Amid the backdrop of another dramatic transfer deadline day, Premier League clubs geared up for a midweek round of fixtures, and Arsenal are still leading the way at the top of the table after a 2-1 success over Aston Villa.

Champions Manchester City are close on the Gunners' coat-tails after thrashing Nottingham Forest 6-0, while Tottenham Hotspur occupy the final podium spot despite being held to a 1-1 draw by West Ham United.

Brighton & Hove Albion are in the top four despite going down 2-1 to newly-promoted Fulham, while Manchester United made it three wins on the bounce with a 1-0 success over Leicester City.

Liverpool left it late to come from behind and beat Newcastle United 2-1 at Anfield, and Chelsea's underwhelming start to the season continued with a 2-1 defeat away to Southampton.

Elsewhere, Crystal Palace and Brentford played out a 1-1 draw, as did Leeds United and Everton, while Bournemouth began life without Scott Parker with a goalless stalemate at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Here, Sports Mole picks its Team of the Week for the latest round of fixtures.

DEFENCE

From shipping a record-equalling nine at Anfield to holding Wolves to a goalless stalemate, Bournemouth had new goalkeeper Neto to thank for their vastly improved defensive showing, as the ex-Barcelona man came up with three saves, two punches and two high claims on a standout debut at the Vitality Stadium.

It is no surprise to see Bournemouth and Wolves' defensive names dominate the backline given the lack of attacking talent on show in their drab stalemate, and Lloyd Kelly certainly helped out his goalkeeper with an instinctive clearance off the line from Daniel Podence's header, as well as making two blocks to preserve his side's clean sheet.

At the other end of the field, Max Kilman and Nathan Collins were both as solid as a rock for Wolves, and we have just given the nod to the former for a spot in our TOTW, as he won all four of his aerial duels, made three tackles and also posted a 90% pass accuracy.

On the right-hand side, it is easy to understand why Arsenal were so persistently linked with Brentford's Aaron Hickey, as the 20-year-old won nine of his 10 ground duels, made six tackles and two blocks in an eye-catching showing versus Palace.

Finally, Joao Cancelo continues to take to his left-back role with aplomb and got in on the act against Forest with an unstoppable strike from the edge of the box, while he also won all three of his aerial battles and saw five of his six long pass attempts come off.

MIDFIELD

Managing to pull off the signing of Joao Palhinha from Sporting was a magnificent coup indeed from Fulham, and the Portugal international was here, there and everywhere in the win over Brighton, making eight tackles and winning both of his aerial duels in a dominant display.

Across the capital at the London Stadium, the goalscoring prowess of the towering Tomas Soucek came to the fore in West Ham's stalemate with Tottenham, as the Czech midfielder took the ball down expertly before firing home past Hugo Lloris, while he also made four tackles, two interceptions and posted an 89% pass accuracy.

As well as Palhinha, another new arrival in London forces his way into our engine room, as Crystal Palace enforcer Cheick Doucoure laid the ball off for Wilfried Zaha to curl home against Brentford, and the former Lens man also made six tackles and posted a 100% long ball success rate.

ATTACK

Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli could have very well put his name in the hat for goal of the season had his goal-bound volley not been tipped over by Emiliano Martinez, but the Brazilian starlet was later on hand to score the winner for the Gunners just 151 seconds after the Lions had equalised, and he was a constant menace on the left-hand side with three successful dribbles from four attempts.

However, the bulk of the attacking brilliance in midweek was on display at the Etihad, where Man City new boy Julian Alvarez marked his full Premier League debut with a brace against Nottingham Forest, firstly finishing from a tight angle before rifling home off the bar in front of the home crowd.

While Alvarez's successes were celebrated, the day belonged to the talismanic Erling Braut Haaland, who scored a hat-trick for the second successive Premier League game - with all three strikes coming before the half-time whistle - and the clinical Norwegian's nine strikes is an all-time record for any player in their first five Premier League appearances.

SPORTS MOLE'S PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK

Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week (4-3-3): Neto; Hickey, Kelly, Kilman, Cancelo; Palhinha, Soucek, Doucoure; Alvarez, Haaland, Martinelli