Arsenal began their Premier League championship defence in perfect fashion as Bruno Guimaraes’ brilliant first-half goal gave them a 2-0 win over Sunderland, while Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham were all held at home yesterday.
AFP – Newly-promoted Hull stay unbeaten and third in the rankings after a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge as Liverpool struggled to find a way past struggling Fulham in a goalless affair.
Tottenham’s search for a league goal continues despite a £300 million ($405 million) spending spree on new players as they drew a blank again in a goalless stalemate with Everton.
Arsenal were also thankful for David Raya’s penalty save from Enzo Le Fee as they opened up a three-point lead over Manchester City with four wins from their opening four games.
Just past two minutes later, Guimaraes made it 3-0 with his first Arsenal goal, a long-range shot into the top corner of the net.
And Bukayo Saka’s penalty with the last kick of the game saw off another remarkable victory for Mikel Arteta’s side.
City can go back with leaders Arsenal if they beat United in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford today.
But a considerable chasm is already opening between Arsenal and the other title hopefuls.
Alonso wants ‘boring’ Chelsea
It was the usual story for Chelsea as front three Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer shone and the Blues were undone by a failure to defend.
Chelsea have scored 16 and surrendered 12 in five games against top-flight opposition since Xabi Alonso took command.
“It’s maybe entertaining but I hope one day you will say it was a boring game and we win and we don’t give these entertaining moments,” remarked Alonso after his side fell five points off the top.
Rogers hammered the ball in at the near post on seven minutes to finally break the resistance of Hull, the last Premier League side not to lose a goal after three clean sheets.
Mohamed Belloumi capitalised on poor Chelsea defending to score twice before half-time.
Joao Pedro hammered in a Palmer cross into the top corner to equalise matters soon after the hour.
But the hosts couldn’t find a winner as Hull’s honeymoon back in the Premier League continues.
Fulham Battle For Arbeloa
Liverpool are still unbeaten under Andoni Iraola, but there were whistles at Anfield when Fulham picked up their first point under Alvaro Arbeloa.
Bradley Barcola, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, a front three worth £100 million, could not find the net against the porous defence of the Cottagers.
“You cannot be happy when you are drawing, especially at home,” Iraola remarked, highlighting weariness after his side’s Champions League effort against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
We were a little bit lacking in freshness today and we didn’t do enough in attack to make the difference.
Liverpool, who are sixth, are already six points behind Arsenal.
The thinking behind Tottenham’s off-season spending spree was to ensure there would be no recurrence of the last two seasons, when they finished 17th.
They’re narrowly inside the relegation zone, a dismal run in front of goal that shows no sign of stopping.
Nottingham Forest came back late to extract revenge for last season’s Europa League semi-final humiliation and send Aston Villa into the bottom three.
There were a few raised eyebrows at the club-record £45m that Forest reportedly paid Chelsea for Liam Delap after he failed to make the mark at Stamford Bridge.
Delap, though, showed his class when he broke the deadlock with a long-range drive into the bottom corner.
Alysson cancelled out Villa’s first league goal of the season but Igor Jesus secured Oliver Glasner’s first win as Forest boss.
Glasner’s former team Crystal Palace extended their terrible start to the campaign with a 3-2 home defeat to Ipswich.
Axl Disasi’s first-half red card helped the visitors as Zian Flemming’s debut goal for the Tractor Boys snatched all three points in stoppage time.
Brentford remain unbeaten as Kevin Schade double sees off 2-2 draw at Bournemouth
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