Premier League leader Chelsea maintained its 100 percent start to the season with a 2-0 home win over Stoke thanks to goals by Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba, while Arsenal and Manchester United remained on its shoulder with victories on Saturday.
Malouda opened the scoring for the defending champions in the 31st minute, before Drogba joined the winger on four goals for the season by sealing Chelsea’s third successive win with a 77th-minute penalty.
Free-scoring Chelsea won its opening two league games 6-0 but found goals harder to come by against a team which lost 7-0 at Stamford Bridge last season.
“I was happy because we won, but we didn’t have a good, high tempo. It was not our best performance,” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said.
England midfielder Frank Lampard had a penalty saved by Thomas Sorensen in the 11th minute after Malouda was brought down in the box but the in-form France international found the net just after the half-hour mark when he ran onto a pass from John Terry to shoot home.
Ashley Cole hit the bar as Chelsea threatened a second but Stoke, still without a point this season, also went close when Glenn Whelan did likewise at the other end.
Drogba, who scored a hat trick in the opening-day win against West Bromwich Albion, got back on the scoresheet by slotting home a penalty 13 minutes from time after Nicolas Anelka had been fouled by Sorensen. Lampard had been substituted at that stage and will undergo hernia surgery next week, ruling him out of England’s European Championship qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland.
“He has a problem where he had surgery 10 years ago. In the game, he did not feel well and he will have surgery this week on either Tuesday or Wednesday,” Ancelotti said.
Russia forward Andrey Arshavin scored a 51st-minute winner as Arsenal beat Blackburn 2-1. United also stayed unbeaten and two points behind Chelsea after thrashing West Ham 3—0, with Wayne Rooney scoring the first to end his barren run in front of goal.
Arsenal had produced a resilient display at Ewood Park a few hours earlier to climb to seven points and stay second.
Buoyed by his hat trick in last weekend’s 6—0 thrashing of Blackpool, Theo Walcott opened the scoring for Arsene Wenger’s side in the fourth minute after running onto a through ball by Robin van Persie to slam a low finish into the corner.
Blackburn equalized through on-loan striker Mame Diouf in the 27th but Arsenal otherwise defended well at a ground where the team has often struggled against the hosts’ direct style.
Arshavin stroked home the winning goal six minutes after the interval when a shot by Cesc Fabregas hit Walcott and rebounded into the Russia midfielder’s path.
“No matter who you are, they would give a strong test to any team in the world,” Wenger said of Blackburn. “It’s difficult to resist but overall we had the commitment.”
Rooney had not scored for United or England since March but slotted home a 33rd-minute penalty, after Ryan Giggs was fouled by Jonathan Spector, to set United on its way against West Ham.
Nani and Dimitar Berbatov added second-half goals as United condemned the visitors to a third successive defeat and a place at the foot of the standings.
Elsewhere, Tottenham lost surprisingly 1-0 at home to previously bottom Wigan, Blackpool and Fulham drew 2-2 and Wolverhampton was held 1-1 by Newcastle.
Tottenham, which found out before kickoff it will be playing fierce north London rival Arsenal in the third round of the League Cup, was expected to see off a Wigan side that started Saturday bottom of the table, having conceded 10 goals in two games. Spurs also beat Wigan 9-1 at White Hart Lane last season.
But the visitors produced the shock of the day thanks to Hugo Rodallega’s goal in the 80th minute. Wigan had earlier come close to breaking the deadlock when defender Steve Gohouri hit the bar from close range in the first half.
Unbeaten Wolves opened the scoring in the 43rd minute through Sylvain Ebanks-Blake but striker Andy Carroll leveled for Newcastle in the 62nd, his fourth goal in two games.
Dickson Etuhu maintained Fulham’s unbeaten start with a late equalizer in the draw at Blackpool. Bobby Zamora, who later went off injured, put Fulham in front but an own goal by John Pantsil and Luke Varney’s debut strike put the promoted side ahead.
