Premier season continues for Chelsea

Russian owner Roman Abramovich is a man more frequently disappointed with his managers than pleased.

However, he’s unlikely to be rueing his decision to appoint Roberto di Matteo as permanent Chelsea manager too much with the Blues continuing their fantastic form in the English Premier League.

This time the victory was a comfortable 4-1 one against Norwich on Saturday. The four goals gave Chelsea an impressive four point lead over closest rivals Manchester City as they recored their fifth win on the bounce in all competitions.

With 15 goals scored in the Premier League already, the departure of Didier Drogba has done little to affect the reigning European Champions’ firepower with Fernando Torres scoring regularly and new signing Eden Hazard on the scoresheet against Norwich. 

Second placed Manchester City also continued their strong form with a 3-0 win against Sunderland in the earlier kick-off.

Results & fixtures

Saturday October 6  Man City 3-0 Sunderland  Chelsea 4-1 Norwich  Swansea 2-2 Reading  West Brom 3-2 QPR  Wigan 2-2 Everton  West Ham 1-3 Arsenal   Sunday October 7  Southampton v Fulham   Liverpool v Stoke   Tottenham v Aston Villa   Newcastle v Man Utd

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea went behind early on when Grant Holt drove in a 15-yard shot in the 11th minute. But it didn’t take Chelsea long to respond with Torres heading them back level before Frank Lampard and Eden Hazard added two first-half goals.

Norwich struggled to manage playmakers Hazard and Juan Mata, who appears to get better with each game. The Spaniard has four goals and five assists in the last five matches and is the side’s main orchestrator of chances. 

Branislav Ivanovic completed the win when he drilled in a fourth to leave Chelsea comfortably ahead at the summit. 

In the first match of the day, Roberto Mancini’s side turned on the style to keep a clean sheet for the first time in their Premier League defence. 

It was a comfortable 3-0 win which could have seen many more goals for City, especially in the final 20 minutes.

Aleksandar Kolarov scored from a free-kick early on at the Etihad Stadium, and Sergio Aguero and James Milner added goals in the second half to secure a convincing win that reflected City’s dominance.

By ending Sunderland’s unbeaten start, City maintained their own and won consecutive league matches for the first time this season.

Arsenal moved up to fifth place with a hard fought 3-1 win over West Ham. The Hammers have made a good start to the season after promotion, however, Arsene Wenger’s men were too strong.  

Mohamed Diame put West Ham ahead after 21 minutes when he fired in from just inside the penalty area. But five minutes before the first half whistle, Olivier Giroud equalised with his first goal for the Gunners since his move from Montpellier. 

Second half goals from Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla made the victory comfortable with Arsenal pressurising the West Ham goal for large periods of play. It was a well-deserved victory for Wenger and his men who have started the season positively without their star striker Robin van Persie.   

Swansea came back from two goals down to share the points with a struggling Reading side.

Reading went ahead with goals from Pavel Pogrebnyak and Noel Hunt but despite goalkeeper Alex McCarthy keeping Swansea at bay for much of the match, Michael Laudrup’s team broke through late on.

Miguel Michu scored with a diving header in the 71st minute before Wayne Routledge levelled in the 78th with a stunning strike.    

Everton also had to fight back in their match against Wigan but slipped to third position with a 2-2 draw. 

Leighton Baines converted a penalty in the 88th minute after Kevin Mirallas was pulled down by Maynor Figueroa at the DW Stadium. 

West Brom maintained their strong start with a 3-2 win over bottom-placed Queens Park Rangers.