Chelsea's Eden Hazard, centre, celebrates scoring his side's first goal
American defender DeAndre Yedlin scored an 88th-minute own-goal to hand Chelsea a 2-1 win over Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday, sealing a third straight victory for the London club to open the season.
Yedlin had just set up Newcastle's equalizer, scored by Joselu, when he stretched out his leg to block a shot from Marcos Alonso and accidentally diverted the ball into his own net. He had his head in his hands as Chelsea's players celebrated at St. James' Park.
In an embarrassingly one-sided game, Chelsea took 77 minutes to make the most of their dominance as Eden Hazard converted a penalty following a foul on Alonso after yet another surge into the box by the attacking left back.
Joselu got in front of David Luiz to glance a header inside the near post from Yedlin's right-wing cross, making it 1-1 in the 83rd, but that didn't prove to be Yedlin's most pivotal intervention of the match.
Chelsea joined Liverpool and Watford in having a 100 percent record after three games, having previously beaten Huddersfield and Arsenal.
Chelsea had 79 percent possession in the first half against a retreating Newcastle team. That percentage rose to 90 percent at one stage after halftime.
In Watford, the home team pulled off something of a coup in 2016 in persuading Roberto Pereyra to swap potential Champions League glory with Juventus for life at a midtable Premier League side.
Two years later, the English club is starting to get a strong return for its investment.
Pereyra scored his third goal in three games this season to help Watford beat Crystal Palace 2-1 on Sunday, keeping up their 100 percent start to the Premier League. It is only the fourth time in Watford's 137-year history that the team has won its first three games of a league season, and the first time in the Premier League.
Pereyra, who scored twice in the 2-0 opening-weekend win over Brighton, received the ball on the left, cut inside and curled a low shot into the corner to put Watford ahead against Palace in the 53rd minute.
Jose Holebas added a second for Watford in the 71st when what appeared to be an attempted cross from the left drifted into the top corner of the net.
Wilfried Zaha reduced the deficit in the 78th with his second goal of the season for Palace and the visitors nearly snatched a point, with Joel Ward heading wide from close range from a corner with almost the last touch of a game played in wet and slippery conditions.
Watford joined Liverpool in securing nine points from their first three games and Pereyra is a big reason for it, having scored only seven goals in his first two seasons at the club located just north of London.
Now over injury problems that have affected his time at Vicarage Road, Pereyra is showing the qualities that saw him play in the Champions League final for Juventus in 2015 and win back-to-back Italian league titles with the Turin club.
In London, Fulham's expensive summer signings earned them a first Premier League win of the season as the west London team beat Burnley 4-2 in a six-goal thriller on Sunday.
Fulham demonstrated why many have tipped the newly promoted side to survive in the top flight, creating chances at will against one of last season's meanest defenses and converting four of them.
Jean Michael Seri fired in a wonder strike from 25 yards (meters) early on, while Aleksandar Mitrovic scored from two headers — the second assisted by Luciano Vietto on his first start for the club — before Andre Schuerrle added a fourth late on.
For Burnley, Jeff Hendrick canceled out Seri's early goal with a close-range finish, and James Tarkowski pulled them back to 3-2 just before halftime, but Sean Dyche's side remains winless after three Premier League games.
Fulham have invested heavily in their playing squad, only to start without a point from two games, so it was no surprise that Slavisa Jokanovic made five changes to the team that lost at Tottenham last week, leaving out teenage star Ryan Sessegnon for the first time since March.
The Fulham manager was rewarded for his gamble with the perfect start as Seri — a 25 million pound ($32 million) signing who had previously been linked with Barcelona — let fly from long range and found the top corner inside four minutes.
Burnley hit back with its first attempt, Hendrick converting a counterattack by lashing the ball into the roof of the net at the second attempt.
Mitrovic — another costly summer signing, albeit one who was at the club on loan last season — then changed the match with two goals in as many minutes. First he headed in from close range after a clever corner-kick routine, and then converted a deft chip from Vietto, a loan signing from Atletico Madrid. The double took Mitrovic's tally for the season to three as he begins to justify his price tag of 22 million pounds ($28 million).
Fulham was comfortable with a two-goal lead only for four minutes. From a corner Ben Mee rose highest to head into the path of his central defensive partner Tarkowski, who tapped in for his second goal of the season.
Burnley pushed for an equalizer after the break but didn't manage a single shot on goal in the second period.
Fulham looked more likely to score for much of the second half, and it was no surprise that Schuerrle, another loan acquisition, got the goal to make the game safe. He had already gone close several times when Joe Hart touched Mitrovic's shot onto the frame of the goal, only to see it rebound to the German, who sealed Fulham's win with a low drive.
