Five matches were played on the first matchday of gameweek seven of the Premier League and 15 goals were scored on a day when three draws were played out.
Chelsea eased the mounting pressure on boss Antonio Conte with a 2-0 win with goals from Diego Costa and Willian enough to see off Hull City at the KC Stadium. Elsewhere, there was a goal of the season contender from Dmitri Payet after West Ham had fallen behind to Middlesbrough at home.
Milner penalty sees Liverpool second
Liverpool climbed to a provisional second in the Premier League table, after having to see off a brave Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium. Roberto Firmino scored his side's first goal and earned the penalty for the winner after Leroy Fer had put Swansea ahead.
Things did not start well for Jurgen Klopp's men as new Swans signing Borja Baston headed a corner back across goal only for Leroy Fer to tap it into the net and give the home team a shock lead after seven minutes.
Swansea could and should have had two more goals in the first half as Baston could not hit the target with two free headers in front of goal as Liverpool were quite lucky to go into the half-time break only a goal down.
They levelled things up soon after the break as captain Jordan Henderson's ball into the box found Roberto Firmino who ghosted in behind the Swansea defence and headed the ball beyond keeper Lukasz Fabianski's reach. That goal provided the impetus for Liverpool to attack as Firmino was brought down in the box by Angel Rangel with seven minutes to go, as James Milner made no mistake from the penalty spot as Liverpool earned a hard-fought win in Wales.
Liverpool have 16 points from seven games, and are two points ahead of Tottenham in third who play Manchester City on Sunday.
Conte finally drops Ivanovic
Antonio Conte finally decided to drop the hammer on his under-performing defence as Branislav Ivanovic was replaced by Marcos Alonso following the Serbian's poor performances which reached a nadir in Chelsea's 3-0 loss to Arsenal last week.
The defence promptly responded and recorded their first clean sheet since August 27, as the Blues shut the opposition out for only the second time in nine competitive games this season.
Hull started brightly as Robert Snodgrass tested Thibaut Courtois from a free-kick. The first half ended without any major incidents.
Chelsea went into the lead after Diego Costa set up Willian who curled the ball into the net with a sublime finish. Costa turned scorer six minutes later after the ball ricocheted back into his path after a mix-up in the Hull City box, sealing the points in the process.
Payet scores wonder goal
West Ham and Slaven Bilic cannot buy a win at the moment as they dropped points at home to newly-promoted Middlesbrough that keeps them in the relegation zone.
Boro' took the lead after Cristian Stuani's header from a Viktor Fischer corner crossed the line and was cleared by Mark Noble only for referee Neil Swabrick to award the goal using goal-line technology.
Payet saved West Ham and Bilic's blushes when he scored a goal out of nowhere. Picking up the ball on the left flank, Payet dribbled towards the goal and shimmied past five defenders before rolling the ball past Victor Valdes to finish off a wonderful run.
The Results
- Swansea City 1 (Leroy Fer) lose to Liverpool 2 (Roberto Firmino, James Milner penalty)
- Hull City 0 lose to Chelsea 2 (Willian, Diego Costa)
- Sunderland 1 (Patrick Van Aanholt) draw with West Bromwich Albion 1 (Nacer Chadli)
- Watford 2 (Troy Deeney, Isaac Success) draw with AFC Bournemouth 2 (Callum Wilson, Joshua King)
- West Ham 1 (Dimitri Payet) draw with Middlesbrough 1 (Cristian Stuani)