Man City hit Bournemouth for six, Man Utd stop the rot with Fulham win
Manchester City returned to the top of the Premier League with a 6-1 defeat to Bournemouth after Manchester United steadied the ship with a final victory at Fulham on Saturday.
Young Belgian winger Jeremy Doku was outstanding for champions City, opening the scoring and creating two more goals as struggling Bournemouth were hammered at the Etihad.
Pep Guardiola’s team has 27 points after 11 matches, one more than Tottenham Hotspur who host Chelsea on Monday.
Arsenal could join City on 27 points if they win at Newcastle United in Saturday’s late kick-off.
Bottom line, Sheffield United claimed their first win since promotion by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 with a last-gasp penalty, but Burnley suffered a sixth successive home defeat by losing 2-0 to Crystal Palace.
Doku’s 30th-minute goal opened the floodgates for Guardiola’s hat-trick, who scored three goals in seven minutes but put the match away.
He then contributed to two more goals while Bernardo Silva fired home a brace for the rampant hosts.
“What surprised me the most is how intelligent he is when he has to make a decision, it’s really good,” Guardiola said of Doku.
“He immediately applies his feedback, he understands the game very well. I don’t want to change the way he is, he has played well in every match he has played, especially here at home.”
United have suffered their worst start to a season since 1962 with eight defeats in 15 matches in all competitions, leaving manager Erik Ten Hag under intense pressure.
His side were lackluster at times against Fulham in the day’s kick-off and needed good goalkeeping from Andre Onana to stay level in the second half.
But after 90 minutes, captain Bruno Fernandes scored a winner, which sparked big celebrations among the players and visiting supporters at Craven Cottage.
“It’s of course a good feeling. If you win, that’s always the case. But the performance was good. It’s a massive win and a solid performance,” Dutchman Ten Hag said.
Eighth-place United have 18 points from 11 games.
Sheffield United had a torrid start to life in the top flight but secured a morale-boosting victory thanks to an Oliver Norwood penalty after 10 minutes of added time.
The Blades took the lead in the 72nd minute when Cameron Archer sprinted to the edge of the box and fired a shot off the bar but Jean-Ricner Bellegarde equalized for the visitors a minute before the end of normal time .
A late own goal from Everton’s Ashley Young rescued a point for Brighton & Hove Albion in their 1-1 draw at Goodison Park after a rare strike from Vitaliy Mykolenko gave the local team at the start of the competition.
Burnley’s home woes continued as they lost to Palace, with Jeffrey Schlupp and Tyrick Mitchell on target. Vincent Kompany’s fighters are level on four points with bottom-placed Sheffield United. Luton Town, who host Liverpool on Sunday, have five.
West Ham United suffered a third successive league defeat as they lost 3-2 at Brentford who won three on the bounce to move into the top half of the table.
West Ham led 2-1 with a Mohammed Kudus scissor kick and a Jarrod Bowen strike after Neal Maupay had put the hosts ahead. But an own goal from Konstantinos Mavropanos after half-time and Nathan Collins’ header in the 69th ensured the points for Brentford.
