LONDON (Xinhua) -- Chelsea
extended their lead at the top of the Premier League on a Saturday which saw them highlight the problems facing Newcastle United’s new owners, while Brighton confirmed their candidacy for a place in the top half of the table and Crystal Palace stunned Manchester City.
Newcastle held on for 65 minutes against Chelsea before Reece James scored the first of two goals in 12 minutes with a powerful shot into the top corner of the Newcastle goal.
James doubled his personal tally with a half-volley in the 77th minute and Jorginho netted Chelsea’s third from the penalty space with nine minutes left to play.
Liverpool looked to be cruising at home to Brighton after Jorden Henderson and Sadio Mane had put them 2-0 ahead after just 24 minutes.
Enock Mwepu pulled a goal back for Brighton with a cross-shot that sneaked in under the crossbar and Leandro Trossard smashed a right foot shot past Alisson after a pass from former Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana.
Wilfred Zaha put Crystal Palace ahead after just six minutes of their visit to Manchester City’s Ethiad Stadium and things got worse for Pep Guardiola’s side when Aymeric Laporte was sent off for hauling the Palace striker down in first half injury time.
City had 14 shots in the game, but only got three on target and loanee Conor Gallagher sealed the win for Palace with two minutes left to play.
Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a volley, Edinson Cavani and Marcos Rashford after 39, 64 and 86 minutes will have Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer breathing a bit easier as his side won 3-0 away to Tottenham to recover from last weekend’s thrashing to Liverpool.
The problems continue to mount for Spurs coach Nuno Espiritu Sanchez as his side were booed off after failing to get a shot on target all game.
Che Adams scored in the 20th minute to give Southampton their second win of the season as they played away to Watford, while Chris Wood, Matthew Lowton and Maxwel Cornet were all on target as Burley blitzed Brentford to go in 3-0 up at halftime.
Saman Ghoddos pulled one back for the visitors in the second half, but it was not enough to deny Burnley their first win of the campaign.
Arsenal were quick off the mark as goals from Gabriel Magalhaes and Emile Smith Rowe gave them a 2-0 win away to Leicester City.
Magalhaes headed Arsenal ahead in the fifth minute and Smith-Rowe scored from close range in the 18th minute, while goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale produced another impressive display for the Gunners.