LONDON, Sporting Alert – Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United were all Premier League winners in Week 9 on Saturday.
Arsenal and Manchester United both secured respective 3-0 victories over Watford and Everton, while Manchester City put five goals past new boys Bournemouth.
The Citizens maintained their two-point cushion in the table standings after routing Bournemouth 5-1.
Summer recruit Raheem Sterling led the way with his first-ever senior hat-trick, while striker Wilfried Bony, who led the attacking line for the injured Sergio Aguero, netted a brace.
Manchester City were 3-1 inside the opening 29-minutes and then grabbed another early strike one-minute into the second half to dent Eddie Howe’s men hopes of making a comeback.
After putting three past Manchester United in the last outing, Arsenal kept pace with the English Premier League leaders with another three-goal winning performance.
Second half strikes from Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey guided the Gunners to victory as they moved to 19 points in table standings after nine games.
After the game, winning manager Arsene Wenger praised his team, and especially star forward Sanchez for the winning display.
Meanwhile, Sky Sports football pundits Jamie Redknapp and Thierry Henry both backed the men from London as legitimate title contenders, but added that they need to start being more consistent.
Manchester United showed no effect of the 3-0 loss to Arsenal in Week 8, as they went to Goodison Park and handed Everton a similar defeat
Morgan Schneiderlin grabbed his first goal for the Red Devils and Ander Herrera and captain Wayne Rooney each added one for Louis van Gaal side in the road win.
Man United and Arsenal are both on 19 points in the standings.
In the meantime, defending champions Chelsea picked up a much-needed victory in the league, following a 2-0 result over Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.
Diego Costa opened the scoring in the 34th minute and Alan Hutton deflected a ball past his own goalkeeper in the 54th to hand Chelsea the win.
Elsewhere on the day, Dimitri Payet scored the pick of the goals in deep into second half stoppage time and West Ham United moved to fourth with a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.
Liverpool, with manager Jurgen Klopp taking charge of his first game, finished 0-0 with Tottenham at White Hart Lane, while Southampton through away a two-goal lead and were held 2-2 by Leicester City.
English Premier League Scores In Week 9
Manchester City 5-1 Bournemouth
Watford 0-3 Arsenal
Everton 0-3 Manchester United
Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa
Crystal Palace 1-3 West Ham
West Brom 1-0 Sunderland
Southampton 2-2 Leicester City
Tottenham 0 -0 Liverpool