Premier League

Our Michael Yiakoumi with Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper who beat Chelsea 1-0.

Jarrod Bowen continued his fine start to the season to help West Ham to a victory at Luton that put them top of the Premier League on Friday.

After dominating possession throughout the first half, West Ham found the breakthrough shortly before half-time when Lucas Paqueta’s tantalising cross was headed in by Bowen, although Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski may feel he should have done better.

Luton, despite being without the ball for long periods, posed a threat on the counter and carved out eight chances in the opening half of the first Premier League game at Kenilworth Road in their history.

However, they failed to register an effort on target as Ross Barkley fired wide on two occasions and Carlton Morris – who has scored Luton’s only goal in the Premier League this season – headed on to the roof of the net.

Elijah Adebayo and Morris had good chances in the second period but the former got the ball caught under his feet and the latter blazed over from seven yards.

Kurt Zouma scored West Ham’s second in the closing stages with a header from a James Ward-Prowse corner.

Luton’s first shot on target came in the 92nd minute and set up a tense finish when defender Mads Andersen headed in, but the Hammers held on for victory.

West Ham have won their last three games to reach the Premier League summit while Luton, playing at home for the first time this season after delays over work at their stadium, are rock bottom without a point to show from their opening three matches.

Manchester City goal-machine Erling Haaland bagged his fifth Premier League hat-trick as the champions maintained their 100% start with a 5-1 defeat of Fulham and Son Heung-min grabbed three for Tottenham Hotspur in a 5-2 win at Burnley on Saturday.

Brighton & Hove Albion also had a treble from teenage striker Evan Ferguson as they outclassed visiting Newcastle United 3-1 in the late kick-off.

Haaland, who scored four league hat-tricks in a record-shattering first season with City, is already in the groove and his triple against Fulham took his season’s goal tally to six.

Julian Alvarez and Nathan Ake were also on target for City in the first half with Tim Ream equalising for Fulham but Haaland then grabbed centre stage as the hosts cut loose.

City, bidding to win an unprecedented fourth successive English league title, have a maximum 12 points with Spurs on 10 after they demolished Burnley 5-2 at Turf Moor.

Third-placed West Ham United, who beat Luton Town 2-1 away on Friday, also have 10 points from their four games.

Chelsea’s stuttering start to the season under Mauricio Pochettino continued as they lost 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest for whom substitute Anthony Elanga was on target.

Everton scored their first goals of the season and gained their first point in a lively 2-2 draw at Sheffield United.

Brentford drew 2-2 at home to Bournemouth.

Brighton’s 18-year-old Ferguson grabbed the headlines when his side welcomed Newcastle in the late game, netting an opportunist first goal and then a beautiful curled effort from distance before completing his hat-trick with a deflected shot.

The win moves the Seagulls to fourth spot on nine points.

HAALAND EXPLOITS

Haaland’s latest exploits earned him another record as he became the fastest to 50 goal involvements in the Premier League with 41 goals and nine assists. He reached the milestone in 39 games compared to the 43 it took Andy Cole.

“Important win, we go into the international break having won four in four. Good start to the season,” Haaland said.

I’m back. No problem for me. I am always hungry. It’s a new season and I am ready for it.”

With manager Pep Guardiola absent following back surgery City took a while to get going against Fulham.

Haaland set up the opener for Alvarez but Fulham levelled soon after through Ream who was left unmarked.

City went ahead in controversial fashion in first-half stoppage time when VAR allowed Ake’s header to stand despite Manuel Akanji being in an offside position in front of the keeper and making an effort to get a touch on the bal

Fulham boss Marco Silva was booked for his angry reaction.

Alvarez set up Haaland’s first goal in the 58th minute and the Norwegian then buried a penalty after Issa Diop fouled Alvarez. Haaland completed his hat-trick with a first-time finish from a cut-back by Sergio Gomez.

SON HAT-TRICK

Tottenham’s strong start to the league campaign continued at Burnley with Son scoring his fourth Premier League hat-trick although they had to come from behind.

Lyle Foster slotted Burnley ahead after four minutes but Son opened his account for the season with a dinked finish after 16 before Cristian Romero put Spurs ahead with a powerful effort in first-half stoppage time.

James Maddison made it 3-1 before Son completed his hat-trick with two goals in quick succession to lift Ange Postecoglou’s side into second place.

“Once we got to grips with it I think thought we were dominant in just about every area,” Postecoglou said.

Chelsea have spent around $1 billion in transfer fees since the new ownership led by American Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their takeover of the club in May 2022.

But they remain very much a work in progress under Pochettino with only one win from their first four league games.

Forest’s Elanga struck early in the second half and a toothless Chelsea could not respond. There were some boos at the final whistle.

“We’re not playing fantastic but I think the performance is not bad. The fans want to win and we need to give the possibility for them to be happy,” Pochettino said.

Everton took the lead at Sheffield United through Abdoulaye Doucoure but trailed at halftime as the home side’s new signing Cameron Archer levelled and then forced an own goal when the ball rebounded off England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s back.

Arnaut Danjuma made sure Everton went home with a draw.

Arsenal scored twice in stoppage time to secure a dramatic victory over Manchester United at Emirates Stadium.

In a chaotic finale to a largely scrappy game, United first thought they had snatched three points only to see Alejandro Garnacho’s 87th-minute finish ruled out for offside by the video assistant referee with the score 1-1.

The drama then switched to the other end in eight added minutes as Declan Rice’s deflected shot gave Arsenal the lead before substitute Gabriel Jesus raced clear to wrap up the win as the stadium exploded in elation.

United had taken the lead in the 27th minute when Christian Eriksen’s outstanding pass played in Marcus Rashford, who cut inside to send an unerring right-foot drive past Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale.

The Gunners, who had already spurned a golden chance when the struggling Kai Havertz miskicked with the goal at his mercy, were level almost instantly when captain Martin Odegaard was given too much space and sent an emphatic finish into the bottom corner.

In an encounter that rarely hit the heights despite lots of effort, Arsenal – who had seen a penalty over-turned by the VAR after referee Anthony Taylor originally ruled Havertz had been fouled – missed a glorious late opportunity when Bukayo Saka shot straight at Andre Onana.

United saw celebrations cut short with three minutes left when substitute Garnacho raced clear to score, but the VAR ruled he was just offside – opening the door for Arsenal to produce two devastating blows.

Mohamed Salah put speculation about his future behind him by scoring as Liverpool comfortably beat Aston Villa to continue their strong start to the season in the Premier League.

Jurgen Klopp’s side rejected a £150m bid for the Egypt international from Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad, with the Reds insisting the 31-year-old is not for sale.

And Salah emphasised his worth to Liverpool when he scored their third goal in the second half at Anfield, firing in at the back post from Darwin Nunez’s cross to seal a third league win in a row.

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Dominik Szoboszlai got the hosts up and running after just three minutes, scoring his first goal for the club with a crisp strike through a crowded box.

Villa, who have been scoring for fun since losing 5-1 to Newcastle in their opening game of the season, were far too open at the back as they struggled to deal with Liverpool’s forwards.

The hosts increased their lead in the 22nd minute when Nunez’s shot hit the post and bounced in off the unlucky Matty Cash.

Liverpool looked capable of scoring with every attack in a rampant first half, although Villa’s cause was not helped by an enforced change as centre-back Diego Carlos limped off with an injury inside the opening 20 minutes.

And the lively Nunez went close to scoring his third goal in two games as his shot bounced off the crossbar.

Keeper Alisson made a good stop to push out Cash’s header in the second half, but Salah’s second goal of the season wrapped up a win that moved Liverpool up to third in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Manchester City.

Odsonne Edouard scored twice as Crystal Palace beat Wolves in a Premier League match with a frantic finish.

Edouard opened the scoring after he got in between two Wolves defenders to finish from Tyrick Mitchell’s excellent cross.

Wolves substitute Hwang Hee-chan equalised six minutes after entering the field, getting on the end of a free-kick from Pedro Neto.

But just minutes after being denied from a free-kick by Wolves keeper Jose Sa, Eberechi Eze got on the end of a knock down from Jean-Philippe Mateta to slide home.

Then Edouard combined with Mateta and produced a calm slotted finish.

Matheus Cunha headed home from close range in added time but the points were already heading to Palace.

“He’s [Mateta] not only good at holding the ball up, he’s very skilful, very technical and he can score goals and that’s exactly what he did today,” Palace manager Roy Hodgson told BBC Match of the Day.