London, Oct 1: Manchester City stayed ahead of rivals Manchester United at the top of the Premier League Saturday with a deserved 1-0 win away to champions Chelsea.
A second half goal by Kevin de Bruyne left City just ahead of United on goal difference. Chelsea, starting the day three points behind the Manchester pair in third place, dropped to fourth after two more goals from Harry Kane helped Tottenham Hotspur to a comfortable 4-0 win away to Huddersfield Town.
At Old Trafford, Marouane Fellaini struck twice either side of Juan Mata’s opener and Romelu Lukaku’s record-equalling strike in a 4-0 rout of Crystal Palace.
Beaten 5-0 away by City in their last game, Palace avoided a repetition but became only the second team since the Premier League began to lose their first seven games. Unlike Portsmouth in 2009-10, though, they have not scored a single goal.
Mata gave United a third-minute lead after he was set up by Marcus Rashford, who stormed past Joel Ward and cut the ball back for the Spaniard to thread home from 12 metres.
United doubled their advantage in the 35th after the industrious Ashley Young delivered a perfect cross from the left for Fellaini to sweep home at the far post. The Belgian midfielder made it 3-0 shortly after the break with a close-range header after Rashford swung in a sharp free kick.
Lukaku grabbed his 11th goal in 10 games for United after substitute Anthony Martial’s low cross left the in-form striker with a simple tap in.
Harry Kane’s stunning September continued with two goals, including a brilliant solo strike, in Tottenham Hotspur’s impressive 4-0 win at promoted Huddersfield Town.
The victory lifted Spurs into third place in the table ahead of this weekend’s games and marks the first time the club have won their opening four away games since their 1960-61 double-winning campaign.
Kane, who now has 13 goals for club and country this month including a Champions League hat-trick at APOEL Nicosia, opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a confident finish after robbing hesitant Town defender Chris Loewe.
Seven minutes later, Christian Eriksen’s attempted cross turned into Ben Davies’ path by the unfortunate Loewe and the Spurs full back slotted home the second Spurs’ goal.
Kane then fired a warning shot with a blast just over the bar before his spectacular second put the game beyond Huddersfield inside 23 minutes. Spurs added a fourth in added time when substitute Moussa Sissoko finished off a counter-attack after good work from Son Heung-min and Davies.
At a glance
Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
Manchester United 4 Crystal Palace 0
Tottenham Hotspur 4 Huddersfield 0
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