Six games into the Premier League season, and we have three surprise packages. The top two -- Liverpool and Arsenal -- may be aligned with many people's pre-season predictions, but Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Brentford are performing far above expectations, and all three were among the big winners last weekend.
Palace -- inspired by the largely forgotten Eddie Nketiah -- inflicted a first defeat on reigning champions Liverpool, while Brentford gave Manchester United their latest bloody nose, with Italo-Nigerian fullback Michael Kayode (and his long throws) starring.
Palace, third after six matches, are enjoying their finest spell as a Premier League club, despite losing the influential Eberechi Eze to Arsenal during the offseason.
The Eagles won the FA Cup as they ended last season with only two defeats in their final 13 matches, since when they have dispatched Liverpool in the Community Shield and tasted European football for the first time in their unbeaten start to this campaign. There's no team in Europe that has enjoyed a longer unbeaten streak than Palace -- 18 matches without defeat in all competitions -- but Nketiah has largely been a passenger during this run.
The 26-year-old is entering his second full season at Palace, but he has managed just nine league starts amid injury problems and intense competition at Selhurst Park.
He has played for just over half-an-hour this season, with a hamstring problem picked up in preseason preventing him from featuring in Palace's first eight matches having been a bit-part player towards the end of last term. Despite being fit, Nketiah started just two of the Eagles' last 13 matches in 2024-25, and was limited to a 12-minute cameo in the FA Cup final.
That's far short of what was expected from the 26-year-old when he first broke onto the scene with Arsenal, where his diversity of finishing -- poacher's efforts, intuitive headers, and flamboyant back heels -- set him apart as one of the brightest talents to come through the club's academy in recent years.
Palace coach Oliver Glasner has nevertheless regularly praised the attacker's attitude and professionalism, and he was delighted as anyone when the striker lashed home a 97th-minute winner from close range to give Palace a late victory over the champions.
Disjointed Liverpool had appeared set to salvage a point when Federico Chiesa cancelled out Ismaïla Sarr's ninth-minute opener, only for another defensive lapse to prove costly; the Reds failed to deal with a long throw into their box, where Marc Guéhi rose above the visitors' defence to head astutely into Nketiah's path, and the forward volleyed emphatically beyond Alisson.
Coming in 96 minutes and 59 seconds, it's the latest winning goal ever scored by Palace in the Premier League, and the latest winner conceded by Liverpool since 2006-07.
"It was a nice flick-on, and I just tried to stay calm and focus on my first touch," Nketiah said after the match. "I trust myself with both feet and it was a nice finish with my left foot, with a bit of a nervous wait for VAR. It is nothing less than the boys deserved. We never give up, we never stop believing."
Glasner acknowledged that Nketiah hasn't had things easy as he's waited to make his mark at the club.
"It's good to have him back," Glasner said. "At the end of last season, he showed... that he can score many goals, scoring two against Wolves in our last home game.
"He's so ambitious and is working very hard, which he got the reward for. Eddie is investing so much, and he got the reward with the match-winner in front of our fans, getting celebrated. Well done, Eddie."
Nketiah's focus now turns to Palace's UEFA Conference League group-stage opener against Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday, but the Arsenal fan couldn't help but acknowledge how some of his former colleagues in North London were grateful for his late winner that denied their title rivals Liverpool a point.
"I had a few thank you messages to be honest," Nketiah said. "Yeah, a couple of the staff messaged me, but I'm fully focused on life here and want to do well and help the team as much as possible."
Nketiah could be eyeing an unlikely place at the World Cup next year if he stays fit and firing. Despite being capped by England -- in a friendly against Australia in 2023 -- the attacker remains eligible for Ghana, with then-Black Stars head coach Chris Hughton revealing two years ago that the West African heavyweights had been in contact with the forward.
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Brentford's Kayode is another player who may have a decision to make before the World Cup, with the Nigeria-eligible fullback having gone under the radar as one of the Premier League's finest signings since his arrival in the capital from Fiorentina in January. He has won admirers for his swashbuckling style, his adaptability amid previous coach Thomas Frank's tactical tweaks, and his improving defensive contributions.
With Brentford tipped for relegation by many pundits this season, after the departure of Frank, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, players such as Kayode clearly need to step up under Keith Andrews if the Bees are to defy the critics.
Kayode did exactly that in the victory over Manchester United, threatening the Red Devils' nervy backline on numerous occasions with his impactful long throws.
One of the spearheads of the Premier League's rediscovered trend for piercing throw-ins, Kayode demonstrated again why he perhaps sets the new gold standard for the top dangermen from the touchline, ensuring he rubs shoulders with the likes of Rory Delap and Steve Watson.
Andrews' promotion to the head coach role at Brentford came after he had served as the Londoners' set-piece coach under Frank, and don't be surprised to see Kayode's throws become a hallmark of the club's play this season.
Kayode's throw-ins will continue to catch the eye, but it's also worth noting that no other Brentford player made more tackles or won more duels against United, while his physical attributes and tenacity could yet make him one of the most rounded fullbacks in the division.