Napoli pull clear as Lazio topple Juventus
LONDON: Manchester City maintained their blistering start to the season as the Premier League leaders demolished Stoke City 7-2, while champions Chelsea crashed to a shock 2-1 defeat at lowly Crystal Palace on Saturday.
With second-placed Manchester United settling for a drab stalemate at Anfield earlier in the day, it was their Manchester rivals who provided the thrills as City moved two points clear at the top.
Capping a dramatic day, Arsenal trail nine points behind City after Watford came from behind to snatch a surprise 2-1 win.
Pep Guardiola’s free-scoring City struck three times in the first 27 minutes at Eastlands, securing their sixth successive league win in swashbuckling style.
City took the lead through Gabriel Jesus in the 17th minute and Raheem Sterling doubled the advantage two minutes later with a tap-in that capped a flowing move.
David Silva got City’s third with a simple finish after another incisive raid minute.
Stoke’s Mame Biram Diouf reduced the deficit with a deflected effort in the 44th minute and City’s defence was breached for just the fourth time in the league this season when Kyle Walker scored an own goal two minutes after the interval.
But Jesus’s second goal in the 55th minute restored order and his compatriot Fernandinho put the result beyond doubt five minutes later.
City reached six goals in a game for the second time this season as Leroy Sane netted in the 62nd minute.
Bernando Silva’s first City strike, in the 78th minute, made it 24 goals in his team’s last five league games. in MILAN: Ciro Immobile’s secondhalf brace for Lazio condemned Serie A champions Juventus to a first home defeat in over two years, a 2-1 loss on Saturday that allowed Napoli to pull clear by beating Roma 1-0.
Paulo Dybala missed a late penalty as the Turin giants lost at home for the first time since August 2015 — ending a run of 38 wins and three draws for the sixtime consecutive Serie A winners.
Lorenzo Insigne scored early at Rome’s Olympic stadium as Napoli maintained their perfect start with an eighth win in as many games.
Napoli go five points of the champions who are now in third position, equal on 19 points with Lazio and Inter Milan, who go head to head with city rivals AC Milan on Sunday night.
For Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri the warning signs had been there early in the season and during a 2-2 draw against Atalanta in their last game.
“We had the warning signs against Torino, Sassuolo and the 27th
They are the first team to net 29 goals in the first eight games of an English top-flight campaign since Everton in 1894-95 and Guardiola said: “We can always do better but I cannot deny today was the best performance since I arrived here.
“I am here to win, I am not here to entertain, but this is the way we want to play. Our confidence is high.”
Bottom club Palace had lost their opening seven league games without scoring a goal, the worst start to a season in English top-flight history.
But stunningly it was Chelsea who were the victims as they finally ended that goal drought at Selhurst Park.
Palace took the lead in the 11th minute when Yohan Cabaye’s effort was deflected in for an own goal by Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta.
Tiemoue Bakayoko equalised for Chelsea seven minutes later as the France midfielder headed his first Premier League goal from a Cesc Fabregas corner.
However, Chelsea were already without injured duo Alvaro Morata and N’Golo Kante and they suffered another setback when Victor Moses limped off in the first half.
There was even worse to come for Chelsea as Wilfried Zaha restored Palace’s lead with a fine curling strike in first-half stoppage-time.
INFURIATED Chelsea were condemned to a second successive league defeat after their damaging 1-0 loss to Manchester City before the international break.
Antonio Conte’s side, beaten three times this term, are now nine points behind City.
“The performance level today was not up to the standard it should be. We played poorly,” Chelsea captain Gary Cahill said. Atalanta. We have these drops in concentration and pay a heavy price for them,” lamented Allegri.
“Between Bergamo (Atalanta) and today we have dropped five points and haven’t realised yet that to win the Scudetto you must fight every single day.
“Now we’ve got an important game on Wednesday against Sporting in the Champions League and we have to win.”
Napoli, meanwhile, were pushed hard by Roma in the second half after Insigne struck on 20 minutes with the only goal of the game, making the most of the misfortune of Roma skipper Daniele De Rossi to fire in past Alisson for the 100th club goal of his career.
Two Edin Dzeko headers — the first cleared by Pepe Reina after 70 minutes and the second which flew over the bar six minutes from time — kept Roma hopes alive.
But a second defeat at home against a big team after Inter Milan gives Eusebio Di Francesco a lot to think about before next week’s Champions League trip to Chelsea.
“I fear we had a bit too much respect for Napoli in the first half,” said Di Francesco.
Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli, meanwhile, head to Manchester City full of confidence. Immobile impresses - Juventus got off to a bright start in Turin with Brazilian Douglas Costa, on loan from Bayern Munich since July, scoring his first goal after 23 minutes off a rebound following a Thomas Strakosha save from Sami Khedira.
But it was all one-way traffic for Lazio in the second half as Immobile pulled the Romans ahead with a seven-minute double, the second a penalty past Gianluigi Buffon on 54 minutes to move top of the Serie A scorers ahead of Dybala with 11 goals in eight matches.