English Premier League Saturday Wrap-Up: Game-by-Game Recap
The second match day of the English Premier League is done and dusted, with 19 goals being scored in seven games and three teams maintaining their 100-percent starts to the season.
There were a few important games down at the bottom—even this early on in the season, points are important—and two of last season's top four clubs were in action, as were Champions League winners Chelsea.
Here is a full recap of each game from today's Premier League slate.
Early Kick Off: Swansea City Sweep West Ham Aside
1 of 8Swansea City 3, West Ham United 0
Swansea and Michael Laudrup made it played two, won two, scored eight and conceded none for the season with a fine win over newly promoted West Ham.
It didn't take long for goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to hand the Swans an early lead, elbowing Angel Rangel's low cross into his own net when a simple cut-out looked on the cards.
More defensive howlers followed as James Collins woefully under-hit a backpass to Jaaskelainen, allowing Michu to burst onto the ball and toe-poke the ball into the net before the half-hour mark, his third goal in two Premier League matches since joining in the summer.
And after a fine flowing move in the second half, Danny Graham put the finishing touches on the three-goal win, which highlighted the continued progress of the side despite the exits of Brendan Rodgers, Joe Allen and loanee Gylfi Sigurdsson this summer.
West Ham, by contrast, were a poor, unadventurous and badly shaped outfit, with recent signing Matt Jarvis offering little down the left flank and Carlton Cole anonymous throughout.
Everton 2-for-2, as Are Villa...in Defeats
2 of 8Aston Villa 1, Everton 3
Everton are sitting pretty with two good wins out of their first two games this season, while Aston Villa have nothing to show from their own two.
Everton got off to a great start with a terrific early strike from Steven Pienaar, who curled into the top corner from 25 yards after a great passage of play from the away team.
Villa goalkeeper Shay Given completely gifted Everton their second after he flapped at a routine stop off a Marouane Fellaini header, allowing it to bounce past him and into the net.
Before half-time it was 3-0, with Nikica Jelavic smashing home at the near post—another of his famed first-time finishes—after a ball in from the left flank wasn't dealt with by the Villa defence.
Ciaran Clark saw red for bringing down Jelavic as the last man, though the contact was even less than minimal, with a slight hand brushing the Croat's shoulder certainly not enough to warrant the ensuing tumble or red card.
Karim El Ahmadi scored a screamer on his home debut for Villa to grab a consolation, but it wasn't much to cheer up the home fans or the new manager Paul Lambert, who has a lot of work on to turn Villa around after their disastrous campaign last year.
Robin van Persie Full Debut Goal in Narrow Manchester United Win
3 of 8Manchester United 3, Fulham 2
Fulham gave Manchester United early and late scares at Old Trafford, but in between United put in an assured and accomplished display which saw them take a convincing 3-1 lead before half-time, after they had gone behind within 90 seconds.
A fine free-kick routine saw Bryan Ruiz set up Damien Duff to sweep home early on, but incessant home pressure was rewarded with an equaliser from Robin van Persie—his first goal for his new team.
The excellent half-volley, into the far corner over his shoulder, lifted the crowd and the tempo of the match.
Shinji Kagawa tapped in for his first United goal, as well, after the excellent Tom Cleverley had been denied by Mark Schwarzer, and a header at the far post by Rafael looked to have wrapped the game up within 45 minutes.
Manchester United were far quieter after the break, though, and a bizarre mid-air back-heeled own goal from Nemanja Vidic gave Fulham hope of snatching a draw, but despite the best efforts of Moussa Dembele in particular, they were denied time and time again by David de Gea.
Wayne Rooney made a quiet substitute appearance but soon departed again after suffering a deep-looking cut on his thigh.
After 5-0 Defeats, Norwich and QPR Share a Point Apiece
4 of 8Norwich City 1, QPR 1
Both clubs got off the mark for points this season after suffering big defeats last week.
While wins are important and both teams need to start picking them up as early as possible to avoid being involved in relegation battles, both Norwich and QPR were probably more relieved to have turned around dire defensive displays from last week.
Simeon Jackson was brave to jump in and head Norwich into the lead after QPR failed to clear their lines following good build-up from the Canaries.
The lead didn't last even 10 minutes, though, as Djibril Cisse was felled in the area to win a penalty.
The Frenchman took it himself but John Ruddy made the save—only to watch on as Bobby Zamora put the rebound beyond him, equalising as he did so, though Norwich were rightly annoyed that QPR were not made to re-take the area, as Zamora was clearly inside the box when it was struck.
Neither team could really lay claim to being worthy of all three points, despite Norwich hitting the bar late on.
Wigan off and Running After 2-0 Win over Saints
5 of 8Southampton 0, Wigan Athletic 2
Roberto Martinez watched his newest signing put a seal on the win as Wigan got up and running in the league.
Southampton battled well against Manchester City last week before losing, but it is against teams such as Wigan—and those who will likely be in the bottom half-dozen come April and May—that they will need to replicate those performances and take points from.
Franco di Santo gave Wigan an early second-half lead, firing into the roof of the net.
Adam Lallana had gone closest for Saints, hitting the crossbar via the fingertips of Ali Al-Habsi, but Southampton were guilty of defensive errors to compound their defeat in the end.
Jose Fonte lost control of the ball on the halfway line, allowing Arouna Kone to streak away toward goal and slot past Kelvin Davis for the second goal as the match ticked toward 90 minutes.
Late Goal Keeps West Brom Unbeaten, Spurs Without a Win
6 of 8Tottenham Hotspur 1, West Bromwich Albion 1
Andre Villas-Boas is still searching for his first competitive win as boss of Tottenham Hotspur after a late equaliser for West Brom spoiled his home debut.
Steve Clarke, recently appointed manager of the Baggies, remains unbeaten after two difficult matches against Liverpool and Spurs yielded an impressive four points.
The first half was largely devoid of final-third quality, despite Gareth Bale getting himself into good positions two or three times.
It took until just 15 minutes from time for the deadlock to be broken, left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto drilling home a deflected effort from distance which wrong-footed Ben Foster.
West Brom hung in there, though, and pressed relentlessly for a late equaliser, which they thought they had after an effort was cleared via the crossbar and a defender on the line late on.
Moments later they had their goal, James Morrison guiding home from eight yards in stoppage time.
Chelsea Cruise to Home Win, Eden Hazard the Star of the Show
7 of 8Chelsea 2, Newcastle United 0
Chelsea made it two wins for the week with a comfortable win over Newcastle United after an impressive first-half display.
Eden Hazard, just like in his earlier performance, was the main man, as his creativity, pace and direct running gave Newcastle's defenders a hard time.
With Frank Lampard absent, the responsibility for taking penalties fell to Hazard himself, who crashed the ball past Tim Krul after Fernando Torres had been felled by full debutant Vernon Anita.
Not long after Chelsea doubled their lead with the same players involved, Torres exchanging passes with Hazard, who back-heeled his return pass to the Spaniard.
Fernando Torres of old was momentarily on show, as he finished first time with a rising drive into the top corner.
Newcastle improved after the break, with Hatem Ben Arfa a growing influence, but they could find no route to goal, with Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse largely subdued.
Sunday: Big Game at Anfield, Arsenal Visit Their Favourite Stadium
8 of 8Sunderland vs. Reading, due to be played Saturday, was called off due to a waterlogged pitch after heavy rainfall.
Sunday
First up on the second day of the weekend, Arsenal will visit Stoke City looking to pick up their first win of the season after last week's 0-0 draw against Sunderland.
The Gunners will be hoping to score their first post-Robin van Persie goals in the Premiership.
Stoke drew 1-1 with Reading in their first fixture, courtesy of a fortuitous goal conceded by goalkeeper Adam Federici.
Following that match, Liverpool will host reigning champions Manchester City.
Brendan Rodgers' side suffered an unexpected 3-0 defeat at West Brom, so they will need to give everything to pick up some points, even though they are playing the best side in the league.
City will be without the injured Micah Richards and Sergio Aguero, while Liverpool miss suspended defender Daniel Agger.
You can follow the game right here on Bleacher Report, with live text commentary.
