Trossard hat-trick gives Brighton hard-earned draw at Liverpool

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A hat-trick from Belgian striker Leandro Trossard gave Brighton a worthy point in an exciting 3-3 draw with Premier League title chase Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

Brighton coach Roberto De Zerbi’s first game couldn’t have started better, as two well-scored goals from Trossard gave the visitors a 2-0 lead after 17 minutes at a stunned Anfield.

Home fans were frustrated as the hosts struggled to create openings before Roberto Firmino’s goal, initially disallowed for offside against Mohamed Salah but destroyed by VAR, gave his side a lifeline in the 33rd minute.

Brighton caused more problems for Liverpool early in the second half but their inability to assert some promising situations proved costly as Firmino showed brilliant composure in the penalty area to equalize in the 54th minute to make.

Liverpool completed the turnaround and appeared to be on course for a crucial win after their slow start to the season when Brighton’s Adam Webster put the ball into his own net in the 63rd minute.

But Trossard wasn’t done yet. He completed his treble seven minutes from time and saw Brighton leave Merseyside with the deserved point, a draw that keeps them fourth in the standings, four points ahead of Liverpool in ninth.

Gallagher breaks hearts at Palace to win Chelsea 2-1

Conor Gallagher sealed a 2-1 comeback for Chelsea at Crystal Palace on Saturday, sinking the club he played on loan for last season with a glorious curling shot in the first Premier League game from coach Graham Potter in charge of the blues.

Gallagher, who received a warm welcome from the home fans during the pre-match warm-up, received a ball from fellow substitute Christian Pulisic, created a garden for himself and then bent the ball around Vicente Guaita into the Palace goal.

Previously, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang had grabbed a header from Thiago Silva to score his first goal for Chelsea in the 38th minute and even the game after Odsonne Edouard gave the Eagles the lead in the seventh minute.

Palace was furious that referee Chris Kavanagh had only given Silva a yellow card for denying Jordan Ayew a point on goal by minutes before the Brazilian set up Aubameyang for his goal.

Palace defender Nathaniel Clyne was injured when he challenged Silva and manager Patrick Vieira was shown a yellow card for protesting Kavanagh over his decision not to give Silva a red card.

The result kept Potter’s men eight points behind league-leaders Arsenal, but with a game in hand, underlined the challenge he faces after replacing Thomas Tuchel a month ago.

Chalobah sees red when Newcastle beat 10-man Fulham 4-1

Newcastle United took full advantage of an early red card for Fulham’s Nathaniel Chalobah, beating their hosts 4-0 in their Premier League game at Craven Cottage on Saturday to secure their first away win of the season.

Defensive midfielder Chalobah was sent off in the eighth minute for a dangerous challenge to Sean Longstaff that referee Darren England initially only considered worthy of a yellow card, but who upgraded to an instant red after a VAR review.

The visitors wasted little time taking advantage of his dismissal, Callum Wilson bundled the ball up close range to open the scoring three minutes later, and Miguel Almiron made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute with a sumptuous left foot volley.

Newcastle went into half-time 3-0 after Sean Longstaff reacted fastest, batting in the rebound after teammate Sven Botman’s header was turned over the post by Fulham keeper Bernd Leno.

Almiron scored his second on Joe Willock’s precise pass to make it 4-0 in the 12th half, and only the linesman’s flag stopped him from completing his hat-trick as a goal in the 69th minute was disallowed for offside.

Bobby De Cordova Reid scored a late consolation goal for the hosts but it made little difference as Newcastle rose to sixth place on 11 points after eight games, while Fulham are two places below them on goal difference.

Quickfire double gives Everton 2-1 win over Southampton

Conor Coady and Dwight McNeil scored in quick succession in the second half as Everton came from behind to beat Southampton 2-1 on Saturday to hand the hosts their third consecutive Premier League defeat.

The win moved Everton to 11th place with 10 points, while Southampton is three points behind in 15th place.

Everton took control of the game after a sloppy start, but Frank Lampard’s side lacked quality in front of goal as winger Demarai Gray failed to make the most of some promising openings.

Southampton made the visitors pay after the break when Joe Aribo produced a neat finish after getting too much space on the edge of the penalty area before Everton turned the game upside down in minutes.

Coady threw in a knockdown of Amadou Onana in the 52nd minute to equalize and McNeil put Everton in the lead two minutes later, hitting home from a tight angle on a clever pass from Alex Iwobi.

Southampton continued to push forward and Jordan Pickford was called into action on more than one occasion, with Adam Armstrong and Kyle Walker-Peters forcing the England keeper to make clever saves, but Everton held out for their second win of the season.

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