Mohamed Salah set up Sadio Mane’s 100th Premier League goal and scored a brilliant goal of his own, while Roberto Firmino bagged a hat-trick as Liverpool reclaimed top spot with a 5-0 win over Watford in Claudio Ranieri’s first game in charge.
Firmino may have walked away with the match ball, but it was Salah that took the breath away in an individual attacking display full of the kind of vision, skill and guile that the watching Watford fans could only dream of from their side.
The visitors took the lead in the ninth minute when Liverpool won a Watford kickout, and Mohamed Salah played a sublime pass to Mane with the outside of his left boot for the Senegalese striker to notch his Premier League century.
Mane then picked out James Milner on an overlapping run and he drove a perfect ball across the goal for Firmino to steer home from close range in the 37th minute to put the Reds 2-0 up at halftime.
Watford defender Craig Cathcart endured a torrid afternoon, sliding to send a back-pass to Ben Foster that the goalkeeper spilled into the path of Firmino, who finished with a simple tap-in to make it 3-0. But the worst was still to come for him as Salah took possession in the box two minutes later.
Trapped in a triangle of Watford defenders, the Egyptian rolled his studs over the ball before bursting past Cathcart and then leaving him sliding in the wrong direction as he cut back and curled the ball home with his left foot for an exquisite solo goal.
“Every time I’m in the box, I’m trying to get the ball for someone to score or trying to score by myself. It’s always about the team, I always try to play for the team,” a beaming Salah told BT Sport.
“The most important thing is we scored good goals, all of us up front scored,” he added.
Ranieri, who took over as Watford boss on Oct. 4 following the sacking of Xisco Munoz, was left in no doubt about the size of the task he faces as Watford came up woefully short, and Firmino added his third in second-half stoppage time.
The win lifts Liverpool back to the Premier League summit on 18 points, two ahead of Chelsea who can retake the lead if they beat Brentford in Saturday’s late game. Watford are 15th on seven points.
Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves’ deflected free-kick gave Wolverhampton Wanderers a 3-2 comeback win in stoppage time at Aston Villa on Saturday with all five goals coming in the second half of a thrilling Midlands derby in the Premier League.
Neves’ strike from outside the area hit Matt Targett to go past goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, sending the away fans into delirium as most of the 41,961 Villa Park crowd fell silent.
“The ball was in so that’s all that matters. What a win, what a team spirit. I’m so proud of the boys,” Neves said.
“A really hard game for us. Villa are a great team, they were at home, it was a derby – it was almost perfect for us.”
After a tight first half with chances at both ends, Villa had cruised into a 2-0 lead in the second period.
Striker Danny Ings scored his first goal since August with a powerful close-range header from John McGinn’s cross in the 48th minute. Twenty minutes later, McGinn saw his low strike deflect off Neves into the net.
But Wolves clawed themselves back with goals from Romain Saiss, who swept in an 80th minute cross, and then from fellow defender Conor Coady, who got the last touch on a goalmouth scramble five minutes later.
‘PAINFUL DEFEAT’
With 2-2 looking a fair score, Neves settled the game in the 95th minute, sending his team mates racing towards the away fans and crumpling in a joyous heap on the grass.
The win took Wolves to eighth in the Premier League on 12 points, and left Villa 12th on 10 points.
“I find it difficult to explain because it should have been a victory. We were comfortable and we didn’t see that coming. Three set-pieces have cost us three goals,” said a shell-shocked Aston Villa boss Dean Smith.
“You have to defend better when goals get put in the box in the last 10 minutes. It’s a painful defeat because it’s one we should have had. We were the better team but you can’t legislate for a lack of composure in the last 10 minutes.”
Wolves captain Coady was ecstatic.
“No matter how the goals go in, it’s incredible!” he said.
“I’m still out of breath to be honest. We gave away sloppy goals but days like that, you don’t think of that. To come back is testament to the boys. Incredible, eh?”
Leicester City fired on all cylinders late on to beat Manchester United 4-2 at home in the Premier League on Saturday, ending a four-match winless run and piling more pressure on visiting manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The result also ended United’s record 29-game unbeaten away run in the league as they collapsed in a frantic five-minute spell in the closing stages, having taken an early lead and then pulled themselves back to 2-2.
With Cristiano Ronaldo putting in a subdued performance up front for United, it was shambolic defending that stretched their own winless run to three games in which they have taken one point from a possible nine.
Vardy was delighted after the game as Leicester bounced back from their barren spell.
“It was massively important,” Vardy told the BBC. “The most important thing was the performance because we had let our standards slip. We had the international break to reflect on things.”
Visiting midfielder Paul Pogba conceded United were well below par and pointed out the team lacked energy and confidence.
“We deserved to lose,” he said. “To be honest, we have been having these kind of games for a long time. We have not found the problem, conceding easy goals, stupid goals.
“We need to be more mature, play with more experience and arrogance in a good way. We need to find something, we need to change.”
United had made a perfect start as Mason Greenwood fired them into a 19th-minute lead when he unleashed a thunderbolt from 20 metres that flew into the far corner as it shaved the inside of the post.
But the visitors were punished for sloppy passing in the danger zone in the 31st as Kelechi Iheanacho robbed Harry Maguire of the ball and squared it for Youri Tielemans to hit the top corner with a looping shot over goalkeeper David De Gea.
A tame second half came to life with De Gea tipping a sublime Tielemans ball onto the woodwork before Ronaldo, who spurned a first-half chance with United ahead, saw home keeper Kasper Schmeichel palm over his shot from inside the area.
It was rip-roaring action from there on as Caglar Soyuncu turned the tide with a close-range effort in the 78th minute before Marcus Rashford, returning after shoulder surgery in August, levelled for United in the 82nd.
Less than 60 seconds later, however, substitute Ayoze Perez chipped the ball into Vardy’s path and the striker gave De Gea no chance with a superb volley with the outside of his foot, delighting the home fans in the King Power stadium.
Substitute Patson Daka put the icing on the cake for Leicester in stoppage time as more poor defending gave the Zambian striker time and space to tap the ball in from point blank range at the far post.
United slipped to fifth in the standings on 14 points from eight games, four behind leaders Liverpool who thrashed Watford 5-0 away in the lunchtime kick-off, while Leicester climbed to 11th on 11 points.
Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne were on target as Manchester City beat Burnley 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday to stay within a point of Premier League leaders Liverpool.
It was lacklustre display from Pep Guardiola’s side against winless opponents but after the difficulties of re-assembling his squad after the international break, the City boss was satisfied with three relatively comfortably earned points.
City, with American Zack Steffen deputising for Ederson in goal given the Brazilian’s late return from national team duty, gave a start to Raheem Sterling, who had said this week that he would consider a move away from the club.
Sterling made little impact, however, in an unusually punchless City attack with Riyad Mahrez far from his best on the right and Phil Foden the brightest down the middle.
Portuguese midfielder Silva opened the scoring in the 12th minute, tapping in after Burnley keeper Nick Pope had pushed out a well-struck low drive from Foden.
Burnley caused City some problems however and Ivorian attacker Maxwel Cornet could have brought them level when he latched on to a ball over the top from Dwight McNeil but City keeper Zack Steffen did well to save with his legs.
Josh Brownhill then screwed a shot wide from inside the box after some hesitant defending from City as Burnley ended the first half strongly.
Riyad Mahrez went close to doubling City’s lead after the break, clipping the cross-bar after a smart pull-back from Silva.
City finally put the contest to bed, in the 70th minute, when Ashley Westwood failed to clear for Burnley and the ball fell to De Bruyne who smashed home with his left foot.
Burnley should have pulled one back in the latter stages but a stretching Chris Wood put his shot over the bar with City’s defence having allowed him space.
Pep Guardiola’s side are on 17 points from eight games, in second place, with Liverpool top on 18 points. Chelsea could return to the top of the table if they win at Brentford later on Saturday.
“After the international break it’s always a little bit difficult to come to a rhythm and I know how good Burnley are. They did really well, they have good players,” Guardiola said.
“We did well in the second half and played really well and could’ve scored more goals. Good result, after the international break we take the victory and look what’s next.”
Burnley’s last four visits to City had ended in 5-0 defeats and manager Sean Dyche was pleased to have put up a better fight this time.
“We get nothing from the game but I was actually pleased with the performance against a top side,” Dyche said.
“They created chances, not as many as in the past but I was pleased we were creating quality chances and that’s the challenge we’ve had all season – taking our chances.”
Burnley are next to bottom with three points.
Armando Broja said scoring a goal on his first Premier League start was a “dream come true” as his neat finish against a lacklustre Leeds gave Southampton their first league win of the campaign.Norwich earned their second point of the season, but failed to take advantage of a host of chances to punish a below-par Brighton at Carrow Road.
Still searching for their first Premier League win of the season, the Canaries could not find a knockout punch despite their energy and industry ruffling the visitors.
Norwich earned their second point of the season, but failed to take advantage of a host of chances to punish a below-par Brighton at Carrow Road.
Ben Chilwell says Chelsea showed the mentality they will need for success this season as they held off an intense late push from Brentford to return to the top of the Premier League.
England left-back Chilwell’s first-half goal – his third in three games for club and country – was enough to win the west London derby, but only thanks to some strong defensive work as the Bees piled on the pressure in the closing stages.
Harry Kane scored his first Premier League goal of the season as Tottenham Hotspur overcame Newcastle United 3-2 at St James’ Park on Sunday to prolong the hosts’ winless run in a match that was briefly halted after a fan collapsed in the crowd.
Newcastle, spurred on by a buoyant atmosphere in their first game since being taken over by a Saudi Arabia-led consortium, flew out of the traps and went ahead after just 108 seconds when Callum Wilson headed in from a Javi Manquillo cross.
But the bright start soon fizzled out as Spurs hit back in the 17th minute through Tanguy Ndombele, who lashed home from the edge of the box after being played in by Sergio Reguilon.
Things got worse for the hosts five minutes later when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg played an excellent ball over the Newcastle defence and Kane beat the offside trap to smartly dink it over Karl Darlow.
“We got beaten by the better team after a wonderful start. Defensively, we had the same problems we’ve had for a while… we got our noses in front but did not defend well as a team,” said Newcastle boss Steve Bruce, who took charge of his 1000th game as a manger.
Spurs coach Nuno Espirito Santo told Sky: We knew what was coming, with everything going on around Newcastle, in the end it was a positive performance. We stayed in the game, we kept it steady. The moment we started moving it around, we started causing them problems.”
Play was suspended for nearly 25 minutes just before halftime after a fan collapsed in the East Stand of the ground. Newcastle said that the supporter’s condition had been stabilised and they were on their way to hospital.
Son Heung-min added a third from close range in first-half stoppage time before Newcastle were reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute when Jonjo Shelvey saw red for a second booking. An own-goal from Eric Dier set up a tense finish but Spurs held on.
“We needed to score next (in the second half) to give ourselves a chance but we never had any sustained pressure over them… but we still stuck and stayed with them,” added Bruce.
Not for the first time, David Moyes’ name echoed around Goodison Park to savour the sweetest of victories.
Painfully for Everton, the jubilation was exclusively in the away stand as the former manager maintained West Ham’s impressive upward trajectory. Under Moyes, West Ham look as accomplished as any team competing to be the ‘best of the rest’ beyond the top four. Moyes will have another of his former clubs, Manchester United, looking anxiously over their shoulder as they moved level on points with them courtesy of Angelo Ogbonna’s 74th minute header.
Patrick Vieira said Arsenal’s late equaliser was “really tough” to take as his Crystal Palace side were held to a draw in a thriller at Emirates Stadium.
Alexandre Lacazette scored deep into injury time to deny club legend Vieira a winning return, pouncing after Palace failed to clear a corner and Gabriel Martinelli’s effort was saved.
The Gunners started brightly and led deservedly through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after Vicente Guaita’s diving save to deny Nicolas Pepe.
But Palace improved – as the Gunners faded – and Christian Benteke continued his good record in games against the Gunners with the equaliser.
Thomas Partey was caught in possession by Jordan Ayew and Benteke drilled a shot into the bottom corner.
Palace again stole the ball off Arsenal to go ahead, as this time Conor Gallagher dispossessed Albert Sambi Lokonga in his own half, and the visitors broke quickly, with Odsonne Edouard hammering in a shot via the underside of the bar.
Kieran Tierney almost equalised for Arsenal late on but blasted against the bar with his shot.
And it looked as if they were going to fall short before substitute Lacazette steered home a loose ball from close range.