Champions, Manchester City, suffered a shock defeat at home to Stoke City while Chelsea continue their hundred percent impressive start in the 2014/2015 English Premier League campaign.
Mame Biram Diouf scored a sensational solo goal to put Stoke in front on 58 minutes as Mark Hughes’ men held on for dear life in the closing stages, which gave the potters their first top-flight away victory over City since 1980.
Stoke had lost all 12 previous league matches at the Etihad Stadium and Old Trafford and Manager, Mark Hughes, would savour this victory at his former club.
The odds were stacked against the visitors who had not even scored at Manchester City in the Premier League.
By contrast, Manuel Pellegrini’s men had failed to hit the net in just one of their last 70 home matches and the Chilean started up front with Sergio Aguero, who had taken just 23 seconds to score off the bench against Liverpool.
The Potters had failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 12 league matches but a resolute performance from Hughes’s side saw them do just that and Diouf’s second-half strike capped a perfect day for the disbelieving travelling Stoke fans.
Swansea moved to the top of the Premier League table, albeit only for a couple of hours, with a 3-0 win over West Brom.
The Welsh side made a quick start at home and first-half goals from Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge sent them on their way to a third win in three matches for Manager, Garry Monk.
Routledge’s goal was one to savour as well, as he converted a bicycle kick from outside the box to add to Dyer’s early opener, and Dyer added gloss to the scoreline with 19 minutes remaining.
Their stay at the top, however, lasted only until the conclusion of the match at the Goodison which produced nine sweet goals.
United Draw On Di-Maria Debut
Meanwhile, Manchester United remain without a win after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Burnley at Turf Moor in the lunchtime kick-off.
Louis Van Gaal’s side again produced a disappointing display, despite British record signing, Angel di Maria, having a relatively lively debut before coming off with 20 minutes left.
Indeed, it was Burnley who came closest to scoring with David Jones, a former United trainee, seeing his free-kick bounce back off the crossbar early in the first-half.
Wilfried Zaha, who wasn’t given a chance by Van Gaal at Old Trafford, snatched a point for new manager, Neil Warnock, as Crystal Palace emerged from a 3-3 thriller at Newcastle with something to show for their efforts.
Zaha, on loan at the Eagles from Manchester United, struck five minutes into stoppage time at the end of a dramatic encounter at St James’ Park just as it looked as though the Magpies had secured their first Premier League win of the season.
QPR secured their first win back in the top division with a 45th minute goal from Charlie Austin enough to see them past Sunderland 1-0 at Loftus Road and Morgan Schneiderlin scored twice for Southampton as they battled past West Ham 3-1 after trailing to an early goal from Mark Noble at Upton Park.
