Gunners pointless after Chelsea clinch it with a late winner
● Eden Hazard came off the bench to provide the winner for Marcos Alonso as Chelsea edged a thrilling London derby 3-2 over Arsenal yesterday to condemn new Gunners boss Unai Emery to a second consecutive defeat.
Contrastingly, Chelsea sit top of the embryonic Premier League table thanks to a perfect start under Maurizio Sarri, but made life difficult for themselves after racing into a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes through Pedro Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata.
Arsenal were level by half-time as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi netted.
Yet the Gunners were left to rue wasting a host of other glorious chances before Hazard provided the inspiration to swing an enthralling encounter Chelsea’s way.
A thrilling 90 minutes gave both coaches plenty of cause for optimism, but also demonstrated defensive frailties likely to prevent a serious title challenge from either.
Italian international Jorginho opened up the Arsenal defence to open the scoring with a pass to Alonso, whose cross was turned into the bottom corner by Pedro.
Arsenal could easily have scored but for some woeful finishing. Mesut Ozil flashed a great chance wide seconds before Chelsea’s opener and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang then skied over with the goal at his mercy.
Seconds later Arsenal trailed 2-0 as Morata raced onto a long ball over the top and turned inside Shkodran Mustafi before firing home his first goal of the season.
Mkhitaryan followed Aubameyang’s example by somehow also blazing over an almost identical chance from close range.
The Armenian made amends eight minutes before the break, though, with a fiercely struck low shot that had too much power for the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Kepa was helpless as Arsenal equalised four minutes later when Iwobi smashed home Mkhitaryan’s cross.
Both sides tightened up after the break as Emery introduced tough-tackling Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreria.
But there were still chances at either end as Petr Cech turned Ross Barkley’s low effort behind before Aubameyang was unfortunate to be wrongly flagged offside when he did finally find the net.
Bournemouth also have maximum points from two games as Eddie Howe’s men came from behind to win 2-1 at West Ham.
Everton’s £50m signing Richarlison continued to quieten queries of his price tag with the winner as Southampton were defeated 2-1 at Goodison Park, while Leicester saw off Wolves 2-0 despite a red card for Jamie Vardy.
After becoming the first Premier League side since the introduction of the summer transfer window to fail to sign a player, Spurs were dealt another blow off the field in midweek with the news their new 62,000-capacity stadium won’t be ready until October.
Lucas Moura curled home his first Premier League goal to give Spurs the lead, but Aleksandar Mitrovic headed Fulham level early in the second half.
Tottenham may still be suffering a World Cup hangover with the majority of their stars enjoying barely a week of pre-season training after their efforts in Russia. But it was two of England’s World Cup heroes who produced the goods as Kieran Trippier curled home a wonderful free-kick before Harry Kane finally ended his wait to score in the opening month of the season.
“We dominated the first 30 minutes and created a lot of chances, but in the Premier League if you drop your level it can let in the other team,” Pochettino said.
West Ham splurged nearly £100m to back new manager Manuel Pellegrini but still have no points.
Marko Arnautovic’s penalty gave the hosts a half-time lead. Two goals in six minutes turned the game on its head, though, as Callum Wilson and Steve Cook made it two wins from two for Bournemouth.
A well-worked free-kick freed up Theo Walcott to open the scoring for Everton before Brazilian Richarlison headed home a Walcott cross to double the advantage.
Wolves remain winless after losing 2-0 at 10-man Leicester.
However, victory came at a cost for Leicester as England international Vardy was shown a straight red card 20 minutes from time. Cardiff and Newcastle played to a drab 0-0 draw.
In the Premier League if you drop your level it can let in the other team Mauricio Pochettino
Tottenham Hotspur manager