Man City surge ahead while Chelsea continue to languish
I don’t think there is a better manager than me to come to Chelsea and to do my job. I’m the man for the job.
Manchester City enjoyed the perfect ending to a Saturday afternoon (Sunday NZ Time) in the Premier League when nothing went right for title rival Chelsea.
City produced a 90th minute winner to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and secure a fifth consecutive victory from as many matches, while champion Chelsea slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Everton that sealed its worst start to a Premier League season.
To round off a miserable day for Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, there were victories for two other title hopefuls.
The most expensive teenager in football history, Anthony Martial, scored on his debut in Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Liverpool and Arsenal comfortably beat Stoke 2-0. Martial, whose fee from Monaco could rise to €80 million (NZ$143.6 million), was not the only teenager to make headlines.
City’s 18-year-old Kelechi Iheanacho came off the bench in the 89th and poked the ball into the Palace net a minute later, as Manuel Pellegrini’s side maintained its 100 percent record.
The Nigerian forward had only played competitively for City once before, and that too was as an 89th minute substitute – against Watford in August.
The game also witnessed a promising debut for club record signing Kevin de Bruyne from the bench, albeit after striker Sergio Aguero left the pitch with what seemed a worrying injury.
Off the field, there was a mild altercation between the two managers following Yaya Toure’s late tackle on Palace’s James McArthur, with Pellegrini tugging back Alan Pardew. There was more than just frustration, though, for Mourinho after Chelsea was torn apart by hat-trick scorer Steven Naismith.
Having come on as a ninthminute substitute for the injured Muhamed Besic, Naismith headed Everton into a 17th-minute lead and quickly followed up by scoring his second with a low drive from outside the area. Nemanja Matic pulled a goal back for Chelsea with a long-distance effort in the 36th but Naismith put the result beyond doubt by squeezing an angled shot through the legs of goalkeeper Asmir Begovic in the 82nd.
Mourinho was defiant about his side’s latest result, and his own position.
‘‘I don’t think there is a better manager than me to come to Chelsea and to do my job. That’s so simple as that. I’m the man for the job,’’ he told BT Sport.
Chelsea is 11 points behind City, which is also reveling in a five-point lead over both Manchester United and Arsenal.
There was plenty for United fans to celebrate in Saturday’s victory, with David De Gea making his first appearance of the season in goal after signing a new contract and Martial signaling his arrival with a superb solo goal to make it 3-1.
Daley Blind had put United ahead and Ander Herrera won a penalty and converted the spot kick in the 70th, before Christian Benteke pulled one back with a stunning overhead kick in the 84th. Martial then ran through the Liverpool defense for a stunning third goal for United.
After some mediocre early season form, Arsenal dominated Stoke at Emirates Stadium and could easily have won by a tennis score.
Instead, just two goals from strikers Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud sealed the points.
Watford won its first league match of the season, despite being reduced to 10 men.
Wes Hoolahan inspired Norwich to a comfortable first home league win of the season, making one goal and scoring another in the victory over Bournemouth, while West Brom drew 0-0 at home to Southampton.