Chelsea maintain perfect Premier League start, Southampton earn first win

Chelsea saw off stiff resistance from Bournemouth on Saturday to continue setting a fast pace at the top of the Premier League with four wins from four games.

Chelsea had to wait until 19 minutes from time to break down Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge before the in-form Pedro Rodriguez opened the scoring and Eden Hazard sealed the points in a 2-0 win.

Maurizio Sarri’s imprint was again clear to see as the blues dominated possession, but were made to work to inflict Bournemouth’s first defeat of the campaign.

French World Cup winner Olivier Giroud came off the bench to help make the breakthrough as he exchanged passes with Pedro before the Spaniard curled home.

And Hazard then showed why Chelsea refused to contemplate letting him go to Real Madrid with a classy finish for his second goal of the season.

At the other end of the table West Ham remain without a point after Wolves snatched a 1-0 victory in stoppage time at the London Stadium thanks to Adama Traore’s winner.

Everton’s fine start to life under Marco Silva stumbled in a 1-1 draw at home to Huddersfield.

Brighton fought back from 2-0 down at home to Fulham to grab a 2-2 draw thanks to Glenn Murray’s double.

And Southampton claimed their first victory of the season by resisting intense Crystal Palace pressure to win 2-0 at Selhurst Park thanks to second-half goals from Danny Ings and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

First Published: Sep 01, 2018 21:52 IST