Football
10y

Chelsea go top of Premier League as Man City and Man United slip up

Chelsea came out on top in a nine-goal thriller at Everton to move to the summit of the Premier League as Manchester City suffered a shock defeat at home to Stoke and Manchester United dropped points at Burnley.

Chelsea demonstrated the full extent of their attacking power in the 6-3 victory over Everton at Goodison Park.

The win, in which Diego Costa opened and rounded off the scoring, made it three in three in the Premier League for the Blues.

Jose Mourinho's side got off to a flying start, with strikes from Costa and Branislav Ivanovic putting them two up after three minutes.

Kevin Mirallas pulled one back on the stroke of half-time, before a crazy period of five goals in 11 second-half minutes as Chelsea pulled clear only to be pegged back.

Seamus Coleman's unfortunate own goal after 67 minutes made it 3-1, only for Steven Naismith to finish neatly two minutes later.

Nemanja Matic's low strike had Chelsea 4-2 up in the 74th minute, but two minutes after that Samuel Eto'o, on for his Everton debut off the bench, headed home his side's third against his old club.

Ramires stabbed Chelsea's fifth past Tim Howard a minute later, and Costa finally put the result beyond doubt in the 90th minute, rounding Tim Howard to score.

Mame Biram Diouf scored a sensational winner as Stoke claimed a 1-0 win over Premier League champions City at the Etihad Stadium.

Diouf ran from deep inside his own half to nutmeg Joe Hart after 58 minutes and hand the Potters a first top-flight away victory over City since 1980.

The former Manchester United player, who was denied a penalty in the first half, might also have scored an instant second as Manuel Pellegrini's side lost their composure.

City, who had won their previous seven Premier League matches, wanted a spot-kick themselves late on but Yaya Toure was booked for diving after a challenge by Erik Pieters.

In the earlier game, Louis van Gaal's problems mounted at Turf Moor as Angel Di Maria hobbled off injured in United's uninspiring 0-0 draw with Burnley.

Van Gaal, who watched his team get hammered by MK Dons in midweek, stretched his winless streak to four matches after another poor display -- this time at the home of Premier League newcomers Burnley, who were torn apart here by Chelsea on the opening weekend of the season.

Robin van Persie's second-half shot was cleared off the line, but otherwise United had very few chances despite the fact that they had the Netherlands international, Di Maria, Rooney and Juan Mata on the pitch for most of the match.

Jonny Evans and Antonio Valencia were guilty of making potentially costly defensive errors and David de Gea also had to make a few impressive saves to deny the Clarets, who picked up their first point of the campaign.

Swansea now sit second in the table after West Brom were swept aside 3-0 at the Liberty Stadium.

Garry Monk's men extended their 100 percent record to three games as a Nathan Dyer double and a spectacular volley from Wayne Routledge rewarded some excellent Swansea approach play.

But the Swans were also aided by some pitiful defending, with West Brom still seeking their first league victory under new manager Alan Irvine.

Wilfried Zaha snatched a point for new manager Neil Warnock as Crystal Palace emerged from a 3-3 thriller at Newcastle with something to show for their efforts.

Zaha, on loan at the Eagles from Manchester United, struck five minutes into stoppage time at the end of a dramatic encounter at St James' Park just as it looked as though the Magpies had secured their first Premier League win of the season.

He and Newcastle counterpart Rolando Aarons lit up a nail-biting conclusion to the game with fine cameos after Daryl Janmaat and Aarons himself had cancelled out earlier efforts from Dwight Gayle and Jason Puncheon.

Mike Williamson's 88th-minute finish -- his first goal for five years -- looked to have secured the points, but Zaha dashed the home side's hopes in front of owner Mike Ashley and a crowd of 49,226.

Morgan Schneiderlin scored twice as Southampton secured a first league win for new manager Ronald Koeman by beating West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park.

The France international -- who had been linked with a move to join former Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham -- produced a couple of fine close-range efforts either side of half-time as the visitors came from behind following Mark Noble's deflected effort.

Graziano Pelle, signed for 8 million pounds from Koeman's old club Feyenoord, wrapped things up with seven minutes left.

Charlie Austin eased Queens Park Rangers into life without Loic Remy, who looks set for a move to Chelsea, by ending the Loftus Road club's goal drought in a 1-0 victory over Sunderland.

The former Burnley striker bagged his first Premier League goal to end Rangers' 315-minute scoring drought in their fourth clash of the new campaign.

Harry Redknapp's men were desperate for both goals and points after successive defeats to Hull, Tottenham and Burton, and had Austin to thank for a thumping first-half finish.

^ Back to Top ^