LONDON (AP) — Manchester City enjoyed the perfect ending to a Saturday afternoon in the Premier League when nothing went right for title rival Chelsea.
City produced a 90th minute winner to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and secure a fifth consecutive victory from as many matches, while champion Chelsea slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Everton that sealed its worst start to a Premier League season.
To round off a miserable day for Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, there were victories for two other title hopefuls.
The most expensive teenager in soccer history, Anthony Martial, scored on his debut in Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Liverpool and Arsenal comfortably beat Stoke 2-0.
Martial, whose fee from Monaco could rise to 80 million euros ($90 million), was not the only teenager to make headlines.
City’s 18-year-old Kelechi Iheanacho came off the bench in the 89th and poked the ball into the Palace net a minute later, as Manuel Pellegrini’s side maintained its 100 percent record.
The Nigerian forward had only played competitively for City once before, and that too was as an 89th minute substitute – against Watford in August.
“It means so much to me,” he told the City website. “I’m happy and very grateful and I thank the manager for introducing me.”
Saturday’s game also witnessed a promising debut for club record signing Kevin de Bruyne from the bench, albeit after striker Sergio Aguero left the pitch with what seemed a worrying injury.
But Aguero later took to Twitter to allay fears over his fitness, saying: “Thanks everyone for your concern. I got a hard hit and it prevented me from playing more. It doesn’t seem to be a serious injury though.”
Off the field, there was a mild altercation between the two managers following Yaya Toure’s late tackle on Palace’s James McArthur, with Pellegrini tugging back Alan Pardew. The exchange soon finished with a handshake between the two men.
There was more than just frustration, though, for Mourinho after Chelsea was torn apart by hat-trick scorer Steven Naismith.
Having come on as a ninth-minute substitute for the injured Muhamed Besic, Naismith headed Everton into a 17th-minute lead and quickly followed up by scoring his second with a low drive from outside the area.
Nemanja Matic pulled a goal back for Chelsea with a long-distance effort in the 36th but Naismith put the result beyond doubt by squeezing an angled shot through the legs of goalkeeper Asmir Begovic in the 82nd.
Mourinho was defiant about his side’s latest result, and his own position.
“I don’t think there is a better manager than me to come to Chelsea and to do my job. That’s so simple as that. I’m the man for the job,” he told BT Sport.
Despite what he described as “the worst results ever in my career”, Mourinho was convinced that Chelsea’s fortunes will change and that his players are just having a run of bad luck.
“The way they are playing is not so bad as the results,” he said. “But in every game everything goes against (us) … The priority is to keep doing what we are doing,” he insisted.
“I cannot put more pressure on the players — the players are feeling enough sadness and enough frustration, and lack of confidence.”
Chelsea is 11 points behind City, which is also reveling in a five-point lead over both Manchester United and Arsenal.
There was plenty for United fans to celebrate in Saturday’s victory, with David De Gea making his first appearance of the season in goal after signing a new contract and Martial signaling his arrival with a superb solo goal to make it 3-1.
Daley Blind had put United ahead and Ander Herrera won a penalty and converted the spot kick in the 70th, before Christian Benteke pulled one back with a stunning overhead kick in the 84th. Martial then ran through the Liverpool defense for a stunning third goal for United.
After some mediocre early season form, Arsenal dominated Stoke at Emirates Stadium and could easily have won by a tennis score.
Instead, just two goals from strikers Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud sealed the points.
Walcott broke the deadlock in the 31st after running onto a perfect through ball from Mesut Ozil, and Giroud came on as a substitute to put the result beyond doubt in the 85th.
Watford won its first league match of the season, despite being reduced to 10 men.
Nigeria striker Odion Ighalo scored in the 59th minute but Watford went a man down less than five minutes later when Valon Behrami was sent off for a violent tackle on Andre Ayew.
Wes Hoolahan inspired Norwich to a comfortable first home league win of the season, making one goal and scoring another in the victory over Bournemouth, while West Brom drew 0-0 at home to Southampton.
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