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Premier League round-up

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb

Mohamed Salah bagged a brace in a 3-1 win over Arsenal which has kept Liverpool at the top of the table.

Results: Friday Aston Villa 2 Everton 0 Saturday Norwich City 2 Chelsea 3

Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Southampton 2

Manchester United 1 Crystal Palace 2 Sheffield United 1 Leicester City 2 Watford 1 West Ham United 3 Liverpool 3 Arsenal 1

Round-up:

The Premier League action kicked off on Friday night, as Aston Villa finally got their Premier League campaign up and running, picking up their first win in the division since February 2016, thanks to a 2-0 win at home to Everton with the goals coming from Wesley and Anwar El-Ghazi. Everton started the game the better of the two teams, and might even have had a penalty as Richarlison went down in the penalty area after contact with Aston Villa's Jack Grealish, though it would have been an incredibly soft decision. After Everton were in control for the first 20 minutes, at one point Grealish earned a foul in the Aston Villa half, and after a quick free kick, Jota then played a lovely through ball to Brazilian striker Wesley, who was ice-cool in front of goal to give the Villans the lead, scoring his first goal of the season in the process. The next key chance of the game, however, fell to Everton once again, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a brilliant opportunity from around 12 yards out, but a poor finish meant his shot was cleared off the line by defender Bjorn Engels. In the second half, Everton stepped up their efforts to try and equalise, with forward Alex Iwobi, on as a substitute, coming extremely close as he hit the post, and towards the end of the game Theo Walcott missed an absolute sitter. As a result of Everton pushing forward to try and equalise, in the last minute of added time Aston Villa broke forward, and John McGinn played a through ball to Anwar El-Ghazi, who finished in composed fashion to wrap up Aston Villa's first win of the season.

In the early kick-off on Saturday, Chelsea, now under the management of Frank Lampard, finally earned their first League win of the season, as they beat a determined Norwich City side. Young striker Tammy Abraham gave Chelsea the lead after just 3 minutes with a composed finish, however, their lead did not last long as academy graduate Todd Cantwell equalised just 3 minutes later for Norwich. Continuing the theme of academy graduates, another of Chelsea's academy graduates Mason Mount put Chelsea back in front in the 17th minute of the game. This did not deter Norwich from continuing to push forward, and they were rewarded as striker Teemu Pukki bagged his fifth league goal of the season in the 30th minute with a brilliant finish from a tight angle, although goalkeeper Kepa should have done better to prevent it. However, ultimately Chelsea had the last laugh as Tammy Abraham got his second goal of the game in the 68th minute with a good finish, but Norwich's defending could have done better as well. Chelsea then later had a goal disallowed after a foul by Olivier Giroud on Tim Krul, but it didn't matter in the end as they held on for their first win of the season. It was a Saturday afternoon where four clubs each got their first win of the season. The shock result came in Manchester, as Crystal Palace won 2-1 away to Manchester United. After a poorly dealt with long ball, Jordan Ayew took full advantage to give Palace the lead in the 32nd minute. United were then awarded a penalty in the 69th minute after Scott McTominay, and after Paul Pogba saw his penalty saved last week on Monday, this time Marcus Rashford stepped up, and unbelievably he hit the post. After lots of huffing and puffing, United did finally get a goal as Daniel James equalised in the 89th minute with a brilliant finish after some brilliant work in the build-up from Paul Pogba. It looked like United were going to get a point, but Crystal Palace's Patrick van Aanholt had other ideas and hit a shot idea which inexplicably beat goalkeeper David de Gea at his near post. Another team who got their first win of the season were unbeaten Leicester City, who won 2-1 away to newly promoted Sheffield United, for whom it was their first defeat of the season. Jamie Vardy gave Leicester the lead seven minutes before half-time thanks to a lovely through-ball from James Maddison, before just after an hour played substitute Oli McBurnie equalised for the Blades. It was a substitute who would win the game for Leicester, as Harvey Barnes struck a well-hit volley to give Leicester their first win of the season, which has propelled them up to third in the table until at least tomorrow. It was also a first win (and first points) of the season for Southampton, whose cause was helped by Florin Andone getting sent off for Brighton & Hove Albion for a reckless challenge on Yan Valery. Brighton actually did have a goal by Lewis Dunk disallowed after Dan Burn was deemed to have been offside, before Southampton stepped it up and ultimately got the win thanks to goals from Moussa Djenepo and Nathan Redmond. The one other team who got their first win of the season were West Ham United, who won 3-1 away to Watford who themselves still remain without a point. Mark Noble gave the Hammers the lead inside just 3 minutes after he scored from the penalty spot, before Andre Gray equalised just under 15 minutes later for Watford. In the second half Will Hughes arguably put himself in contention for the award of miss of the season as he inexplicably missed an open goal from less than six yards out. West Ham made him pay for that miss as club-record signing Sebastian Haller grabbed a brace which won them the game. The Saturday evening kick-off was between the two sides still boasting a 100% record, Liverpool and Arsenal. After a rather tight and nervy first-half, it was Liverpool who took the lead in the 40th minute thanks to a header from Joel Matip after a well-taken corner by Trent Alexander-Arnold. The hosts then doubled their lead early in the second half after Mohamed Salah was pulled down in the penalty area by Arsenal defender David Luiz, and Salah emphatically converted the resulting spot-kick. Salah would then grab his second goal of the evening after a brilliant run in the 58th minute, before Lucas Torreira scored an 85th minute consolation for the Gunners.

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