Kai Havertz scored the late winner as Chelsea fought back big money for a controversial 2-1 win against West Ham, while Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp praised Everton keeper Jordan Pickford’s ‘spectacular’ performance in Saturday’s scoreless Merseyside derby. Chelsea have started the summer transfer window with a £250million ($280million) outlay, and are expected to deliver on their new owners’ eye-watering investment. Early returns were mixed as Chelsea crashed to defeats against Leeds and Southampton.
So when Mikhail Antonio gave West Ham a shocking lead in the 62nd minute with a close-range finish, the critics were sharpening their knives at Stamford Bridge.
But Ben Chilwell equalized in the 76th minute, just three minutes after England left-back replaced Marc Cucurella.
Chilwell headed Thiago Silva’s loft ball past his marker, turned and shot from a tight angle through Lukasz Fabianski’s legs.
Kai Havertz cleverly finished off Chilwell’s cross to complete Chelsea’s breakaway in the 88th minute of a thrilling final.
There was further drama when Maxwel Cornet appeared to equalize in stoppage time, but the goal was controversially disallowed by VAR due to Jarrod Bowen’s foul on Mendy.
Thomas Tuchel’s squad remain inconclusive, but they are in fifth place after their third win in six games, while West Ham boss David Moyes was furious with officials for denying his team a point.
At Goodison Park there was more VAR intrigue when Conor Coady thought he had put Everton ahead with a close-range finish from Neal Maupay’s second half shot.
But Coady’s goal was rightly disallowed after a VAR check for offside.
There could have easily been enough goals, without a man of the match display from Pickford and some fine stops from his Liverpool counterpart Alisson Becker.
“Wow, what can you do? It was a great derby, super intense, with a lot of really spectacular saves,” said Klopp.
“We hit the post three times and Pickford made so many saves. I don’t know how many derbies I’ve played but there are quite a few and they are always difficult here.”
Everton are now without a win in the first six games of this season, while Liverpool’s momentum has been curbed after winning their previous two games.
Kane reaches milestone
Undefeated Tottenham scored four wins from six games with a 2-1 win against Fulham in north London.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg broke the deadlock for Tottenham in the 40th minute, sweeping home from Richarlison’s pass.
Harry Kane increased Tottenham’s lead in the 74th minute from Ryan Sessegnon’s cross to become the third highest goalscorer in Premier League history, with 188 goals taking him past Andy Cole.
Only Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208) now top Kane in the scoring chart.
Kane’s goal also put him on a par with Thierry Henry’s 43 in Premier League London derbies.
Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic curled in after 82 minutes, but Tottenham held out.
Managerless Bournemouth came back from two goals behind to win 3-2 in a thriller at Nottingham Forest.
The Cherries, who lost 9-0 to Liverpool last weekend, looked on course for another beating as Forest led at halftime with a header from Cheikhou Kouyate and a penalty from Brennan Johnson.
But Philip Billing’s long-range blast and Dominic Solanke’s acrobatic effort tied them up before Jaidon Anthony sealed the points in the 87th minute.
Ivan Toney scored a hat-trick when Brentford defeated Leeds 5-2 at Community Stadium.
Daniel Podence scored when Wolves defeated Southampton 1-0 at Molineux for their first league win this season.
Podence’s easy finish in the injury time of the first half lifted Bruno Lage’s team out of the relegation zone.
promoted
Newcastle striker Alexander Isak squandered the chance to mark his home debut with a goal when Crystal Palace tied 0-0 at St James’ Park.
The £60m ($69m) man, who scored on his first mid-week appearance at Liverpool, missed two good chances to leave Newcastle without a win since the season’s opening day.
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