Perfect City steal limelight from United
Manchester City beat Swansea 3-1 yesterday to make it a perfect 10 victories under Pep Guardiola, including six in the Premier League, as they recorded their best start to a top-flight campaign.
City’s victory was the perfect riposte to the Spaniard’s old rival Jose Mourinho, who earlier saw his remodelled Manchester United sparkle without the dropped Wayne Rooney, thumping Premier League champions Leicester City 4-1.
On a day of goals, both Manchester sides were outscored by Liverpool, who crushed Hull City 5-1 to take their tally to 24 in the past eight games while Arsenal eased past Chelsea 3-0 in a London derby.
As usual, Manchester City’s victory owed much to Argentine striker Sergio Aguero, who scored twice to take his tally to 11 in six games in all competitions.
With Raheem Sterling adding a superb third, City increased their lead at the top of the table to four points, although an injury to Kevin De Bruyne took some gloss off their day.
Everton’s unexpected 1-0 loss at Bournemouth meant Tottenham Hotspur moved into second place, on 14 points, after Son Heung-min scored both goals in the 2-1 win at Middlesbrough. The Korean striker has now scored four times in three games to equal his tally for the whole of last season.
Manchester United were fifth on 12 points, but Mourinho will not be looking too closely at the table just yet after going into the match under unexpected pressure following back-toback league defeats.
His response was to drop Rooney, who cut a slightly bemused figure on the sidelines as United, and Paul Pogba in particular, made light of his absence. The world’s most expensive footballer was at the centre of most of United’s best moves, heading his first goal for the club on 42 minutes.
Three of the goals came via Danny Blind corners from the left as Leicester plunged to their third defeat, as many as they suffered in the whole of last season.
Liverpool went one better than United at Anfield where Adam Lallana, James Milner (two penalties), Sadio Mane and a trademark special from outside the area by Philippe Coutinho brushed aside a Hull side demoralised by the dismissal of Egyptian winger Ahmed Elmohamady.
In north London, For once, a landmark game for Arsene Wenger wasn’t spoiled by Chelsea, and this time it was Arsenal humiliating their London rival.
Wenger’s 500th and 1000th games in charge of Arsenal both ended in losses to Chelsea, but his fortunes finally changed on the 20th anniversary of his appointment as Arsenal manager.
Arsenal turned on the style with a 3-0 victory that exposed Chelsea’s defensive frailties and showcased the north London side’s attacking prowess.
Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil provided the goals in the first half that gave the Gunners their first home win over Chelsea in six years. Chelsea hadn’t even allowed a league goal to Arsenal since January 2013 before this capitulation.
But the result will matter little to Wenger, unless Arsenal has the trophy in their possession again when the season ends in eight months. The 66-year-old Wenger has survived in the Arsenal dugout despite last winning the league in 2004, and lifting only the FA Cup twice in the intervening years.
Chelsea were humiliated, and couldn’t even manage a shot on target until the 84th minute from Michy Batshuayi.
After opening the league campaign with three successive wins, Chelsea have collected only one point from the last three matches.