Manchester United were able to put a run of three straight losses behind them to beat Premier League champions Leicester City in the lunchtime kick-off today at Old Trafford.
United manager Jose Mourinho made the decision to drop Wayne Rooney, who has been struggling for form and goals, to the bench. And his gutsy call was rewarded as the Red Devils stormed into a 4-0 lead by half-time.
Goals from Chris Smalling, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba, his first goal since his world-record transfer from Juventus, left the Foxes shell-shocked. Leicester replied through Demarai Gray, but were not able to close the gap any further, and slipped to the third defeat in their title defence.
United remain six points behind Manchester City, who won 3-1 at Swansea City, putting more pressure on under-fire Swans manager Francesco Guidolin.
Sergio Aguero picked up where he left off before his suspension with a double, and Raheem Sterling netted a third. Fernando Llorente had brought Swansea level after Aguero’s opener.
The only low spot for the leaders was a hamstring injury to Kevin De Bruyne, suffered with ten minutes to go.
Arsenal gained their first win over Chelsea since 2011, with a convincing 3-0 win at the Emirates Stadium.
The damage was done in the first-half, with strikes from Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil extending Chelsea’s winless run to four matches,
Liverpool cruised to a 5-1 win over Hull City. Adam Lallana put the Reds ahead, before Ahmed Elmohamady was sent off for handball in the area. James Milner duly converted the penalty to double the lead.
Sadio Mane, Philippe Coutinho and another Milner penalty eased Liverpool home. David Meyler netted for the Tigers.
Ronald Koeman suffered his first defeat as Everton manager, a defeat to Bournemouth dropping the Toffees behind Liverpool in the table.
Junior Stanislaus scored the only goal for Bournemouth, to earn the Cherries only their second win of the season.
Sunderland blew a two-goal lead, losing 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace. David Moyes is still looking for his first win as Sunderland manager.
Jermaine Defoe gave the Black Cats the cushion, however goals from Joe Ledley, James McArthur, and an injury-time winner from Christian Benteke left the Eagles soaring.
Tottenham ensured it would be a miserable Premier League day in the North-East, beating Middlesbrough 2-1, overcoming the loss of Harry Kane in the process.
Kane’s replacement, Son Heung-min gave Spurs a half-time cushion. Ben Gibson replied for Middlesbrough.
And West Bromwich Albion drew 1-1 at Stoke in Tony Pulis’ 1,000th game as a manager.
Salomon Rondon scored for the Baggies, equalising Joe Allen’s earlier strike.
Manchester City sit top of the table tonight with eighteen points, four ahead of Spurs on fourteen and three teams a further point behind: Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton. At the bottom of the table are Sunderland with one point. They, along with Stoke. are still looking for their first league win of the season.
By Steve Osborne              @BlizzardSteve75
