10 THINGS WE LEARNED: Aston Villa spring to life as soon as Steven Gerrard departs

Arsenal remain top of the Premier League despite drawing 1-1 with Southampton as Manchester City put the pressure on the leaders once again with a 3-1 win over Brighton.

Newcastle climbed into the top four by sealing a 2-1 win over third-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

Elsewhere, Fulham continue to shin, while Leicester City and Nottingham Forest began to turn their fortunes around with impressive victories over Wolves and Liverpool, respectively.

Here, Sportsmail looks at the 10 things we learned from another exciting Premier League weekend.

Could Calvert-Lewin make a late England push?

The Everton striker finally returned from what feels like an eternity sidelined through injury this week – and what a way to return.

In his second start in just four days, the striker put the Toffees ahead after just 11 minutes in their clash with Crystal Palace in front of the watching England boss Gareth Southgate.

The 25-year-old has not played for England since Euro 2020 last summer, but has potentially put himself back in contention. If he can continue this form, Southgate may well face a dilemma.

Recurring injuries meant Calvert-Lewin featured in fewer than half of Everton’s league games last term, ruling him out of every England squad since the Three Lions lost in the final to Italy at Wembley Stadium.

Arguably, the position of understudy to Harry Kane is still very much available, with a number of forwards vying for the spot, with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Tammy Abraham, Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins all hoping to play that role.

Calvert-Lewin may have other plans. 

Ruthless Leicester make it count 

Most will be considering whether this is the turning point for Leicester City, given the quality they still have in their squad.

That may be one talking point, but what we learnt this weekend was just how clinical the Foxes can be.

Brendan Rodgers’ side only had six shots on goal all match against Wolves with four of those attempts going on target – and all four went in.

That in itself should prove how deadly the Foxes can be, especially given their opponents had 18 shots during the match, with only six of them on target.

Star players James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, Youri Tielemans and Jamie Vardy all got themselves on the scoresheet to cap off an excellent week, which has seen them pick up six points from a possible six to pull themselves out of the relegation zone.

The clash against Wolves was vital with both teams struggling this season and it was Leicester being clinical in front of goal that proved the difference. 

Pressure is growing on Jesse Marsch

Is Jesse Marsch already running out of time at Leeds? The American was always going to have big shoes to fill when he replaced the much-loved Marcelo Biesla.

After positive signs towards the end of last season, it has all gone wrong for Marsch, as they slipped into the Premier League’s bottom three for the first time this season when they lost 3-2 to Fulham.

In similar fashion to the mid-week defeat to Leicester, boos rang around the ground, with some fans even chanting ‘what the f***ing hell was that?’ on Sunday afternoon following the defeat at Elland Road.

The Leeds board were also targeted by the fans with chants of ‘sack the board’ after Fulham came from 1-0 down to inflict a fourth consecutive defeat on Marsch’s side.

Things are now looking gloomy for Leeds with Leicester sealing back-to-back victories after a poor start, while fellow strugglers Forest nabbed a 1-0 win over Liverpool. 

It seems the board are going to keep faith with Marsch for the time being with a long-term project in mind. But with the fans on the case, it could just be a matter of time.

Casemiro’s early impact at United 

Casemiro’s impact at Manchester United has been evident already as he continues to prove his world-class ability in midfield.

The Brazilian rescued a point for the Red Devils at Chelsea as he rose high and headed into the back of the net in the fourth minute of stoppage-time after Jorginho opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 87th minute at Stamford Bridge.

The five-time Champions League winner is the defensive midfielder that United have been crying out for and he seems to have fit in seamlessly.

Erik ten Hag’s side have picked up seven points from the three Premier League games the former Real Madrid man has started.

United began the season badly, but since introducing the midfielder into the team, they look like they will be competing for a top four position this campaign. 

‘That’s why we brought him in,’ Ten Hag said. ‘We know he’s capable of doing that. He proved it in Spain, he proved it in the Champions League, at the highest level, so he could also do it in the Premier League.’

Villa were clearly not playing for Gerrard 

Just three days after Steven Gerrard was sacked by Aston Villa, they went and sealed a dominant 4-0 victory over Brentford. 

It could just be a reaction – or perhaps it shows that the players had stopped playing for the former Liverpool captain.

Summer signing Leon Bailey opened the scoring before a brace from Danny Ings stretched the lead to 3-0.

Ollie Watkins then got in on the act to pull off a 4-0 win, leaving huge questions over whether just a fresh voice was needed at Villa Park.

Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer believes a few players didn’t like Gerrard as they played with more freedom.

‘To me, it would look like one or two didn’t like the manager, didn’t like the way he was playing and they looked a lot freer today,’ Shearer said on Match of the Day 2.

‘You would think if Steven Gerrard’s watching that wherever he is, then he’s looking back and thinking ‘goodness me, why couldn’t we have had that last week?’

‘But then the manager has gone and he (Danks) has made changes. Dropped the captain – big decision – and everyone looked freer today.’

Newcastle mean business 

Newcastle have moved into the Premier League’s top four as they continue to impress since the arrival of Eddie Howe and the new owners.

Of course, they have brought in reinforcements, but the more impressive thing is the improvement of players that were already at the club before their arrival.

Joelinton and Miguel Almiron are the two shining lights after both struggling originally after signing for the Magpies before coming key figures for Howe. 

Newcastle are now showing that they mean business after sealing a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

It proves they can battle with the Premier League big boys as they handed Spurs a third loss in their last five matches. 

The Magpies were very unlucky to lose to Liverpool at Anfield back in August and this weekend will give them confidence they can remain in the hunt for a place in Europe this season. 

Liverpool are definitely out of the title race

If they weren’t already, Liverpool truly are out of the race now as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Forest on Saturday lunchtime.

The Reds seemed to have turned their fortunes around with victories over West Ham and Manchester City in the last week.

Jurgen Klopp’s side, however, went back to their inconsistent form at the City Ground – despite expectations on the Reds to push on and claw their way back up the Premier League table.

They now sit 12 points adrift of current league leaders Arsenal after just 11 games, so mathematically they still can turn it around, but it feels very unlikely especially given they’ve already lost three times and drawn four matches this campaign.

But the defeat to Forest leads to more questions of whether they can restore their title ambitions. The inconsistent form has left them behind at the early stage of the season.

It also signals that perhaps Klopp can only seem to get his side up for games at Anfield as they’ve remained solid at home, despite struggling away all season. 

Harrison Reed, the surprise performer

Fulham continue to surge up the Premier League table after sealing a 3-2 win over Leeds.

The Cottagers moved up to seventh in the top-flight and, although Aleksandr Mitrovic is stealing most of the headlines with his impressive form, it is Harrison Reed who has been the surprise star for Fulham, putting in good performances throughout the campaign.

The former Southampton midfielder followed up his superb display in mid-week, where he scored a stunning goal, by setting up Willian for Fulham’s third goal of the match to seal the victory.

Reed has now taken his tally up to two goals and one assist across the opening the 12 matches of the season.

Jesus can be wasteful 

Gabriel Jesus has been the spark to Arsenal’s success so far this campaign as they remain top of the table after 11 matches.

The summer signing has five goals and four assists in the top-flight since joining the Gunners from Manchester City. 

Everyone has been rushing to heap praise on Jesus, but what has gone under the radar is how wasteful the striker has been.

The 25-year-old has missed eight big chances so far this season, which is the second-most in the league, just behind Leeds striker Patrick Bamford with nine.

It finally showed as the Gunners drew 1-1 with Southampton, despite being in total control of the match.

Jesus had a couple of efforts well saved by Bazunu and thrashed another opportunity into the side netting from a tight angle.

Wolves are in a relegation battle 

Wolves crumbled to fellow strugglers Leicester City as they were thrashed 4-0 in what was dubbed as a six-pointer, even at this early stage of the season.

They are now level on points with basement club Forest after both playing 12 matches so far this campaign.

To make matters worse, Wolves are currently without a manager, having named caretaker manager Steve Davis in charge until 2023.

Davis seemed to improve things in the short-term, but it seemed to go sour at the weekend as they had 18 shots against Leicester who had just six.

Wolves now face crunch fixtures against both Brentford and Brighton as they bid to pull themselves out of the bottom three before the busy Christmas period.