Big guns in driving seat
Crucial victories for City, Liverpool and Chelsea
Liverpool and Chelsea maintained their perfect Premier League starts after four games this weekend as champions Manchester City edged past Newcastle to remain two points behind the early leaders.
A huge error from £65-million (R1.2-billion) goalkeeper Alisson Becker threatened to halt Liverpool’s early season charge, but Jurgen Klopp’s men held out for a 2-1 win at the King Power in another demonstration of their new-found defensive solidity to go with the firepower of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
Chelsea had to wait until 19 minutes from time to break down Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge before the in-form Pedro Rodriguez opened the scoring and Eden Hazard sealed the points in a 2-0 win.
City bounced back from a rare slip-up at Wolves last weekend thanks to goals from England internationals Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker in a 2-1 success to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sheikh Mansour’s takeover that has transformed the club.
At the other end of the table it was another afternoon to forget for West Ham, who remain the only Premier League side without a point, as Adama Traore snatched a 1-0 win for Wolves in stoppage time.
On a rare off day for Salah, who was substituted 20 minutes from time, Mane and Firmino stepped into the breach to give Liverpool a 2-0 half-time lead at Leicester.
But that was a more comfortable cushion than they deserved as for the third straight game the Reds failed to produce their free-flowing best.
Alisson more than played his part in registering clean sheets against West Ham, Crystal Palace and Brighton, but the Brazilian was caught trying to dribble past Kelechi Iheanacho and the Nigerian squared for Rachid Ghezzal to set up a grandstand finish.
“It’s only positive that he is that good a footballer. But we all have to learn to use it in the right way still,” said Klopp of Alisson’s propensity to take risks.
“That was a mistake – no goalkeeper in the world should dribble in that situation.”
While Liverpool and City were expected to challenge for the title, Maurizio Sarri’s perfect start at Chelsea has surprised even the Italian himself.
Sarri’s imprint was again clear to see as the Blues dominated possession, but were made to work to inflict Bournemouth’s first defeat of the campaign.
“They were very organised and they defended very well but usually in this match you have to be patient because you can win in the last 20 minutes,” said Sarri.
West Ham would love any type of goal at the moment as a near £100-million (R1.9-billion) investment in the transfer market is still to yield any return.
Everton’s fine start to life under Marco Silva was tempered by a 1-1 draw at home to Huddersfield.
The points were also shared in a 2-2 draw between Brighton and Fulham, while Southampton claimed their first victory of the season, 2-0 at Crystal Palace.