Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, left, and Chelsea's Tammy Abraham battle for the ball on Sunday.The Associated Press
Liverpool showcased title credentials while exposing Chelsea’s defensive frailties. Manchester United’s deep flaws surfaced in defeat at West Ham. Arsenal demonstrated powers of perseverance against Aston Villa.
Within a few hours across London on Sunday, there was a snapshot of challenges and optimism for teams at the top of the Premier League, or with aspirations to be.
Liverpool restored its five-point lead over Manchester City by making it six wins out of six, overcoming Chelsea 2-1 by unpicking the Stamford Bridge hosts twice from set-pieces in the first half.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was teed up by Mohamed Salah’s free kick to get the opener in the 14th minute. Roberto Firmino headed in Andy Robertson’s cross on the half-hour after Cesar Azpilicueta’s equalizer had been ruled out when the VAR spotted an earlier offside.
“Two wonderful goals, a lot of brilliant pressing situations where we won the ball in the perfect space,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said. “But then we didn’t use the ball in that situation well enough, so we could have had much more chances in these situations.”
On Saturday, Manchester City nearly equaled a record with an 8-0 rout of Watford and Leicester moved up to third with a 2-1 win over Tottenham, aided by a controversial VAR decision.
UNITED COLLAPSES
Not only did Manchester United lose 2-0 at West Ham, but striker Marcus Rashford limped off in the second half with a groin problem. Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez were offloaded in the summer, leaving United short of options up front.
West Ham had no problem scoring, with Andriy Yarmolenko netting just before halftime and Aaron Cresswell scoring from a free kick after the break.
“The key moments, they grasped and we didn’t,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said. “I have to say two fantastic finishes from two good left feet. And we didn’t take our chances when we had them.”
While West Ham has 11 points in six matches – after three wins from four – United is three points worse off. Solskjaer is tasked with returning United to the four Champions League places.
ARSENAL FIGHTS BACK
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s seventh goal in seven games guided Arsenal to a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa and up to fourth place.
Already trailing to John McGinn’s goal, Arsenal was reduced to 10 men before halftime when Ainsley Maitland-Niles was sent off.
But Nicolas Pépé equalized from the penalty spot in the 59th after Mattéo Guendouzi was tripped by Bjorn Engels.
Villa was back in front less than 90 seconds later through Wesley, but parity was restored by Calum Chambers in the 81st with his first goal in more than three years. Aubameyang’s winner came three minutes later from a free kick.
“Playing with one less player – not easy,” Arsenal manager Unai Emery said. “We lost some control, but we took some risks to come back. We are creating good spirit with our supporters and the players are feeling that.
“Our commitment, our behaviour, fighting each ball, taking some risks. That is good. That character, that connection with our supporters, that spirit. We can be happy.”
WOLVES RECOVERY
A run of three straight losses in all competitions for Wolverhampton Wanderers was halted by Diogo Jota’s stoppage-time goal clinching a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace after Leander Dendoncker had scored an own-goal.
NEAR RECORD
On Saturday, Man City fell just short of the heaviest margin of victory in the Premier League era (since 1992) — Manchester United’s 9-0 win over Ipswich in 1995 — when it beat Watford 8-0.
It came four months after City beat Watford 6-0 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium to complete an unprecedented domestic treble last season. The previous season, Pep Guardiola’s team won 6-0 at Watford’s Vicarage Road.
LEICESTER WINS AGAIN
Tottenham was on the good side of a tight VAR call in a 2-2 draw at Man City this season.
Mauricio Pochettino’s team was on the receiving end of one in a 2-1 loss against Leicester on Saturday.
Tottenham was ahead courtesy of a first-half strike by Harry Kane when Serge Aurier drove a deflected shot into the bottom corner, seemingly giving the visitors a 2-0 lead at King Power stadium.
However, after a lengthy stoppage as the video assistant referee took a forensic look at whether Son Heung-min was offside by millimeters in the buildup, the goal was ruled out.
In Leicester’s next attack, Ricardo Pereira scored with a deflected finish to make it 1-1 in the 69th minute and James Maddison completed Leicester’s comeback by scoring from outside the area in the 85th.
NORWICH SLUMPS
While Man City was bouncing back from a shock loss, the team that inflicted it slumped to a miserable defeat of its own a week on.
Norwich conceded two goals in the first half to striker Chris Wood and lost 2-0 at Burnley
“We always knew this would be tougher than Manchester City,” Norwich defender Ben Godfrey said. “Burnley are tough to play against.”
BLADES CUT DOWN EVERTON
One shot on target. Two goals. Three points for Sheffield United.
They were the galling statistics Everton was staring at following a 2-0 loss at Goodison Park to a promoted club which hasn’t lost away since mid-January.
“It was just a ridiculous game,” Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder said. “That’s possibly the worst we’ve played all season.”
Everton had a supposedly benign run of fixtures to start the season but has only come away with seven points from six games, with City visiting next week. Sheffield United has one point more.
CARROLL RETURNS
Andy Carroll came on for his first appearance for Newcastle in nearly nine years but couldn’t inspire the team to victory in a 0-0 home draw against Brighton.
The 30-year-old striker, who rejoined Newcastle in August after spells with Liverpool and West Ham, entered to a huge ovation in the 82nd minute and made his presence felt in a bustling cameo performance at St. James’ Park. He had not played since February because of an ankle injury that required an operation.