Premier League: Arsenal maintain perfect start, Sterling stars in Chelsea win

London: Arsenal preserved the Premier League's last remaining 100% record as they came from a goal down to beat Fulham 2-1 thanks to a late winner by Gabriel at The Emirates Stadium on Saturday that kept the Gunners top of the table.

The home side enjoyed overwhelming possession but a dreadful mistake by Gabriel allowed Aleksandar Mitrovic to give previously unbeaten Fulham a 56th-minute lead.

It was Mitrovic's 100th goal for Fulham but Arsenal were behind for only eight minutes as captain Martin Odegaard's deflected effort levelled it up.

Mitrovic was close to putting Fulham back in front with a diving header but Arsenal's pressure finally told as a fumble by their former goalkeeper Bernd Leno from a corner allowed Gabriel to make ammends with a simple tap-in.

Arsenal were not at their best against well-drilled Fulham, who should have equalised through Nathaniel Chalobah late on, but they stay in first place with 12 points from four games, two more than champions Manchester City and Brighton & Hove Albion.

 

Ten-man Chelsea beat Leicester 2-1
Raheem Sterling's first two goals for Chelsea steered the 10-man Blues to a hard-fought 2-1 home win over Leicester City as Thomas Tuchel's side survived the early dismissal of Conor Gallagher in the Premier League on Saturday.

Two yellow cards for Gallagher less than 30 minutes into his first league start at Stamford Bridge seemed to have left Chelsea with a mountain to climb.

But Sterling's double put the hosts in control - the opening goal a deflected, looping shot over goalkeeper Danny Ward in the 47th minute followed by a tap-in 16 minutes later from a Reece James cross.

They were Sterling's first goals since moving to London in the close season from Manchester City and he almost got another when he hit the post during Chelsea's early-second half onslaught.

But Leicester struck back in the 66th minute when Harvey Barnes exchanged passes with Jamie Vardy and drove an angled shot past keeper Edouard Mendy at his near post.

Leicester, who have struggled so far this season, pushed for an equaliser and Mendy was forced into saves from Barnes and Vardy, who also shot into the side netting. Substitute Ayoze Perez hit the bar late on.

Chelsea, marshalled in central defence by Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah, held on for their first home win of the season, leaving them in sixth place with seven points from four games. Leicester are languishing second-bottom with one point.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, who watched the match from the stands as a punishment for being shown a red card after his side's hot-blooded home draw with Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month, was critical of Gallagher.

Asked by reporters about the midfielder's apparent distress at being sent off, the German said: "OK but today he is responsible for what he did and of course he knows this was a huge mistake."

It was the second red card for Chelsea in two games after defender Kalidou Koulibaly was sent off last weekend in a 3-0 defeat at Leeds United.

Leicester were left to rue a decision by referee Paul Tierney who decided that Mendy had been fouled before defender Daniel Amartey put the ball in the net with a header in the first half with the score at 0-0.