West Ham stun Premier League leaders Manchester City

Man City handed first league defeat of the season; Chelsea edge out nine-man Arsenal in ill-tempered derby.

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West Ham have now moved to second in the table [Reuters]

West Ham United ended Manchester City’s perfect start to the Premier League season when they survived a second half onslaught to win 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium and move into second place behind them in the table.

City, who won their opening five league games without conceding a goal, were 2-0 down after 31 minutes as Victor Moses and Diafra Sakho pounced for the Hammers.

EPL top-scorers

5 Callum Wilson (Bournemouth)
   Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City)
4 Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
   Bafetimbi Gomis (Swansea City)
   Odion Ighalo (Watford)

Although Kevin de Bruyne pulled one back for City with his first goal for the club, West Ham survived almost non-stop City attacking after the break for a famous win.

Earlier in the day, defending champions Chelsea halted their nosedive down the table when they beat an Arsenal side, who finished with nine men, 2-0 at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from Kurt Zouma and Eden Hazard.

City stayed top with 15 points, with West Ham second on 12 but with a better goal difference than Leicester, also on 12.

Manchester United, who play at Southampton on Sunday are fourth on 10 points, with Arsenal fifth on 10.

Chelsea’s 20-year-old French defender Kurt Zouma headed the first after 53 minutes of a fractious game before an Eden Hazard shot deflected off Calum Chambers in stoppage time to make it 2-0.

Arsenal defender Gabriel was red carded for kicking out at Diego Costa just before halftime and Santi Cazorla was dismissed with a second booking for sliding in on former Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas after 79 minutes.

Gabriel’s dismissal came in the aftermath of a bust-up between Costa and Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny in the visitors’ penalty area a minute earlier when Costa appeared to raise his arms and strike the Arsenal defender.

Cazorla was shown the red card after a rash, sliding challenge on his Spain team mate Fabregas, whose fine free kick eight minutes into the second half was headed in by Zouma.

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Chelsea’s Costa (2-R) was involved in the bust-up that saw Gabriel sent off [EPA]
The win lifted Chelsea up from 17th place towards the middle of the table, while Arsenal stayed fourth, at least until West Ham United play at Manchester City in the day’s late kickoff.

City, who started the day on 15 points, four points clear of Leicester City, have the chance to open up a bigger lead after Leicester drew 2-2 at Stoke City.

But the point was a very welcome one for the Foxes who came back from 2-0 down for the second week running to avoid defeat.

Newcastle United are still winless and 19th after losing 2-1 at home to Watford while Bournemouth beat bottom-of-the-table Sunderland 2-0 leaving the two big clubs from the north-east in the bottom two places.

Results:

Manchester City  1-2 West Ham
Bournemouth 2-0 Sunderland
Aston Villa 0-1 West Brom
Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal
Newcastle United 1-2 Watford
Stoke City 2-2 Leicester City
Swansea City 0-0 Everton

Source: News Agencies