Late goals cap another wild day in Premier League

A two-week break for international matches has done nothing to suppress the relentless unpredictability of this season’s Premier League.

Goals are flowing at an unprecedented level in the world’s most popular league and the drama continues unabated, the latest exhibition coming at Tottenham on Sunday as West Ham staged an improbable comeback that is starting to become the norm.

Trailing 3-0 after 81 minutes, West Ham scored three times to force a 3-3 draw — the equalizer coming with 20 seconds left of the four minutes of stoppage time as Manuel Lanzini arrowed a piledriver into the top corner from 25 yards (meters).

No team had previously avoided defeat when 3-0 down as late as the 81st minute in the Premier League.

With Aston Villa beating Leicester 1-0 courtesy of a stoppage-time goal and Brighton equalizing against Crystal Palace in added-on time, it continues to be the wildest of seasons.

Southampton twice came from behind Saturday to draw 3-3 at Chelsea, which rallied from 3-0 down for a 3-3 draw at West Bromwich Albion in the third round of games. Who could forget champion Liverpool’s 7-2 loss at Aston Villa and Manchester United’s 6-1 drubbing by Tottenham in the final matches before the international break? Then there was Manchester City’s 5-2 thrashing by Leicester for Pep Guardiola’s heaviest home loss as a coach, and that breathless 4-3 win for Liverpool over Leeds on the opening weekend.

There was an average of 3.78 goals per game in the four rounds — a Premier League record for this stage of the season — and there have already been 27 goals in eight games so far this weekend, with two more matches to come in the fifth round on Monday.