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Premier League round-up: Man City and Liverpool record comprehensive victories

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb

Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick to take Man City to the top of the table with a resounding 5-0 win.

Results: Friday Liverpool 4 Norwich City 1 Saturday West Ham United 0 Manchester City 5 AFC Bournemouth 1 Sheffield United 1 Burnley 3 Southampton 0 Crystal Palace 0 Everton 0 Watford 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 3 Tottenham Hotspur 3 Aston Villa 1

To be played tomorrow (kick-off 15:00 CEST unless stated): Leicester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers Newcastle United v Arsenal Manchester United v Chelsea (kick-off 17:30 CEST)

Round-up: After 13 long weeks without any Premier League football, with lots of transfer activity, speculation and talking during the interim, the Premier League finally returned. It was Liverpool, Champions League winners last season, who got the season underway against newly-promoted Norwich City. Liverpool ensured they got off their season to the perfect start, as they ruthlessly beat the Canaries 4-1 thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Divock Origi and an own goal from defender Grant Hanley. However, Norwich were not as bad as the scoreline suggested and did show potential during the match and were rewarded for their attempts to attack and go forward with a consolation goal from Teemu Pukki. On the other hand, Norwich were a touch naive at times, particularly in the first half and were perhaps playing the ball out from the back a bit too much and they did concede avoidable goals (bar probably one of them). As for Liverpool, if there was one disappointment from the match, it would undoubtedly be the fact that goalkeeper Alisson suffered a calf injury and had to be replaced by recent signing Adrian.

Reigning champions Manchester City got their season underway away at West Ham United, and won in emphatic fashion as they hammered the Hammers 5-0, though it was not a match without talking points. Initially City struggled to impose themselves, but took the lead on 25 minutes thanks to Gabriel Jesus. Then Raheem Sterling doubled the lead in the 51st minute after a brilliant assist by Kevin de Bruyne, and then two minutes later Jesus grabbed his second goal after an assist by Raheem Sterling, but in the first VAR decision of the season, Sterling was deemed to have been offside (although it was by a very fractional amount) and thus the goal was disallowed. Then Sterling got his second goal of the game in the 75th minute to make it 3-0, and after a VAR check, the goal this time stood. Then Manchester City were awarded a penalty after Riyad Mahrez was felled by Issa Diop in the area. Sergio Aguero stepped up to take the penalty but saw it saved by Hammers goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, however, in another notable VAR decision, Declan Rice encroached the penalty area before Aguero took the shot and thus the referee ordered a re-take of the penalty. There was no mistake second time round from Aguero, who ruthlessly dispatched the penalty, before Sterling sealed his hat-trick in the 91st minute in an emphatic opening day victory for the champions. It was a great managerial debut in the Premier League for new Brighton & Hove Albion manager Graham Potter, as he guided his side to an impressive 3-0 victory away to Watford. Watford's Abdoulaye Doucoure inadvertently gave Brighton the lead through his own goal in the 28th minute, before Florin Andone doubled the Seagulls' lead with a brilliant near-post finish just moments after coming off the bench, before new signing Neal Maupay, also on as a substitute, wrapped up the win in the 77th minute. It was also a great start to the new season for Burnley, who after first having a goal disallowed through the intervention of VAR, recorded a brilliant 3-0 win over Ralph Hassenhuttl's Southampton thanks to an Ashley Barnes brace and a goal from Johann Berg Gudmundsson. It was a positive return to the Premier League for newly promoted Sheffield United, who held AFC Bournemouth to a draw after club legend Billy Sharp came off the bench to score his first ever goal in the Premier League at the age of 33 with his first shot of the game with just two minutes to go after Chris Mepham had given the hosts the lead. In the other afternoon game, Crystal Palace and Everton played out a goalless draw in a match which saw Morgan Schneiderlin sent off for Everton, who also had to deal with Andre Gomes going off injured. In the evening kick-off, Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to beat newly-promoted Aston Villa, who gave them a very big run for their money, 3-1. John McGinn, who had an encouraging performance, gave the Villans the lead in the 9th minute of the game with a composed finish after leaving Danny Rose for dead. Tom Heaton, Aston Villa's goalkeeper who was signed just over a week ago from Burnley, was having a blinder, as well as defender Tyrone Mings, before eventually they were broken down by a Tanguy Ndombele shot in the 73rd minute which deflected off Mings of all people. Aston Villa began to tire as the game wore on, and an error from Jack Grealish in the 86th minute was ruthlessly punished by Tottenham striker Harry Kane, who then scored his second goal and Tottenham's third late on to wrap up the points - though it must be said that the scoreline did not tell the full story as Aston Villa played incredibly well on their return to the Premier League.

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