Erling Haaland netted a second-half hat-trick as pacesetters Manchester City maintained their 100 per cent record in the Premier League with a 5-1 thrashing of Fulham yesterday.
Julian Alvarez and Nathan Ake opened the scoring for the champions, who have beaten Fulham in their last 15 league meetings and now top the table with a perfect 12 points from four games. Fulham, who scored an early equaliser through Tim Ream before being overrun, have four points from their four games.
Haaland, who broke several scoring records last season, added another on Saturday, becoming the fastest player to reach 50 goal involvements, with 42 goals and nine assists in just 39 Premier League appearances.
Meanwhile, substitute Anthony Elanga scored his first Nottingham Forest goal to secure a hard-fought Premier League victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Summer signing Elanga, introduced in first-half added time following an injury to Danilo, struck shortly after the break when he raced on to Taiwo Awoniyi’s pass and slotted home.
The hosts’ expensively assembled side had most possession and spent much of the game buzzing around the Forest goal, passing in tight triangles or relying on surging runs from Raheem Sterling but failing to find the killer shot on goal.
Forest, whose three points mean they leapfrog Chelsea in the table, defended solidly as they kept Sterling and target man Nicolas Jackson, who sent a golden chance over the bar in the 82nd minute, tightly in check.
Elsewhere, Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo scored a late goal to rescue a 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth as the visitors were denied their first win of the Premier League season just as Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min scored a hat-trick – his first goals of the season – as his side demolished Burnley 5-2 at Turf Moor.
New signing Cameron Archer scored one goal and created another as Sheffield United played out an entertaining 2-2 Premier League draw with Everton, earning the first point of the season for both clubs at Bramall Lane.
