Five things we learned from the weekend's football including Premier League

1 Teemu Pukki can cut it at Premier League level

It may have come against a flimsy Newcastle rearguard but Teemu Pukki became the first Norwich player to bag a Premier League hat-trick since 1993 on Saturday.

Confidence is key for a forward to impress in the top flight and the Finnish international did his wonders with a consolation goal at Anfield on the opening night of the season.

His movement was superb at Carrow Road and all three strikes, the first of which was an emphatic volley, were well-taken finishes.

With increasingly impressive wingers Todd Cantwell and Emiliano Buendia either side of him, he could make the Canaries a tough away trip for any side in the Premier League this term.

2 VAR does itself no favours in high-profile fixture

For the second time this calendar year, Manchester City have had a winning goal against Tottenham ruled out by Video Assistant Referees.

Although the decision adhered to updated handball laws, it was absurd that VAR was used to magnify what was a minor brush of the ball against Aymeric Laporte's hand and it flies in the face of the 'clear and obvious' mantra VAR advocates constantly recite.

The delay between Gabriel Jesus scoring and the goal being disallowed was too long and one can only hope these teething issues will iron themselves out as the season progresses because, love it or hate it, VAR is here to stay.

3 Adrian's distribution could be problematic for Liverpool

Liverpool have taken maximum points from their opening two fixtures but they were far from their swashbuckling best against Southampton, especially at the back.

Jurgen Klopp brushed off the late Saints goal with a joke but Adrian's poor clearance which ricocheted off Danny Ings and went in highlighted what could be an area of concern for the Reds going forwards.

Alisson's key attribute is his unusual comfort on the ball for a goalkeeper and Liverpool may not be able to play out from the back with such ease with Adrian between the sticks.

Against opposition who operate with a higher press than Southampton, the Spaniard could be left with egg on his face and Klopp may not be laughing then.

4 Lincoln City looking to do a Luton Town

Four matches, four wins, nine goals scored, none conceded - that is the emphatic record with which Lincoln City have started their season.

The Imps have seen off Accrington Stanley, Rotherham and Southend without reply either side of a 1-0 win at Sky Bet Championship side Huddersfield Town in the League Cup.

There are some big names in England's third tier this season but Luton outperformed teams such as Portsmouth and Sunderland last term and although it's early days, there's no saying Lincoln cannot do the same this time.

5 La Liga and Bundesliga title races are far from foregone conclusions

We do not want to fall into the trap of drawing hard and fast conclusions from one round of matches but defeat for Barcelona and Bayern Munich's failure to win suggest there may be more to the title races in Germany and Spain than expected.

The Catalan giants looked flat in the final third in Lionel Messi's absence and Ernesto Valverde was already under fire before the 1-0 loss at Bilbao.

Bayern Munich, meanwhile, drew 2-2 with Hertha Berlin, who highlighted a lapse in concentration in the Bavarian outfit after scoring two goals in as many minutes.

The stuttering starts were made worse for both sides after Real Madrid swept aside Celta Vigo 3-1 and Borussia Dortmund annihilated Augsburg 5-1, with new addition Julian Brandt getting on the scoresheet.

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