Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa scored on their home debuts as Manchester United rallied from a goal behind to beat Fulham 3-2, while Chelsea, Everton and Swansea City maintained their 100% starts to the new Premier League season.
Big money summer signing Eden Hazard was brilliant once again as Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-0. Hazard scored one and assisted on Fernando Torres’s third goal of the season. In Chelsea’s opening three games Hazard has won two penalties, assisted on two goals and scored himself. It is hard to remember another Chelsea player who has had this sort of impact in his first three games.
At Old Trafford, Damien Duff gave Fulham a third-minute lead before Robin van Persie opened his United account with a fabulous half-volley seven minutes later. Fellow summer signing Kagawa made it two, before Rafael Da Silva tightened United’s grip by turning in Ashley Young’s cross right before half-time. Nemanja Vidić’s second-half own goal gave Fulham hope and at by the final whistle, United were hanging on as David de Gea twice saved from Moussa Dembélé.
Late in the game United’s Wayne Rooney suffered a deep gash to his leg after trying to block a shot by Fulham’s Hugo Rodallega. Rooney, who was dropped by Sir Alex Ferguson for this game, is expected to be out for four weeks.
Three first-half goals meanwhile paved the way for Everton’s 3-1 win at Aston Villa, while Michu was on target for the second consecutive week as Swansea beat a poor West Ham side 3-0 in the early kick off.
Arouna Koné scored on his debut in Wigan won 2-0 win at Southampton, while the AVB era is off to a slow start as Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with West Brom and Norwich City drew 1-1 with Queens Park Rangers.