The Malta Independent on Sunday
Liverpool survives Alisson’s mistake, beats Leicester 2-1
Liverpool survived an embarrassing mistake from Brazil goalkeeper Alisson to beat Leicester 2-1 yesterday for a fourth straight win to open the Premier League season.
Attempting a Cruyff turn in his own area to get round Leicester striker Kelechi Iheanacho, Alisson got the ball caught in his feet and lost possession. Iheanacho squared the ball for Rachid Ghezzal to make it 2-1 in the 63rd minute.
Liverpool held on for the win despite being far from its best at King Power Stadium, with firsthalf goals by Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino doing the damage.
Mane scored for the fourth time this season when he ran onto an inside pass from Andrew Robertson, got a kind ricochet off Leicester defender Harry Maguire, and toe-poked home from 10 metres (yards) in the 10th minute.
Firmino doubled Liverpool’s lead in the 45th. It was the Brazilian’s second goal of the season.
Mohamed Salah had an off day. He missed a chance from point-blank range in the opening minutes and was substituted in the 71st.
Chelsea beats Bournemouth 2-0 after late Pedro, Hazard goals
Pedro Rodriguez and Eden Hazard scored late goals as Chelsea beat Bournemouth 2-0 to clinch a fourth straight victory to open the season.
Maurizio Sarri’s team was being frustrated by Bournemouth’s defensive set-up when Pedro exchanged passes with Olivier Giroud - both of them second-half substitutes - and shot into the bottom corner from just inside the area in the 72nd minute.
Hazard then ran onto a pass from Marcos Alonso and fired a finish underneath Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to seal victory in the 85th.
Walker gives Man City 2-1 win over Newcastle
Kyle Walker drove in the winning goal from 30 metres as Manchester City broke down Newcastle’s dogged resilience in a 2-1 victory in the English Premier League.
The England right back received the ball from Sergio Aguero, took a touch, and fired an angled shot into the bottom corner in the 52nd minute for his first goal in almost three years.
The win put City’s title defence back on track after a 1-1 draw at Wolverampton Wanderers last weekend.
Another marauding right back tied the score after 30 minutes, with US international DeAndre Yedlin sweeping in a closerange finish from Salomon Rondon’s cross in a rare attack from Newcastle.
Raheem Sterling’s eighth- minute opener, on his 100th Premier League appearance for City, came at the start of a first half that resembled an attackvs.-defence training-ground exercise, as the visitors regularly ceded possession.
Points shared as Brighton, Fulham meet for first time in EPL
Glenn Murray scored twice as Brighton rallied to draw with Fulham 2-2 in their first-ever meeting in the English Premier League.
The veteran striker equalized with a late penalty at Amex Stadium, having halved the deficit with 23 minutes remaining.
Fulham, whose goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli saved a firsthalf spot kick from Pascal Gross, looked on course for victory after goals from Andre Schuerrle and in-form forward Aleksandar Mitrovic either side of the break.
Serbia international Mitrovic smashed home his fourth league goal of the season but the summer signing from Newcastle went from hero to villain when he was penalized for handball by referee Lee Probert.
Murray calmly sent Bettinelli the wrong way from the spot, finishing powerfully into the left of the net six minutes from time.
Palace without Zaha give Southampton first EPL victory
Crystal Palace’s reliance on Wilfried Zaha was exposed again as Southampton exploited his absence to earn its first win in the English Premier League 2-0 at Selhurst Park.
It will soon be two years since Palace last won without its finest player, as goals from Danny Ings and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg demonstrated how vital it was that it again recently persuaded Zaha to sign a new contract.
Palace’s last victory without him was in September 2016, so when he failed a late fitness test because of a groin strain in training on Friday it represented a significant setback.
After an uneventful first half, Palace contributed to the first goal by watching an ambitious cross into the penalty area by Cedric Soares. Ings, in front of goal, tidily finished under Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.
Hennessey saved a poorly struck penalty down the middle by substitute Charlie Austin, but Southampton made certain of taking three points in stoppage time when substitute Matt Targett sent Hojbjerg through and the midfielder rounded the goalie to score.
Palace has lost three of its four matches.
Everton held to a 1-1 draw by Huddersfield
Huddersfield collected only its second point of the Premier League season after grinding a way to a 1-1 draw at injury-hit Everton.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored for Everton 87 seconds after Philip Billing gave Huddersfield the lead against the run of play in the 34th minute at Goodison Park.
Big-spending West Ham lose 4th straight match
Big-spending West Ham slumped to its fourth straight defeat to open the English Premier League after conceding an injury-time goal to lose at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0.
Adama Traore, Wolves’ record signing this offseason, finished off a counterattack in the third minute of stoppage time to earn the promoted team a first topflight win since 2012 and plunge West Ham into more trouble. Yesterday Leicester City-Liverpool . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 Brighton-Fulham FC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 Chelsea-AFC Bournemouth . . . . . . . 2-0 Crystal Palace-Southampton FC . . . 0-2 Everton-Huddersfield Town. . . . . . . 1-1 West Ham-Wolves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-1 Manchester City-Newcastle Today Liverpool Chelsea Man City Tottenham Watford Bournemouth Everton Leicester Wolves Southampton Fulham Brighton Arsenal Man United Crystal Palace Cardiff Huddersfield Newcastle Burnley West Ham . . . . . . 2-1 L F A Pts 0 9 1 12 0 10 3 12 0 11 3 10 0 8 2 9 0 7 2 9 1 6 5 7 0 7 6 6 2 6 5 6 1 4 5 5 2 4 4 4 2 7 9 4 2 5 7 4 2 5 6 3 2 4 7 3 3 3 6 3 1 0 2 2 2 2 10 2 3 3 6 1 2 3 7 1 4 2 10 0
Saturday 15 September
Tottenham H.-Liverpool Bournemouth-Leicester Chelsea-Cardiff C. Huddersfield-Crystal P. Man City-Fulham Newcastle-Arsenal Watford-Man United
Sunday 16 September
Wolves-Burnley Everton-West Ham
Monday 17 September
Southampton-Brighton Yesterday Today Celtic-Rangers Hearts Kilmarnock Livingston St Johnstone Celtic Hibernian Rangers Aberdeen Motherwell Hamilton St. Mirren Dundee FC PW D 4 4 0 4 4 0 4 3 1 3 3 0 3 3 0 4 2 1 4 1 3 4 2 0 4 1 2 4 1 1 4 1 1 4 1 1 3 1 0 3 1 0 4 1 0 3 0 2 4 0 2 4 0 1 3 0 1 4 0 0 PW D 4 4 0 4 2 1 4 2 1 4 2 1 3 2 0 4 1 2 3 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 1 4 1 0 4 1 0 4 0 0 L F A Pts 0 10 2 12 1 4 1 7 1 5 4 7 1 4 4 7 1 4 2 6 1 6 4 5 0 6 4 5 1 3 4 5 2 6 8 4 3 3 7 3 3 3 9 3 4 2 7 0 Friday Yesterday Today Leeds M’boro Sheffield U. Derby Brentford Swansea Bolton West Brom Wigan Sheffield W. Blackburn Aston Villa Bristol City N. Forest Rotherham Millwall Stoke Preston Birmingham Norwich Hull QPR Reading Ipswich
League One
Yesterday Yesterday PW D 6 4 2 6 4 2 6 4 0 6 4 0 6 3 2 6 3 2 6 3 2 6 3 1 6 3 1 6 3 1 5 2 3 6 2 3 5 2 2 6 1 4 6 2 0 6 1 2 6 1 2 6 1 2 6 0 4 5 1 1 6 1 1 6 1 1 6 0 2 5 0 2 L F A Pts 0 14 4 14 0 9 2 14 2 12 8 12 2 10 8 12 1 12 6 11 1 7 5 11 1 8 8 11 2 15 9 10 2 11 8 10 2 9 9 10 0 6 4 9 1 11 11 9 1 7 5 8 1 8 8 7 4 5 11 6 3 6 8 5 3 7 11 5 3 5 9 5 2 4 6 4 3 8 11 4 4 6 11 4 4 3 13 4 4 5 9 2 3 4 8 2