Haaland hat-trick puts City top; Everton stung
Erling Haaland's second successive hat-trick earned Premier League champions Manchester City a 3-1 win at West Ham United on Saturday, while Everton suffered a painful 3-2 home loss to Bournemouth and Aston Villa returned to winning ways as goals by Amadou Onana and Jhon Duran secured a 2-1 victory at Leicester City. City opened up an early two-point lead over last season's runners-up Arsenal, with Haaland following up last week's treble against Ipswich Town to record his seventh goal in three games. The Norwegian calmly slotted past Alphonse Areola to put City ahead and, after West Ham equalised against the run of play through Ruben Dias' own goal, Haaland restored City's lead on the half-hour mark. Haaland secured the win with another cool finish in the 83rd minute, charging on to Matheus Nunes' through ball and lifting his shot over substitute keeper Lukasz Fabianski. "We played really well, it was an unfortunate goal against," City boss Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports. "The second half was more open but we controlled it better and the performance is good. "Officially, the pre-season is now over. We played one game a week and it was a super season. Now they play two a week." Everton, under pressure after two league losses, opened up a 2-0 lead over Bournemouth in a seven-minute spell after the break through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Bournemouth spent most of the game on the back foot, but with three minutes left they pulled a goal back when Antoine Semenyo poked home from close range. In added time, Lewis Cook's powerful header found the back of the net and Luis Sinisterra broke Everton hearts with the winner to leave the hosts rooted to the bottom of the table, booed by their own supporters at full time. After leading 2-0 goals until the 87th minute, Everton's defeat was the latest a team has ever been two or more goals ahead in a Premier League game they have gone on to lose. "We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," Everton captain Seamus Coleman said. Villa's summer signing Onana touched in from close range after a clever free kick routine in the 28th minute to give his side the lead against Leicester. Hosts Leicester were more of a threat in the second half but Duran's 63rd-minute header proved decisive. Brentford shrugged off the loss of star striker Ivan Toney as Bryan Mbeumo's double and a goal by Yoane Wissa earned a comfortable 3-1 home win over promoted Southampton. Fellow promoted side Ipswich Town were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Fulham and Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers played out a 1-1 draw at the City Ground. (Reuters)