Chelsea maintained an iron grip on the Premier League top spot with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace, Sergio Aguero netted four times for Manchester City versus Tottenham and Southampton put eight past Sunderland yesterday.

Goals from Oscar and Cesc Fabregas made it seven wins from eight games for Chelsea, who overcame the sending-off of Cesar Azpilicueta before half-time to stay five points clear of City who won 4-1 in a game containing four penalties and a red card.

Third-placed Southampton came within a goal of equalling the record Premier League win as they crushed Sunderland 8-0 with Graziano Pelle scoring twice for the Saints who were helped by two own goals, including a bizarre one from Santiago Vergini.

Manchester United’s 9-0 thumping of Ipswich Town remains the biggest victory in the Premier League era.

West Ham United moved into the top four thanks to a 3-1 win at struggling Burnley but Arsenal’s season is still awaiting lift-off as they were held to a fifth draw from their opening eight league games in a 2-2 thriller with Hull City.

Danny Welbeck’s stoppage-time goal at The Emirates salvaged a point for Arsenal who are already 11 points behind Chelsea.

Fabregas scored his first league goal for Chelsea since signing from Barcelona after Oscar’s free-kick had given Jose Mourinho’s side an early lead.

Red cards for Azpilicueta and Palace defender Damien Delaney before half-time disrupted the flow but Chelsea were comfortable despite a late rally from Palace who halved the deficit through Fraizer Campbell.

City’s Aguero was described as football’s Mozart by Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino in the run-up to yesterday’s clash at the Etihad and the striker produced a dazzling display to crush a Spurs side who have conceded 15 goals in their last three meetings with City.

He scored the opener after 13 minutes and struck again from the penalty spot after Christian Eriksen had equalised for the visitors on a counter-attack.

Aguero, who has now surpassed Carlos Tevez as City’s leading Premier League scorer with 61 goals, saw another spot-kick saved by Hugo Lloris before half-time.

But, after Spanish striker Roberto Soldado squandered a penalty for Spurs, the Argentine made no mistake from the spot in the 68th minute, converting after he had been pulled back in the area by Federico Fazio who was red-carded.

Aguero’s fourth goal, a clinical finish, completed a slightly flattering win for champions City.

“It’s a very good victory for us. It’s always difficult to come back from the international break,” manager Manuel Pellegrini said.

“We played well, we scored four goals and I don’t know how many chances we had.”

A day after being named the Premier League’s manager of the month, Dutchman Ronald Koeman watched his Southampton side destroy Sunderland for their record top-flight win.

Sunderland’s hapless Vergini began what was to be a miserable afternoon for his side when his attempted interception rocketed past his own goalkeeper after 12 minutes.

Pelle and Jack Cork made it 3-0 at half-time and the goal-flow accelerated after the break as Sunderland slumped to their biggest defeat for 22 years.

“The second half we played fantastic football,” Koeman said.

“But the first half was not perfect.”

Alexis Sanchez gave Arsenal an early lead at home to Hull but the visitors levelled thanks to Mohamed Diame and went ahead just after the break through Uruguayan Abel Hernandez.

Welbeck’s late equaliser spared Arsenal’s blushes but manager Arsene Wenger was left frustrated.

“It was disappointing because we had 80 per cent of the possession but got one point,” the French coach told reporters.

Everton finally found some form with a 3-0 win over visiting Aston Villa – Phil Jagielka, Romelu Lukaku and Seamus Coleman were all on target for Roberto Martinez’s side.

Newcastle United managed a long overdue first league win of the season to lift some of the pressure off manager Alan Pardew – beating Leicester City 1-0 in match that was delayed because of safety concerns about a giant TV screen at St James’ Park.

Biggest Premier League victories

Manchester Utd 9 - Ipswich Town 0 – 1995
Tottenham 9 – Wigan Athletic1 – 2009
Newcastle Utd 8 – Sheffield Wed. 0 – 1999
Chelsea 8 – Wigan Athletic 0 – 2010
Chelsea 8 – Aston Villa 0 – 2012
Southampton 8 – Sunderland 0 – 2014
Nottm Forest 1 – Manchester Utd 8 – 1999
Middlesbrough 8 – Manchester City 1 – 2008

• Russell Slade enjoyed a dream debut as Cardiff manager as his side ended Nottingham Forest’s unbeaten record in the Championship with a 2-1 win at Cardiff City Stadium, yesterday.

The former Leyton Orient manager has had to wait a long time to lead his new side, due to legal wranglings and the international break, but it proved to be worth it.

Federico Macheda’s first league goal in Cardiff colours gave them the lead with Peter Whittingham firing home the second. Forest did pull one back through Britt Assombalonga, but it was not enough to prevent Stuart Pearce’s side suffering their first defeat of the season.

Results and standings

Premier League

Arsenal 2
Sanchez 13; Welbeck 90;
Hull City 2
Diame 17; Hernandez 46;

HT: 1-1. Att: 60,004.

Burnley 1
Boyd 60;
West Ham 3
Sakho 49; Valencia 54; C. Cole 70;

HT: 0-0. Att: 18,936.

C. Palace 1
Campbell 90;
Chelsea 2
Oscar 6; Fabregas 51;

HT: 0-1. Att: 24,451.
Red cards: Azpilicueta (CHL) 40; Delaney (CP) 43.

Everton 3
Jagielka 18; Lukaku 48; Coleman 76;
Aston Villa 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 39,505.

Man. City 4
Aguero 13, 20p; Aguero 68p, 75;
Tottenham 1
Eriksen 15;

HT: 2-1. Att: 45,549.
Missed penalties: Aguero (MC) 32; Soldado (T) 62.
Red card: Fazio (T) 67

Newcastle 1
Obertan 71;
Leicester City 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 51,886.

Southampton 8
Vergini 12og; Pelle 18, 68; Cork 37; Bridcutt 63og; Wanyama 79; Tadic 78; Mane 86;
Sunderland 0

HT: 3-0. Att: 29,615.

  P W D L F A Pts
Chelsea 8 7 1 0 23 8 22
Man. City 8 5 2 1 18 8 17
Southampton 8 5 1 2 19 5 16
West Ham 8 4 1 3 15 11 13
Man. United 7 3 2 2 13 10 11
Arsenal 8 2 5 1 13 11 11
Swansea 7 3 2 2 10 8 11
Tottenham 8 3 2 3 10 11 11
Hull City 8 2 4 2 13 13 10
Liverpool 7 3 1 3 10 10 10
Aston Villa 8 3 1 4 4 12 10
Everton 8 2 3 3 16 16 9
Leicester City 8 2 3 3 11 13 9
West Brom 7 2 2 3 8 9 8
Stoke City 7 2 2 3 6 8 8
C. Palace 8 2 2 4 11 14 8
Sunderland 8 1 5 2 8 15 8
Newcastle 8 1 4 3 8 14 7
Burnley 8 0 4 4 4 13 4
QPR 7 1 1 5 4 15 4

Playing today
QPR-Liverpool - 14.30
Stoke-Swansea - 17.00

Tomorrow
West Brom-Man. United - 21.00

Top scorers
9 goals: Costa (Chelsea), Aguero (Man. City).
6 goals: Pelle (Southampton).

Next fixtures

Saturday: 13.45 West Ham vs Man. City. 16.00 Liverpool vs Hull City; Southampton vs Stoke City; Sunderland vs Arsenal; West Brom vs Crystal Palace. 18.30 Swansea vs Leicester.

Sunday: 14.30 Burnley vs Everton; Tottenham vs Newcastle. 17.00 Man. United vs Chelsea.
Oct. 27: 21.00 QPR vs Aston Villa.

The Championship
Birmingham 0 - Bolton 1
Bournemouth 1 - Charlton 0
Brighton 1 - M’Boro 2
Cardiff City 2 - N. Forest 1
Fulham 1 - Norwich City 0
Huddersfield 4 - Blackpool 2
Ipswich Town 1 - Blackburn 1
Millwall 3 - Wolves 3
Reading 0 - Derby County 3
Sheff. Wed. 0 - Watford 3
Wigan 0 - Brentford 0

Standings: Watford 24; Derby, M’boro 23; Norwich, N. Forest 21; Ipswich, Wolves 20; Charlton 19; Bournemouth, Brentford 18; Sheffield Wed. 17; Cardiff, Blackburn 16; Leeds, Rotherham, Reading, Huddersfield 15; Millwall 13; Wigan, Brighton, Birmingham 11; Fulham 10; Bolton 8; Blackpool 6.

League One
Bradford City 0 - Sheffield Utd 2
Chesterfield 1 - Oldham 1
Coventry City 1 - Bristol City 3
Fleetwood 3 - Doncaster 1
Leyton Orient 0 - MK Dons 0
Notts County 5 - Crawley 3
Peterborough 2 - Barnsley 1
Preston NE 2 - Port Vale 0
Rochdale 1 - Gillingham 1
Scunthorpe 1 - Colchester 1
Walsall 0 - Crewe 1
Yeovil Town 1 - Swindon 1

Standings: Bristol City 31; Peterborough 26; Swindon, Preston 22; MK Dons, N. County, Sheffield United 20; Chesterfield, Fleetwood, Oldham 19; Bradford 18; Rochdale 17; Barnsley 15; Doncaster, Crawley 14; Colchester, Coventry, Gillingham, Yeovil 13; Leyton Orient, Walsall, Port Vale 12; Scunthorpe 11; Crewe 10.

League Two
Burton 0 - Morecambe 2
Bury 3 - Portsmouth 0
Cheltenham 3 - Northampton 2
Dagenham 0 - Newport 1
Hartlepool 1 - Luton Town 2
Mansfield 0 - Cambridge 0
Oxford United 2 - Tranmere 0
Plymouth 1 - Carlisle 0
Southend 1 - Exeter City 1
Stevenage 2 - Accrington 1
Wycombe 2 - Wimbledon 0
York City 0 - Shrewsbury 1

Standings: Wycombe 28; Bury 26; Burton 25; Luton 24; Plymouth, Morecambe 22; Shrewsbury, Southend 21; Newport, Cheltenham 19; Cambridge, Northampton, Wimbledon 18; Portsmouth, Stevenage, Mansfield 17; Exeter, Accrington 16; Dagenham 14; Oxford 13; Carlisle 12; Hartlepool 11; York 10; Tranmere 9.

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