Football
ESPN staff 9y

Chelsea and Liverpool suffer shock defeats, Man City and Arsenal win

Chelsea's poor start to the season continued as they lost 2-1 at home to Crystal Palace.

The Premier League champions had won just one of their opening three games and they struggled to create clear chances in the first half against Alan Pardew's Palace.

The Eagles grew in confidence in the second half and took the lead on 65 minutes when summer signing Bakary Sako sent the ball past Thibaut Courtois after seeing his initial shot blocked.

Jose Mourinho reacted by making three substitutions shortly after the goal, bringing on Radamel Falcao, Kenedy and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Falcao responded by heading home his first for the club on 79 minutes from a Pedro Rodriguez cross.

However, the Eagles responded almost immediately when Joel Ward headed home to make it 2-1 and leave Chelsea with just four points from their opening four games.

Cesc Fabregas had a golden chance to equalise in injury time but his shot was blocked as Palace clinched victory over their London rivals.

Liverpool endured a miserable afternoon as they slumped to a 3-0 home defeat to West Ham United and saw Philippe Coutinho sent off.

Liverpool had yet to concede a goal this season, but Manuel Lanzini turned home a mis-hit Aaron Cresswell cross-shot after three minutes to give West Ham the lead.

Mark Noble then doubled their advantage with a calm finish into the bottom corner after Dejan Lovren failed to clear.

Coutinho was then sent off on 52 minutes when he picked up his second booking for a foul on Dimitri Payet, while Noble also received his marching orders for a foul on debutant Danny Ings with 12 minutes remaining.

Diafra Sakho then rounded off the victory with a third goal for the Hammers in injury time.

Manchester City remain top of the Premier League as they maintained their 100 percent start to the season with a 2-0 victory over Watford.

After a goalless first half, City took the lead within two minutes of the restart when Raheem Sterling volleyed home from Bacary Sagna's cross for his first goal since signing from Liverpool.

Fernandinho then produced an excellent finish on 56 minutes to beat Heurelho Gomes as City made it four wins out of four.

In the day's early game, Arsenal edged to a 1-0 victory over 10-man Newcastle United courtesy of an own goal from Fabricio Coloccini.

Arsenal, who had brought Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Laurent Koscielny into the team, struggled to create clear chances in a first half overshadowed by the dismissal of Newcastle forward Aleksandar Mitrovic.

Mitrovic was shown a straight red for a studs-up challenge on Francis Coquelin with little over a quarter of an hour played, but the visitors struggled to make the extra man count.

However, Arsenal got the only goal of the game when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's 52nd-minute shot was deflected home by Newcastle captain Coloccini after Tim Krul had saved an Aaron Ramsey effort.

Tim Howard denied Tottenham their first win of the season with a string of superb saves that enabled Everton to leave White Hart Lane with a goalless draw.

Harry Kane, Ryan Mason and Toby Alderweireld were kept at bay by Howard in the first half, although Kane should have finished his one on one with the American goalkeeper.

Spurs, who named Erik Lamela on the bench, only had themselves to blame for not grabbing all three points in a dominant second half that saw chance after chance squandered.

Tony Pulis enjoyed a victorious return to the Britannia Stadium as West Bromwich Albion picked up their first win of the season with a 1-0 win over nine-man Stoke City.

Stoke saw midfielder Ibrahim Afellay was sent off on 25 minutes after an altercation with Craig Gardner, and Charlie Adam saw red soon afterwards for stamping on Craig Dawson's leg.

The nine men found themselves behind on the stroke of half-time as summer signing Salomon Rondon headed home for his first goal for the club.

Sunderland battled back to hold Aston Villa to a 2-2 draw at Villa Park.

Yann M'Vila scored his first goal for Sunderland when he curled a free kick past Villa keeper Brad Guzan on eight minutes, but Lee Cattermole conceded a penalty soon afterwards, and Scott Sinclair converted to level the scores.

Sinclair then added his second of the match four minutes before the break, but Jeremain Lens restored parity in the 52 minute.

Bournemouth drew 1-1 with high-flying Leicester City at Dean Court.

Callum Wilson put Bournemouth ahead with a spectacular overhead kick on 24 minutes, which looked set to give the newly promoted side victory over a Leicester team who had claimed seven points from their first three games.

However, Jamie Vardy won and converted a penalty five minutes from time to give Leicester a share of the spoils.

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