It was perhaps the most anticipated Premier League return after an international break, such was the point of seeing Cristiano Ronaldo return, and it certainly didn’t disappoint us.

Ronaldo scored twice in a landslide 4-1 win over a rebounding Old Trafford, while Romelu Lukaku continued to show what he would add at Chelsea this season and the probable best four have all made their move.

Arsenal eventually scored a goal and a few points on the board, while Liverpool’s victory was marred by a horrific leg injury to one of their brightest young stars.

Here is everything we learned from the return of the Premier League …

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ARSENAL FINALLY SET UP AND IN OPERATION

For the first time in an era, Arsenal do not have European football to interfere with their Premier League ambitions. But will that be enough to help Mikel Arteta save his job after a nightmarish start to the season? After three limp and lifeless performances, Arsenal found themselves at the bottom of the table at the start of the weekend. Arteta – one of the league’s youngest managers at just 39 – responded by shaking things up against Norwich. New signing Takehiro Tomiyasu made his debut at right-back, while Gabriel and Ben White started together at center-back for the very first time.

They played intensely from the start, with Martin Odegaard offering plenty of problems in his first home start since his final move from Real Madrid. Thomas Partey returned from injury with a British pound showing off the bench. And it was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who finally – after 336 minutes this season – ended Arsenal’s scoring drought.

It was the most sloppy of goals, the most muddled of 1-0 victories. But it was still a victory, and their season is finally on. There are of course serious issues to be resolved. Problems like taking 30 shots for one goal.

Burnley, Tottenham and Brighton are next, and with a full week of preparation thanks to their lack of European football, the Gunners should be up to the task this weekend.

Stress has weighed heavily on Arteta, who has unsurprisingly been the target of heavy fire in recent weeks. He said “you wanna hit yourself” – that’s the stress of underperforming in the hot seat.

“I think it is impossible not to [bring your work home]… You have to keep in mind that you do everything you can to the best of your ability first, and don’t kid yourself or make excuses. Normally the easiest thing to do is blame the players: “They are not good enough. I have this, I have that. And then you try to over-train them.

“I wasn’t ready to do this because first of all they don’t deserve this. The people around this club don’t deserve it. You just want to hit yourself because you’re not doing it right and not getting the result you think you deserve.

Arsenal’s massive summer spending – the most clubs in Europe – means excuses are slim on the pitch.

They are on the move. Let’s just hope the engine doesn’t stall.

THE BRUTAL BLOW OF LIVERPOOL

Liverpool youngster Harvey Elliot was on the cusp of a breakout season. At just 18, he has made all four of his league appearances so far – starting three times – in a star-studded midfielder. He was already the club’s youngest senior starting player when he made his 2019 debut at the age of 16 and 174 days.

Last year’s loan to the Blackburn Rovers in the Championship worked wonders. He has played 41 games, scoring 7 goals and 11 assists (the most ever for a second-division teenager) and was nominated for Young Player of the Season.

A new long-term contract signed at the start of this campaign and suddenly the teenager was set to become Liverpool’s next rising star, filling the huge hole left in the Reds’ midfielder by the departure of Georginio Wijnaldum .

However, on the weekend it all fell apart.

A horrific ankle injury means surgery this week. It’s a brutal setback for the youngster, who Jurgen Klopp described as “a high level, high level player”.

This also presents an important conundrum for Klopp. There is no shortage of brilliant players to fill the role, but finding his best combination was a major issue last year and needs to be addressed immediately – AC Milan await Thursday morning in a repeat of one of the club’s biggest battles in the Champions League.

Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, James Milner are huge figures in the heart of the park. There is no Wijnaldum – a massive loss to PSG on a free transfer after his contract expires – and the choice not to replace him could come back to bite the Reds, especially if the injury curse from last year strikes again.

THE RONALDO IMPACT

Cristiano Ronaldo is back at Manchester United, in case you missed him, and his impact on the players around him is already rubbing off.

From passionate speeches to his new teammates about how standards are going to rise now that he’s here, to players skipping dessert and watching Ronaldo put on his plate the night before a game, he’s already making a difference at the club.

New signing Jadon Sancho was seen asking him for advice on his free-kicks during the pre-game warm-up against Newcastle, while he and Mason Greenwood were given in-game advice on how to change and vary their attacks, including Ronaldo is the master of.

There are several reports that his arrival even sparked a shift in the decision-making process for Paul Pogba, who is now apparently willing to stay at Old Trafford as it has emerged he will be leaving for free at the end of the season.

His two goals against Newcastle proved he can still support anything and the fanfare that followed has everyone – players included – giddy with excitement.

That was his impact after just two training sessions, he still needs time to learn from his new teammates, with Pogba having to talk to him about the Frenchman’s trademark crosses from the inside right position. Expect it to be a bigger avenue for goals this season once Ronaldo really gets the hang of it.

SEASONAL AFFAIR?

While all the attention of the Premier League transfer window has been on Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish, the biggest deal of them all has apparently gone under the radar.

Everton’s £ 1.7million madness over ex-Leicester City winger Demarai Gray from Bayer Leverkusen has been an inspiration, with the 25-year-old having already scored three goals in three games since arriving at Goodison Park .

Rafa Benitez’s modest transfer deals were a far cry from Everton’s recent spending trend as he brought in a number of Premier League stars who were a hot property around five years ago.

But so far it seems he knew what he was doing, with Gray and Andros Townsend both scoring against Burnley on Tuesday morning, the latter with a spectacular 30-year-old strike from the top corner.

Gray may not go under the radar for too long, with Gary Lineker tweeting, “Really happy for Demarai Gray. He’s always had a lot of potential and if he continues like this he could just be the bargain of the season.

Everton are now in fourth place in the Premier League table and with Aston Villa and Norwich Benitez have a great opportunity to end a great start to the season ahead of a trip to Old Trafford in early October.

THE FORGOTTEN £ 50m CHELSEA MAN

What happened to Ben Chilwell?

The last time England and Chelsea left-back was seen on a football pitch was during the Champions League victory at the end of last season. He hasn’t played a single minute at Euro 2020 and hasn’t played for the Blues at all so far this season.

Thomas Tuchel has preferred to use Marcos Alonso in his post recently, while winger Callum Hudson-Odoi was deployed there as a winger against Aston Villa, in the 3-0 victory this weekend.

It’s a real headache for Chilwell, considering that the 20-year-old Hudson-Odoi, who has tried to leave the club for the past two years due to a lack of chances, usually plays as a right winger.

“Yeah, it’s been absolutely difficult for him, and I think it’s pretty normal,” Tuchel said of Chilwell. “It came from a Champions League victory, 90 minutes, a solid performance and a good end to the season in general. He played a lot of minutes for us in a lot of important games, at a high level.

“Then it was a tough Euro for him individually, because there were occasions when he thought he could have played. I know it was tough, because you feel like you’re part of the team, but you don’t really feel it if you don’t sweat on the pitch and never wear the jersey. It’s a strange feeling, also to keep training for four or five weeks continuously.

“He took a break and it was hard for him to totally relax and let go of that disappointment. When he arrived here, I felt him mentally a little tired, still worried about the situation.

“At the same time he was unlucky because Marcos was here the entire preseason and he seized the opportunity with such quality and attitude. Marcos was crucial for us from day one of the game. drive, then he delivered to Chilly’s place.

LOSS OF ANGEL IS GAIN OF PL

Celtic coach Ange Postecoglou may have lost his best player on the final day of the transfer window, but his loss is the Premier League win as Odsonne Edouard has had a dazzling start to life at Crystal Palace.

The 23-year-old was one of the best players in the Scottish Premiership during his time with Celtic, but his ambitions grew too big for Celtic as he pushed to move to the Premier League.

And at first glance, the hype around him seems to be justified as his two goals at Selhurst Park saw Crystal Palace hand Tottenham their first loss of the season.

Edouard only came off the substitutes’ bench after 84 minutes, but still managed to score twice in the final six minutes to get Palace fans up and whet their appetites ahead of a big season of change at the club.

He will surely work his way into the starting lineup by next weekend and if he needs more referrals for the hand of strength manager Patrick Vieira there will be plenty of green and white hoops. ready to provide brilliant ones.