EPL: Liverpool beat Chelsea to maintain perfect start

Liverpool retained their five-point lead atop the English Premier League standings, after beating Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Monday (NZ  time). 

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino scored the vital goals, as Liverpool made it six wins out of six this season - and 15 league wins in a row.

Liverpool were 2-0 up at half-time through a superb free-kick from Alexander-Arnold and a header from Firmino.

Chelsea had a goal ruled out for offside at 1-0 and reduced the deficit in the second half, when N'Golo Kante fired the ball into the top corner with 20 minutes to go.

That sparked a frenzy of Chelsea attacks, but they couldn't find the equaliser and Liverpool moved clear again at the top, while the hosts slipped to 11th.

Meanwhile, Arsenal climbed to fourth, with a 3-2 win over Aston Villa, despite playing almost an hour with 10 men.

John McGinn put Villa in front and although Ainsley Maitland-Miles was sent off before half-time, Arsenal equalised through Nicolas Pepe.

Wesley restored Villa's lead almost immediately, but Calum Chambers levelled and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang won it for Arsenal with six minutes to go.

Elsewhere, Manchester United's poor start continued, as they lost 2-0 at West Ham

Andriy Yarmolenko and Aaron Cresswell scored the goals, as West Ham moved up to fifth, while United dropped to seventh, after their second defeat in six matches.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer bemoaned his side's inability to take their chances.

"[They had] two great finishes, but of course, we could have done better defending them and we should have, could have scored ourselves," he said.

And United suffered insult to injury, as striker Marcus Rashford suffered a groin problem.

"We'll do a scan tomorrow to see how badly he's injured," Solskjaer said.

"I don't know how long he'll be out, I'm not a doctor, but he'll probably be out for a little while."

The day's other result saw Crystal Palace draw 1-1 with Wolves.

AAP