City finally stumble as Reds go top
CHELSEA inflicted a first Premier League defeat of the season on champions Manchester City with a 2- 0 victory at Stamford Bridge, which left Liverpool top of the table after earlier beating Bournemouth 4- 0.
The Reds had kept the pressure up with an impressive display at the Vitality Stadium in Saturday’s lunchtime kick- off, with Mohamed Salah plundering a hat-trick.
City failed to make the most of early possession as Chelsea produced the required clinical response from last weekend’s loss at Wolves to move back up into third place.
Midfielder N’Golo Kante put the Blues ahead just before half- time, with what was a first shot on target for the hosts, after being picked out by Eden Hazard. With 13 minutes left, David Luiz headed in from a corner to seal Chelsea’s win.
The Reds had earlier equalled their club-record run of 17 unbeaten Premier League matches after Salah opened the scoring at the Vitality Stadium on 25 minutes - although replays confirmed the Egypt hitman was offside.
There was no argument around his second soon after the restart when Salah rode an attempted trip from behind by Steve Cook to go on and slide the ball into the far corner.
It was 3-0 on 68 minutes when Bournemouth defender Steve Cook turned Andrew Robertson’s low cross into his own net before the rampant Salah completed his treble with 13 minutes left.
Chelsea defender Luiz felt his side’s game plan had been perfectly executed.
“It was a great game and we have to be honest playing against the best team in Europe or the world at the moment,” he said.
“They have great players, so we had a lot of humility and tried to take our chances to score, so we did our plan well.”
City manager Pep Guardiola felt his side had played “incredible” during the first half, but without reward. The Spaniard said: “They had minimum chances and scored, then in the second half we were there until the end. It is emotional for me to see these players do what they do every three days.
“Everyone wants to beat us. We still have a lot of points to gain and a lot of games to play. We have to be consistent and today we were, so I have no problems with that.”
Elsewhere, Manchester United ran out 4-1 winners over bottom club Fulham, who finished with 10 men at Old Trafford.
Ashley Young put the home side ahead early on and Juan Mata doubled United’s lead after 28 minutes. Romelu Lukaku added a third just before the break.
Fulham pulled a goal back with a penalty on 67 minutes through Aboubakar Kamara, but the Cottagers were soon reduced to 10 men when midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa collected a second yellow card.
Marcus Rashford scored a fourth for United with seven minutes left.