Pereyra stars again for Watford
Watford pulled off something of a coup in 2016 in persuading Roberto Pereyra to swap potential Champions League glory with Juventus for life at a midtable Premier League side.
Two years later, the English club is starting to get a strong return for its investment.
Pereyra scored his third goal in three games this season to help Watford beat Crystal Palace 2-1 yesterday, keeping up its 100 percent start to the Premier League. It is only the fourth time in Watford's 137-year history that the team has won its first three games of a league season, and the first time in the Premier League.
Pereyra, who scored twice in the 2-0 opening-weekend win over Brighton, received the ball on the left, cut inside and curled a low shot into the corner to put Watford ahead against Palace in the 53rd minute.
Jose Holebas added a second for Watford in the 71st when what appeared to be an attempted cross from the left drifted into the top corner of the net.
Wilfried Zaha reduced the deficit in the 78th with his second goal of the season for Palace and the visitors nearly snatched a point, with Joel Ward heading wide from close range from a corner with almost the last touch of a game played in wet and slippery conditions.
Now over injury problems that have affected his time at Vicarage Road, Pereyra is showing the qualities that saw him play in the Champions League final for Juventus in 2015 and win back-toback Italian league titles with the Turin club.
American defender DeAndre Yedlin put his hands to his head and buried his face in the turf after scoring an 88th-minute own-goal to hand Chelsea a 2-1 win over Newcastle in the Premier League yesterday.
Yedlin had just set up Newcastle's equalizer, scored by Joselu, when he stretched out his leg to block a shot from Marcos Alonso and accidentally diverted the ball into his own net. He looked distraught as Chelsea's players celebrated a goal that secured a third straight victory for the London club to open the season.
In an embarrassingly one-sided game, Chelsea took 77 minutes to break down Newcastle as Hazard converted a penalty following a foul on Alonso, after yet another surge into the box by the attacking left back.
Joselu got in front of David Luiz to glance a header inside the near post from Yedlin's right-wing cross, making it 1-1 in the 83rd, but that didn't prove to be Yedlin's most pivotal intervention of the match at St. James' Park.
Chelsea, under new coach Maurizio Sarri, joined Liverpool and Watford in having a 100 percent record after three games, having previously beaten Huddersfield and Arsenal.
Chelsea had 79 percent possession in the first half against a retreating Newcastle team set up ultra-defensively by coach Rafa Benitez. That percentage rose to 90 percent at one stage after halftime.
When Jean Michael Seri spectacularly fired in his first Premier League goal for Fulham, he surprised more than just the fans watching at Craven Cottage yesterday.
The long-range effort from outside the area left Burnley goalkeeper Joe Hart clutching at thin air and triggered a breathless first half. Jeff Hendrick hit back for the visitors before a double from Aleksandar Mitrovic and a tap-in for James Tarkowski made it 3-2 to Fulham at the break.
But it was Seri who stole the show, winning the ball back in midfield, dropping deep to pick up possession and controlling the tempo of the game.
Seri was ably assisted by a front three of fellow signings. Mitrovic, who was on loan at the club last season but only joined permanently in the transfer window, worked relentlessly up front and earned his goals. Luciano Vietto impressed in his first start for the club and another loan signing, Andre Schuerrle, sealed the win late on.
Fulham has invested heavily in its playing squad, only to start without a point from two games before its first league win on Sunday.
After Seri and Hendrick had scored inside the opening 10 minutes, it was Mitrovic who turned the game with two quick goals. First, he headed in from close range in the 36th after a clever corner-kick routine, and then converted a deft chip from Vietto, a loan signing from Atletico Madrid, in the 38th. The double took Mitrovic's tally for the season to three as he begins to justify a reported fee of $28.9 million.
Fulham was comfortable with a two-goal lead only for four minutes, however. From a corner Ben Mee rose highest to head into the path of his central defensive partner Tarkowski, who tapped in for his second goal of the season.
But the second-half onslaught never came and Fulham created all the best chances after the break, finally sealing the win when Schuerrle fired home following a fine Hart save to deny Mitrovic his hat trick. Today 21:00 Manchester United-Tottenham
Standings
Liverpool Chelsea Watford Man City Bournemouth Tottenham Leicester Everton Man United Arsenal Crystal Palace Fulham Brighton Wolves Cardiff Newcastle Southampton Burnley Huddersfield West Ham P W D 3 3 0 3 3 0 3 3 0 3 2 1 3 2 1 2 2 0 3 2 0 3 1 2 2 1 0 3 1 0 3 1 0 3 1 0 3 1 0 3 0 2 3 0 2 3 0 1 3 0 1 3 0 1 3 0 1 3 0 0 L 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 F A Pts 7 0 9 8 3 9 7 2 9 9 2 7 6 3 7 5 2 6 5 3 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 5 6 3 3 4 3 5 7 3 3 5 3 3 5 2 0 2 2 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 7 1 1 9 1 2 9 0
Championship Yesterday Rotherham-Millwall .......................... 1-0 Leeds Middlesbrough Bolton Aston Villa Blackburn Derby Sheffield Utd Brentford Bristol City Swansea West Brom Wigan Nottingham Sheffield Wed Rotherham Millwall Stoke Norwich Hull City Preston Birmingham QPR Reading Ipswich Ligue 1 P W D 5 4 1 5 4 1 5 3 1 5 2 3 5 2 3 5 3 0 5 3 0 5 2 2 5 2 2 5 2 2 5 2 1 5 2 1 5 1 4 5 2 1 5 2 0 5 1 2 5 1 2 5 1 1 5 1 1 5 1 1 5 0 3 5 1 0 5 0 2 5 0 2 L F A Pts 0 14 4 13 0 9 2 13 1 6 6 10 0 10 7 9 0 6 4 9 2 8 7 9 2 8 7 9 1 10 5 8 1 7 5 8 1 5 4 8 2 13 8 7 2 10 8 7 0 7 6 7 2 7 8 7 3 5: 0 6 2 5 6 5 2 6 9 5 3 8: 1 4 3 5 9 4 3 3 7 4 2 4 6 3 4 3: 3 3 3 4 7 2 3 4 8 2
Yesterday Lille-Guingamo .................................. 3-0 Bordeaux-Monaco ............................ 2-1 Marseille-Rennes .............................. 2-2
Standings FRANCE Standings