It was a day of role reversal as Jose Mourinho’s often cautious Chelsea thumped Everton 6-3 in a thriller yesterday while champions Manchester City’s attacking talents were blunted in a shock 1-0 home defeat by Stoke.
New signing Diego Costa was on target twice, scoring for the third Premier League game in a row, as Chelsea produced a swashbuckling performance to overwhelm Everton at Goodison Park.
“It was wonderful for everyone at the stadium and people watching television around the world but not for me,” Mourinho told the BBC. “We cannot make so many defensive mistakes.
“We want to improve as a team by keeping our defensive strength and quality and improving in other areas. Today we showed we are improving in other areas but not keeping the balance in defence.”
Manchester City dropped their first points of the season when Mame Biram Diouf scored a superb individual goal to silence the home fans who have become used to seeing one-sided romps at the Etihad Stadium.
It was also another miserable day for Manchester United, their frustrations continuing after a 0-0 draw at promoted Burnley with British record signing Angel Di Maria unable to spark an improvement in their fortunes.
Swansea City’s excellent start to the season continued as they swept aside West Brom 3-0 and they are level on a maximum nine points with Chelsea at the top of the fledgling table.
Southampton came from behind to beat West Ham 3-1 while Crystal Palace, playing their first game under new manager Neil Warnock, scored through on-loan Wilfried Zaha in the fifth minute of stoppage time to grab a 3-3 draw at Newcastle United.
QPR beat Sunderland 1-0 to collect their first win since gaining promotion while the goals flowed for west London rivals Chelsea in a dynamic display by the normally pragmatic and defensively-sound Blues.
Everton were caught cold as Costa put the visitors ahead after 35 seconds and Branislav Ivanovic scored two minutes later, incensing the hosts who felt he had strayed offside.
The home side hit back seconds before halftime when Kevin Mirallas powered a header past keeper Thibaut Courtois but a Seamus Coleman own goal, after an excellent dribble by Eden Hazard, restored Chelsea’s cushion.
It then had the feel of a basketball match as Steven Naismith’s effort gave Everton hope before Nemanja Matic replied with his first goal for Chelsea.
Samuel Eto’o scored on his debut for the hosts, against his former club, only to see Ramires and Costa complete the rout for the visitors.
Games at Man. City have frequently resembled carefully scripted affairs with their glittering array of footballers showering the fans with goals and entertainment.
Both were in short supply against a rugged and resilient Stoke who scored 13 minutes into the second half when Senegal international Diouf raced 60 metres before beating keeper Joe Hart.
It was only the second time in 71 games that Manchester City, who were ruthless in Monday’s 3-1 win over Liverpool, had failed to score at home and it ended a run of seven consecutive league wins stretching back to last season’s title triumph.
“It’s a surprising defeat because we don’t expect to lose against Stoke but these games sometimes happen,” said manager Manuel Pellegrini.
“We were not very creative, we did not find the spaces and that is credit to Stoke.”
There was more gloom for manager Louis van Gaal as Manchester United, who were embarrassed 4-0 in the League Cup by third tier MK Dons on Tuesday, again looked uncomfortable with their new three centre back system against Burnley.
Questions are already being asked of Van Gaal who is struggling to implement his playing style and scrambling to recruit players before the transfer window shuts tomorrow.
“The progress is there,” the Dutchman told BT Sport, “but ... a club like Manchester United has to win. We have two points from nine and that’s disappointing.”
The Championship
• Nottingham Forest came through their toughest test of the season so far with their unbeaten start intact as they beat a spirited Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at Hillsborough.
Forest are enjoying a fine start under Stuart Pearce and Henri Lansbury’s first-half header made it four wins from five and puts them top. But this victory was by no means plain sailing as they were given a stern challenge by a Wednesday side who saw their unbeaten start end.
After Lansbury’s strike eight minutes before half-time, the Owls put up a sterling rally, with Forest goalkeeper Karl Darlow producing fine saves to deny Chris Maguire and Atdhe Nuhiu.
Results and standings
Premier League
Burnley 0
Man. United 0
Att: 21,099.
Everton 3
Mirallas 45; Naismith 69; Eto’o 76;
Chelsea 6
Costa 1, 90; Ivanovic 3; Coleman 67og; Matic 74; Ramires 77;
HT: 1-2. Att: 39,402.
Man. City 0
Stoke City 1
Diouf 58;
HT: 0-0. Att: 45,622.
Newcastle 3
Janmaat 38; Aarons 74; Williamson 88;
C. Palace 3
Gayle 1; Puncheon 48; Zaha 90;
HT: 1-1. Att: 49,226.
QPR 1
Austin 45;
Sunderland 0
HT: 1-0. Att: 17,930.
Swansea 3
Dyer 2, 71; Routledge 24;
West Brom 0
HT: 2-0. Att: 20,318.
West Ham 1
Noble 27;
Southampton 3
Scheiderlin 45, 68; Pelle 83;
HT: 1-1. Att: 34,907.
P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
Chelsea | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 9 |
Swansea | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 9 |
Tottenham | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
Man. City | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 6 |
Arsenal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Southampton | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Hull City | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Aston Villa | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Stoke City | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
West Ham | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
Liverpool | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
QPR | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
Everton | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 2 |
Sunderland | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
Man. United | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Newcastle | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
West Brom | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
Leicester | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
C. Palace | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 1 |
Burnley | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
Playing today
Aston Villa vs Hull City - 14.30
Leicester vs Arsenal - 17.00
Tottenham vs Liverpool - 14.30
Next fixtures
Saturday, Sept. 13: 13.45 Arsenal vs Man. City. 16.00 Chelsea vs Swansea; C. Palace vs Burnley; Southampton vs Newcastle; Stoke vs Leicester; Sunderland vs Tottenham; West Brom vs Everton. 18.30 Liverpool vs Aston Villa.
Sunday, Sept. 14.: 17.00 Man. United vs QPR.
Monday, Sept. 15: 21.00 Hull vs West Ham.
The Championship
Brighton 2 - Charlton 2
Derby 1 - Ipswich 1
Fulham 1 - Cardiff 1
Leeds 1 - Bolton 0
M’boro 0 - Reading 1
Millwall 2 - Blackpool 1
Norwich 1 - Bournemouth 1
Rotherham 0 - Brentford 2
Sheff. Wed.0 - N. Forest1
Watford 4 - Huddersfield 2
Wigan 4 - Birmingham 0
Wolves 3 - Blackburn 1
Standings: N. Forest 13; Watford, Wolves 12; Norwich, Millwall 10; Charlton 9; Derby, Brentford, Cardiff, Sheffield Wed. 8; Bournemouth; Wigan; Brighton, Blackburn Rovers; Reading 7; Middlesbrough, Rotherham, Leeds United 6; Ipswich, Birmingham 5; Hud-dersfield 4; Bolton Wanderers, Fulham 1; Blackpool 0.
League One
Colchester 1 - Peterborough 3
Doncaster 0 - Oldham 2
Fleetwood 1 - Leyton Orient 1
Gillingham 2 - Crewe 0
MK Dons 2 - Crawley 0
Port Vale 1 - Chesterfield 2
Preston 1 - Sheff. United 1
Rochdale 0 - Bradford 2
Scunthorpe 2 - Walsall 1
Swindon 1 - Coventry 1
Yeovil 1 - Barnsley 1
N. County-Bristol C. - today, 16.00
Standings: Peterborough 12; Fleetwood 11; MK Dons, Bradford, Chesterfield 10; Preston 9; Barnsley, Swindon, Bristol City 8; Notts County; Doncaster; Sheffield Utd; Gillingham 7; Leyton Orient, Coventry, Crawley 6; Oldham, Port Vale, Yeovil 5; Rochdale, Scunthrope 4; Walsall 3; Colchester 1; Crewe Alexandra 0.
League Two
Wimbledon 2 - Stevenage3
Bury 2 - Accrington 1
Cambridge 5 - Carlisle 0
Cheltenham 1 - Hartlepool 0
Mansfield 1 - Burton 2
Northampton 1 - Exeter 0
Oxford 3 - Dagenham 3
Plymouth 2 - Southend 0
Portsmouth 0 - Newport 1
Shrewsbury 2 - Luton 0
Tranmere 2 - Morecambe 1
York 0 - Wycombe 0
Standings: Burton Albion, Cheltenham 13; Morecambe 12; Shrewsbury 11; Wycombe, Bury, Portsmouth 10; Northampton 8; Cambridge, Plymouth, Tranmere, Dagenham, Wimbledon, Southend, Stevenage 7; Mansfield 6; York, Luton 5; Newport 4; Hartlepool 3; Exeter, Carlisle 2; Oxford; Accrington 1.