Two weeks into the Premier League season, four teams have a perfect six points.

Three are relatively unsurprising. Defending champion Arsenal has won twice without conceding. Manchester City followed an uneven opener with a much more convincing performance at Crystal Palace. Chelsea has scored seven goals in two matches under Xabi Alonso.

Then there is Hull City.

The promoted playoff winner followed its opening-weekend upset of Manchester United by winning at Coventry and has yet to concede a goal.

Elsewhere, Liverpool needed another comeback just to draw, Tottenham still has neither a point nor a goal, and Manchester United responded to its embarrassing opener by scoring five against Ipswich.

Crystal Palace 1-4 Manchester City

Goals: Erling Haaland 17’, Rayan Cherki 54’, Gianluigi Donnarumma own goal 56’, Rayan Cherki 59’, Erling Haaland 84’

Manchester City needed two late goals to escape Bournemouth on opening weekend. This looked much more like what Enzo Maresca presumably has in mind.

Haaland opened the scoring from Antoine Semenyo’s cross, but City really took control immediately after halftime. Rayan Cherki dribbled through the Palace defense to make it 2-0, then responded almost immediately after Palace pulled one back through a Donnarumma own goal. Cherki’s second came from distance, and Haaland finished the scoring late.

Cherki was especially impressive. Against Bournemouth, City occasionally fell into sterile stretches where they controlled the ball without actually disturbing the defensive shape. Cherki provides a different solution because he can receive centrally and create the advantage himself.

His first goal came from beating defenders off the dribble. His second punished Palace for giving him space around the penalty area. Maresca also trusted him with defensive responsibility against Adam Wharton.

Maresca also backed off his experiment of playing Guehi in midfield, with Nico O’Reilly moving in next to Elliot Anderson in this game.

Two games is not enough to declare the transition from Pep Guardiola complete, but this was a much cleaner version of the new City.

Liverpool 2-2 Nottingham Forest

Goals: Dan Ndoye 24’, Alexander Isak 60’, Morgan Gibbs-White 70’ penalty, Victor Muñoz 82’

Liverpool has played 180 Premier League minutes under Andoni Iraola and spent a lot of them chasing games.

Forest went ahead when its more direct approach created problems for the Liverpool defense, with Ndoye scoring in the first half. Alisson also needed an excellent save to push an Igor Jesus effort onto the bar.

Liverpool improved after halftime and Alexander Isak equalized from Cody Gakpo’s low cross, but Forest went back ahead when Alisson fouled Neco Williams and Morgan Gibbs-White converted the penalty.

There was some controversy surrounding that sequence because Liverpool was trying to make three substitutions before the play developed, but an issue with the fourth official’s electronic board delayed the changes. Victor Muñoz eventually rescued the point with a deflected strike.

The attacking talent is obvious. Liverpool has now come from behind four separate times in two matches. However it is concerning how frequently it has been required.

Newcastle attacked the spaces Liverpool left after turnovers last week. Forest caused similar trouble with more direct balls and aggressive runs beyond the midfield. Iraola’s team can create chances, but it has not yet demonstrated much control over where or how these games are played.

Bournemouth 1-1 Everton

Goals: Alex Scott 41’, James Tarkowski 90+1’

Everton will probably feel fortunate not to leave Bournemouth with nothing after needing a stoppage-time goal from James Tarkowski.

Alex Scott gave Bournemouth the lead shortly before halftime with an excellent finish into the far corner. Everton had opportunities of its own, but Bournemouth goalkeeper Djordje Petrović made several important saves, including chances for Jarrad Branthwaite and Thierno Barry.

Everton kept pushing and finally equalized when Bournemouth failed to properly clear a late corner and Tarkowski fired home the loose ball. There was not a major tactical shift here as much as a game that stayed close enough for one moment to change the result.

Everton has four points through two matches and has been competitive in both. Bournemouth has just one, but came within six minutes of beating Manchester City and seconds of beating Everton. The results undersell how well they have played.

Coventry City 0-1 Hull City

Goal: Liam Millar 82’

Hull beating Manchester United could have been written off as one of those opening-weekend upsets that becomes less meaningful as the season goes on.

Winning at Coventry was a bit different. Coventry had more possession and generated the better opportunities for much of the match. Taiwo Awoniyi twice forced saves from Konstantinos Tzolakis, including an excellent stop in the first half.

Hull did not panic about losing the territorial battle. They stayed compact, kept the match level and waited for Coventry to become more aggressive. The opening eventually appeared on the counter. Liam Millar wasted one transition chance in the 74th minute, then made up for it eight minutes later when Mohamed Belloumi carried the ball forward and released him behind the defense. Millar calmly finished for the only goal.

Hull was facing another promoted team in a game that could eventually have real relegation implications. They did not need an early lead or a roaring home crowd. They remained patient and executed the type of low-possession game plan they will probably need throughout the season.

The “we’re going to win the league” chants from the away end can probably remain ironic for a while, but Hull has already made its survival case considerably more interesting.

Tottenham 0-2 Newcastle United

Goals: Anthony Elanga 62’, Yoane Wissa 72’

Tottenham was better than it was in the 3-0 opening loss to Brentford, but that is quite a low bar. Spurs actually created the better opportunities in the first half, but Lukas Hornicek made several saves to keep the game scoreless. Newcastle then took control after halftime.

Anthony Elanga opened the scoring with an excellent finish in the 62nd minute. Ten minutes later Yoane Wissa improvised an acrobatic finish after Tottenham failed to deal with a deep corner.

Roberto De Zerbi handed Omar Marmoush his debut but was without Savio because of muscle fatigue. He made three substitutions immediately after Newcastle’s opening goal, but Tottenham never found the response.

That is now two losses, five goals conceded and zero scored for a team that spent roughly $432 million on eight players this summer. There are legitimate reasons for patience. A heavily rebuilt team under a new manager is not going to look finished in August.

The problem is that Tottenham currently lacks a clear attacking rhythm once it gets near the penalty area. Brentford overwhelmed them before they could establish possession. Newcastle allowed more of the ball but stayed organized and waited for its chances.

Two very different opponents have produced the same basic result.

Chelsea 4-3 Brighton

Goals: Romeo Lavia 4’, Pedro Neto 14’, João Pedro 32’, Malick Yalcouyé 35’, João Pedro own goal 63’, Cole Palmer 74’, Pascal Groß 90+6’

Chelsea may be the most entertaining team in the league if it keeps playing games like this.

The Blues were 3-0 ahead after only 32 minutes. Romeo Lavia opened the scoring after João Pedro met a corner at the near post and Mats Wieffer blocked the effort on the goal line. A mix-up between Wieffer and goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen left the loose ball for Lavia to poke home. Morgan Rogers helped create the second for Pedro Neto before João Pedro finished an excellent counter against his former club.

Brighton pulled one back before halftime, then reduced the deficit again when Pascal Groß’s effort deflected in off João Pedro. Chelsea responded through Cole Palmer, whose finish from the edge of the box gave his team enough breathing room to survive Groß’s stoppage-time header.

The weird part is how Chelsea is doing it. Brighton finished with 74.4 percent possession, the lowest Premier League possession share recorded by Chelsea since that data began being tracked in 2003-04. It followed a game against Fulham where Chelsea also spent long stretches playing without the ball.

Some of that is game state. Chelsea scored three times in half an hour and had little reason to chase possession afterward. Still, Alonso has quickly turned Palmer, João Pedro, Rogers and Neto into a devastating transition attack. The ball can move from one end to the other in a few passes, and Chelsea has several attackers capable of finishing the move.

Whether they can combine that threat with more control remains the bigger question.

There are also personnel concerns. Enzo Fernández was absent amid Manchester City interest, while Moisés Caicedo appeared to pick up another injury after entering as a substitute.

The attack looks ready.

The rest of the team is still catching up.

Leeds United 1-1 Brentford

Goals: Kevin Schade 41’, Dominic Calvert-Lewin 79’

This was probably the clearest example of a coaching adjustment changing a match.

Brentford controlled the first half. Mamadou Sangaré was again impressive in midfield, and Kevin Schade deservedly put the visitors ahead by guiding Keane Lewis-Potter’s low cross into the far corner.

Leeds was struggling to match Brentford’s aggression with a back five, so Daniel Farke changed the structure at halftime. He moved to a back four and introduced Ao Tanaka and Harry Wilson to put another player into midfield and attack.

Later he became even more aggressive, bringing on Lukas Nmecha alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The equalizer came from exactly that increased attacking presence. Leeds worked the ball down the right, Nmecha flashed it across the six-yard box and Calvert-Lewin finished from close range.

Brentford was probably the better team over the full match and finished with 22 shots. Leeds earned the point because Farke recognized that the original plan was losing the game and was willing to change it. That sounds simple, but plenty of coaches spend 90 minutes proving otherwise.

Sunderland 1-0 Fulham

Goal: Wilson Isidor 75’

For most of the afternoon, this looked destined for a scoreless draw, as neither team consistently created good chances.

Then Sunderland manager Régis Le Bris turned to his bench. Wilson Isidor came on and nearly scored in the 71st minute when Enzo Le Fée drove a low cross through the box. Isidor got onto it from close range but hit the post.

Four minutes later Sunderland created an almost identical opportunity from the opposite side. This time fellow substitute Habib Diarra sent the ball across goal and Isidor made no mistake, finishing into the empty net after Bernd Leno failed to cut out the cross.

It was a useful demonstration of Sunderland’s depth. That was one of the qualities that helped them dramatically outperform expectations last season, when they followed promotion by finishing seventh and qualifying for the Europa League. They do not necessarily need to dominate games if they can remain difficult to break down and bring players off the bench capable of changing the final 20 minutes.

Manchester United 5-2 Ipswich Town

Goals: Leif Davis 29’, Bruno Fernandes 40’, Jacob Greaves own goal 56’, Bruno Fernandes penalty 61’, Bruno Fernandes 68’, Bryan Mbeumo 82’, Chuba Akpom 90+1’

For the first half hour, Manchester United looked like it might follow the Hull embarrassment with something even worse. Ipswich created the better early chances and deservedly went ahead when Abdul Fatawu beat Luke Shaw and found Leif Davis.

Then one individual error changed the game.

Marcelino Núñez slipped in midfield, Matheus Cunha stole the ball and Bruno Fernandes hammered home the equalizer. United took control after halftime. Harry Maguire forced an own goal from Jacob Greaves, Fernandes converted a penalty and completed his hat trick seven minutes later. Bryan Mbeumo added the fifth before Ipswich scored a late consolation.

Kobbie Mainoo also returned to the starting lineup and was one of United’s better performers alongside Fernandes. Michael Carrick later praised his influence in midfield.

The performance did not completely erase the issues from Hull, as Ipswich found space too easily during the opening half hour, and United needed an opponent’s mistake to shift the momentum. After that, however, the attacking difference in talent became obvious. Once Fernandes began finding the ball in dangerous areas, Ipswich had no answer.

United has much bigger tests ahead. At least there is now something positive to build from.

Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal

Goal: Bukayo Saka 59’

Arsenal’s first game was about how easily the defending champions could overwhelm a promoted opponent. The second was about whether they could win when almost nothing came easily.

Aston Villa was dramatically improved from the team that conceded four goals in the first 31 minutes at Brighton. Unai Emery changed much of the lineup, including Premier League debuts for goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and striker Nicolas Jackson, and Villa defended with considerably more discipline.

They nearly took the lead themselves when Emiliano Buendía crashed a shot off David Raya’s crossbar in the 12th minute. Arsenal controlled most of the possession but struggled to create clear chances before halftime. Christos Tzolis, who had been dangerous in the opener, was booked and then removed at halftime rather than risk a second yellow.

That substitution ended up helping change the match.

Eberechi Eze came on and gave Arsenal another player willing to receive and combine around Villa’s compact defense. Shortly after VAR overturned an Arsenal penalty because Ian Maatsen’s foul on Saka occurred just outside the box, Eze found Riccardo Calafiori moving down the left. Calafiori sent a low ball across goal and Saka arrived to force it home from close range.

From there Arsenal did what its great at and killed the game. Villa pushed forward but failed to register a shot on target for the second consecutive match. Arteta introduced Bruno Guimarães, Mikel Merino and former Villa defender Ezri Konsa to add more control and physical presence. Arsenal protected the center, won enough second balls and never allowed Villa to generate sustained pressure around Raya.

Arsenal produced eight 1-0 victories during last season’s championship run and the formula appears to still work for them. Control the match, avoid giving away high-quality chances and trust Saka or another attacker to eventually produce the decisive moment.

Six Takeaways From Matchweek 2

1. Arsenal Has More Than One Way to Win

The Coventry opener showed Arsenal’s attacking ceiling against an opponent it could pin back for almost the entire match, then Monday’s match showed the other version.

Arsenal was not especially fluid. Villa closed the middle well, made Saka work for his touches and kept the champions from generating many clean looks at goal, but Arsenal still prevailed.

The defense has not conceded through two matches, and Villa failed to put a single shot on target. When the starting attack stalled, Arteta could replace Tzolis with Eze, then bring Guimarães, Merino and Konsa off the bench to change the type of game Arsenal was playing.

That is what makes the champions difficult to knock off over 38 matches.

They do not always need to play well enough to win 3-0.

Sometimes 1-0 works perfectly fine.

2. Manchester City Looked More Comfortable Under Maresca

Opening weekend raised a few questions about City’s post-Guardiola attack, but the response at Palace was encouraging. Cherki provided the individual creativity that was missing against Bournemouth, Haaland scored twice and City looked much more comfortable accelerating through the middle instead of merely moving the opponent from side to side.

The tougher tests will reveal how much of Guardiola’s control Maresca can retain while building his own version of the team.

For now, six points and six goals is a pretty good place to start.

3. Hull City Is the Story of the First Two Weeks

Beating Manchester United was fun.

Winning at Coventry may tell us more.

Hull demonstrated that it can defend without becoming completely passive, stay patient when another team has more possession and attack open space when the game begins to stretch.

Those are useful qualities for a club that will spend much of the season as the less talented team on paper.

The sample is tiny, but Hull has already collected six points toward survival and has not conceded a goal.

Nobody expected them to be level with Arsenal, City and Chelsea after two games.

Enjoy the table while it lasts.

4. Chelsea’s Attack Is Already Dangerous

Chelsea has scored seven goals in two matches and done it without controlling possession in anything resembling the traditional big-team sense.

That might not be a problem.

Palmer, João Pedro, Rogers and Neto are all dangerous when the opponent leaves space behind the ball. Alonso appears perfectly comfortable allowing them to attack quickly rather than demanding that every possession turn into a 30-pass sequence.

There is some risk.

Brighton nearly recovered from 3-0 down, and Chelsea’s midfield situation could become uncomfortable if Caicedo misses time while Fernández’s future remains unsettled.

But there are worse problems than trying to figure out how to provide more control behind an attack already scoring at this rate.

5. Liverpool Has an Early Control Problem

Liverpool has scored four goals and lost neither of Iraola’s first two matches, but it also only has two points. More concerning is the similarity between the games.

Newcastle and Forest both found ways to bypass Liverpool’s initial pressure and attack a defense that was not properly protected. Liverpool then needed its attacking quality to dig out a result.

Having to produce a comeback every week is not a sustainable path to competing for a trophy. The talent should eventually produce plenty of goals. Iraola’s bigger early job is giving Liverpool enough structure behind its attacks that every turnover does not feel potentially dangerous.