Chelsea win nine-goal thriller as City, United stumble

Chelsea went to the top of the Premier League table after beating Everton 6-3 in a stunning game at Goodison Park on Saturday.

The Blues raced into a 2-0 lead after less than three minutes of the match as Diego Costa and Bransilav Ivanovic shocked the home fans.

Just before half time, Everton were back in it as Kevin Mirallas headed home to make it 2-1. Then the game exploded into life in the second half, as a crazy eight-minute spell saw five more goals arrive.

At the Etihad Stadium, a goal from former Manchester United striker Mame Biram Diouf earned Stoke City a shock victory.

Stoke striker Mame Diouf ran from his own half, bypassing a hesitant Fernandinho’s challenge before slotting the ball through.

The Potters, who had never won at the Etihad Stadium or even scored there, were made to work extremely hard for the win.

The victory came at a price, though, as Osaze Odemwingie was forced to leave the pitch with an apparent knee injury.

The forward had only entered the match at half time but came down awkwardly after launching a cross just after the hour mark, buckling his knee in the process.  The Nigerian couldn’t continue and was replaced by Charlie Adam.

Angel di Maria made his Manchester United debut at Turf Moor against Burnley but after earning only one point from their first two games in the Premier League, the Red Devils desperately sought their first win under Louis van Gaal. In the end, the game ended in a draw, as either side failed to break the deadlock.

A first clean sheet under the new manager would surely have been the springboard for a first victory had United converted any of the opportunities on offer and Van Gaal was left frustrated after the match.

“We played much better in the second half and created more chances. But you have to score from those chances, and we didn’t do that. It’s a disappointing result,” he told MUTV.

“It was our mistake to fight with Burnley, even though they have fantastic fighting spirit. You have to play with the ball against teams like Burnley.

“I don’t think our confidence level was very high in the first half. But I think that’s normal when a club like United loses the first match and draws the second one. The pressure is higher and you have to cope with that. I could see in the first half that the players were very nervous to play the ball. We restored that in the second half, and maybe that will raise our confidence.”

Mike Williamson scored a rebound in the 89th minute, but Newcastle could not survive seven minutes of stoppage time.

Wilfried Zaha, on loan from Man United, scored in the fifth minute of added time to gift Neil Warnock a point in his debut as Crystal Palace manager.

Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat also scored for the Magpies in the 3-3 draw, who twice came from behind in the match. Dwight Gayle scored in the first minute for Crystal Palace, which also got a tally from Jason Puncheon.

Charlie Austin filled the void left by Chelsea-bound Loic Remy, as QPR beat Sunderland 1-0 to claim their first win back in the Premier League.

On the day that QPR manager Harry Redknapp confirmed Remy’s departure from the club, Austin returned from injury to score the only goal of the game.

West Brom paid for a dreadful performance as Nathan Dyer scored twice for Swansea City in a one-sided game.

The Baggies were poor and by half-time were 2-0 down, as Dyer opened the scoring and Wayne Routledge added a second with a brilliant volley.

The second half offered little improvement for the Baggies and more shocking defending allowed Dyer to complete the scoring on 71 minutes.

The defeat leaves new Hawthorns coach Alan Irvine with just two points to show for his first three Premier League games in charge while Swansea have maximum points from their three matches.

Morgan Schneiderlin scored twice as Southampton secured a first Premier League win for Dutch coach Ronald Koeman by beating West Ham United 3-1 at Upton Park.

The France midfielder produced a couple of fine close-range efforts either side of half-time as the visitors came from behind following Mark Noble’s deflected effort.