustainable strategy but it indicates a team with the stomach for a fight.

Sunderland's supposed summer transfer market priority was the acquisition of a specialist right winger. Ultimately they failed to recruit one and it is arguably costing Régis Le Bris's team dear. They started Saturday's deserved home defeat to an impressive Brighton with two natural right-backs on the pitch, the second, Thomas Meunier, operating in an advanced position. When Meunier, a far from shabby player, injured a hamstring, the industrious yet ineffective Nilson Angulo was shifted from his preferred left wing to the right. But a Sunderland XI lacking the hamstrung Brian Brobbey at centre-forward failed to threaten. Surely the moment has come for Le Bris to offer the talented but currently overlooked Chris Rigg or Chemsdine Talbi starting spots at Bournemouth next Sunday? Before that Sunderland travel to face Torreense in Portugal on Thursday. After collecting only four Premier League points this season, Le Bris is likely to rotate heavily for that Europa League engagement. With a Bournemouth trip followed swiftly by a game at Lech Poznan and a visit from Leeds, his task looks tricky.