Related items

• Injury forces Militao out of Brazil's World Cup qualifiers

  Eder Militao will miss Brazil's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru due to a thigh injury.

  The defender, who also missed September's fixtures due to a leg injury, first felt some discomfort against Atletico Madrid on September 29.

  Though he has featured for Real Madrid since, he flew out to Sao Paulo to undergo checks on the issue, where the national team confirmed the extent of the injury.

  "[Militao] underwent tests this Sunday... which revealed a minor muscle injury in his left thigh that will prevent him from playing," the CBF said in a statement.

  He is the second Madrid player to pull out of the Brazil squad, with Vinicius Junior also unfit to play after suffering a neck injury.

  Brazil sit fifth in South America's qualification table after eight matches, with 10 points. 

• Premier League MD7: Lucky winners and unlucky losers

  There were plenty of thrills and spills across the board in the Premier League as matchday seven ran its course.

  Manchester City and Arsenal both had to come from behind to beat Fulham and Southampton respectively at home, while there were eight goals scored as Brentford overcame Wolves 5-3, with six of those strikes coming in the first half in west London.

  Liverpool kept themselves ahead at the summit thanks to a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, while Manchester United stopped the rot by holding Aston Villa, albeit they have now tallied up their lowest points total after seven games of any Premier League season.

  Leicester City, meanwhile, grabbed their first win of the campaign, while Anthony Gordon endured a miserable return to Goodison Park with Newcastle United. In the final fixture of the weekend, Brighton stunned Tottenham, forging a second-half comeback to win 3-2 at the Amex Stadium.

  So, after all that, who were the unlucky, and lucky, teams based on the underlying metrics?

  Lucky winners: Leicester City

  Leicester finally got their first top-flight win of the season on the board, as they edged out Bournemouth 1-0 thanks to Facundo Buonanotte's excellent run and finish.

  But, it's fair to say it was something of a smash-and-grab for Steve Cooper's team at the King Power Stadium. Leicester had just six shots, with only two of those hitting the target, and they tallied up just 0.79 expected goals (xG).

   

  On the other hand, Bournemouth had 19 attempts, creating five big chances (a tally bettered only by Brentford's eight and West Ham's nine this week) and accumulating 2.16 xG.

  Bournemouth only have themselves to blame for wasteful finishing – they got just two of their efforts on target – but the Cherries can still consider themselves unfortunate.

  Unlucky losers: Newcastle

  Determined to impress against his former club, Gordon fluffed his lines when his big moment arrived as Newcastle drew 0-0 with Everton on Saturday.

  With James Tarkowski having conceded a penalty by recklessly pulling the shirt of Sandro Tonali, Gordon stepped up to the spot, but Jordan Pickford guessed the right way.

  While Everton wanted a penalty of their own in the second half, the Toffees were largely second-best and that is backed up by the metrics. Even discounting Gordon's spot-kick, Newcastle finished with 1.26 xG and 14 shots. The hosts accumulated 0.67 xG and had eight attempts.

  Lucky winners: Man City

  It's not often that the champions are given a run for their money at home, but Fulham did just that.

   

  Indeed, Fulham finished with 2.6 xG at the Etihad Stadium, the fourth-highest total across the league this weekend, while they created five big chances.

  Pep Guardiola has said he is not concerned by Man City's unusually open defence, but he will want to see better from his team in that regard after the international break.

  Going forward, City benefited from three excellent finishes - two from Mateo Kovacic and one from Jeremy Doku. Their 1.57 xG came from 20 shots, though they created only one big chance.

• Hurzeler lauds Brighton comeback after finding missing confidence

  Fabian Hurzeler insisted Brighton will always have setbacks as the German revelled in his side finding their "missing" confidence after Sunday's comeback victory over Tottenham.

  Brighton were outclassed in the first half at the Amex Stadium as Brennan Johnson and James Maddison sent Spurs deservedly leading 2-0 into half-time.

  Hurzeler's high line was once again punished at will by the visitors in that opening period, though Yankuba Minteh's blasted finish shortly after the break offered the home side hope.

  Georginio Rutter swiftly followed Minteh's strike up with a fine goal of his own, before the former Leeds United man played a key part in the winner as his deflected cross found Danny Welbeck.

  Questions appeared to be mounting on Hurzeler after a four-game winless run, though the 31-year-old silenced some of those doubts with this 3-2 comeback triumph.

  "In the process, it is normal to have bad performances as the process is not linear, it's up-and-down, you have to accept these downs," the Brighton boss told Sky Sports after the game.

  "You have to focus on your own quality and that is what I said to the team: focus on the process. That is how you react to bad performances."

  When pressed on the confidence lacking in his team after their recent struggles, he added: "I think a little bit was missing. Being ruthless is the most important. 

  "In the duels we were not ruthless and if you win the personal duels and get the ball into the opponent's half you get self-confidence, that was the biggest change.

  "I always say 'we have enough quality to always score' [but] it is always important to learn from the first half."

  Rutter has now scored in back-to-back Premier League appearances, also netting against Chelsea, having failed to score in any of his first 15 outings in the competition across his spell with Leeds and now Brighton.

  His individual exploits proved the difference in the second half, though the Frenchman insisted Brighton's comeback was more about battling than tactics.

  "We are happy and stayed together like the coach said 'we have to believe'. That is what we do. We have three points so we're happy," Rutter said.

  "What we said at half-time was 'it's not about tactics, it's about fighting'."

  Welbeck scored his 27th Premier League goal for Brighton here, too, though it was just his second winning goal for the Seagulls, also netting what proved to be the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Leicester City in September 2021.

  The veteran attacker, who could have scored another in the first half from Kauro Mitoma's cross, echoed a similar sentiment to Rutter.

  "In the first half we were bitterly disappointed and frustrated, the performance we put in was embarrassing," Welbeck said. "Nothing we want to be part of, but we showed our character.

  "The attitude was right in the second half we came out and fought. We have got to give credit to the senior boys who are not on the pitch the likes, of Steely [Jason Steele] and Milner [James Milner], they told us the bare minimum is we've got to fight. Everyone is together in this.

  "We want to be challenging the establishment like the management touched upon."