Arsenal extend perfect league start as Chelsea, Liverpool held
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Arsenal extended a flawless start to their Premier League title defence thanks to Bruno Guimaraes's stunning strike in a 2-0 win over Sunderland, while Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham were all held at home on Saturday.
Newly-promoted Hull remain unbeaten and third in the table
after a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge as Liverpool failed to find a way past
struggling Fulham in a goalless encounter.
Tottenham's wait for a league goal goes on despite a £300
million ($405 million) splurge on new players as they drew another blank in a
stalemate with Everton.
Arsenal were also indebted to David Raya's penalty save from
Enzo Le Fee as they opened up a three-point lead over Manchester City after
four wins from their opening four games.
Just over two minutes later, Guimaraes silenced the Stadium
of Light with his first Arsenal goal that arrowed into the top corner from long
range.
Bukayo Saka's penalty with the final kick of the game sealed
another impressive win for Mikel Arteta's men.
City can move back alongside leaders Arsenal if they win the
Manchester derby against United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
But a significant gap is already beginning to open up
between Arsenal and the rest of the title contenders.
It was a familiar tale for Chelsea as the front three of
Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer dazzled, only for the Blues to be
undone by an inability to defend.
In five games against top-flight opposition since Xabi
Alonso took charge, Chelsea have scored 16 times and conceded 12.
"(It's) maybe entertaining, but I hope one day you'll
say it was a boring game and we win and we don't give these entertaining
moments," Alonso said after his side fell five points off the top.
Hull were the last side in the Premier League to concede,
but after three clean sheets they were finally breached when Rogers drilled in
at the near post on seven minutes.
Mohamed Belloumi took advantage of Chelsea's slackness at
the back to strike twice before half-time.
Joao Pedro drilled a Palmer cross into the top corner to
bring Chelsea level just after the hour mark.
But the home side could not find a winner as Hull's
honeymoon back in the Premier League goes on.
Liverpool remain unbeaten under Andoni Iraola but there were
boos at Anfield after Fulham picked up their first point under Alvaro Arbeloa.
A forward line featuring three £100 million players in
Bradley Barcola, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak failed to click against the
Cottagers' leaky defence.
"When you draw, especially at home, you can't be
happy," said Iraola, who blamed fatigue after his side's Champions League
exertions against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
"Today we lacked a bit of freshness and we did not do
enough offensively to make the difference."
Sixth-placed Liverpool are already six points adrift of
Arsenal.
Tottenham's big-spending window was supposed to ensure there
would be no repeat of the 17th-place finishes of the previous two seasons.
But they sit just inside the relegation zone as a barren run
in front of goal showed no sign of ending.
Aston Villa are also stuck in the bottom three after
Nottingham Forest struck late to exact revenge for defeat in last season's
Europa League semi-finals.
Eyebrows were raised at the club-record £45 million Forest
reportedly paid Chelsea for Liam Delap after he failed to make the grade at
Stamford Bridge.
But Delap proved his worth with a long-range strike into the
bottom corner to open the scoring.
Alysson levelled with Villa's first league goal of the
season, but Igor Jesus secured Oliver Glasner's first win as Forest boss.
Glasner's old club Crystal Palace's poor start to the
campaign continued with a 3-2 home defeat to Ipswich.
The visitors were aided by Axel Disasi's first-half red card
as Zian Flemming's first goal for the Tractor Boys snatched all three points in
stoppage time.
Brentford remain unbeaten thanks to Kevin Schade's double in a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth.

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