Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Firmino double inspires Liverpool
Roberto Firmino netted twice as Liverpool made it five wins from their last six Premier League games with a 5-1 drubbing of Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Liverpool opened the scoring on the half hour mark when Emre Can’s powerful close-range header flew past Brighton keeper Mathew Ryan.
Firmino added a second 74 seconds later following an impressive move and the Brazilian made it three with another clinical finish on 48 minutes.
Brighton refused to lie down and Glenn Murray pulled a goal back from the penalty spot on 51 minutes, but Philippe Coutinho’s free kick on 87 minutes and an own goal from Lewis Dunk on 89 minutes completed an emphatic victory.
Hazard and Morata on target as Chelsea see off Newcastle
Two goals from Eden Hazard and one by Alvaro Morata earned Chelsea a workmanlike 3-1 Premier League victory over Newcastle United on Saturday.
Dwight Gayle gave Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle side a surprise lead, rattling his shot home in the 12th minute after Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois had dived at the feet of the advancing Jacob Murphy.
But Chelsea, third in the table, quickly fought back, earning two corners and hitting the post before Hazard got on the end of a ball parried by defender Florian Lejeune in the 21st minute.
Spain striker Morata’s simple header from a Victor Moses cross, his 10th in all competitions this season, made it 2-1 for the home side at halftime and Hazard scored his eighth of the campaign from the penalty spot after Matt Ritchie brought down Moses.
“We must be pleased, we started a bit slowly and when we went 1-0 we started to play with intensity and had chances to score,” Chelsea manager Antonio Conte told reporters.
“It was a good performance from all my players. It was very important to take three points and we did this.”
Conte praised the contribution of Belgian Hazard.
“He played a really good game,” the Italian said. “He enjoyed it a lot to play this type of football. Eden is an important player. With him we change our system. He can play as second striker or as number 10.”
Allardyce off to winning start with Everton
Sam Allardyce's reign at Everton kicked off in winning fashion as goals from Gylfi Sigurdsson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin earned them a 2-0 Premier League win over struggling Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
After being given a warm welcome from the home fans, new manager Allardyce took his seat, hoping to see further signs of Everton's rejuvenation following their crushing 4-0 defeat of West Ham United in midweek.
Instead, he former England boss witnessed only dire fare in the first half with his side looking curiously flat until, two minutes after the break, a clever flick from Calvert-Lewin freed Sigurdsson to fire home expertly from 10 metres.
The young provider Calvert-Lewin struck in the 73rd minute, his seventh goal of thee season coming with a left-foot shot that took a cruel deflection off Mathias Jorgensen and into the net to consign Huddersfield to a fourth consecutive defeat.
Watford held to 1-1 draw by 10-man Tottenham
Tottenham Hotspur's patchy away from in the Premier League continued with a 1-1 draw at Watford but the North London club will be pleased with a point after playing much of the second half with 10 men on Saturday.
Spurs had centre back Davinson Sanchez sent off in the 52nd minute for elbowing in the face livewire winger Richarlison, whose darting runs down the left flank caused problems for the visitors all afternoon.
One such raid resulted in a Tom Cleverley corner which defender Christian Kabasele headed home superbly to give Watford a 13th-minute lead, before Son Heung-min levelled with a simple close-range tap-in after Christian Eriksen's fine low cross.
The visitors were on the back foot after Sanchez was shown a straight red card and they came close to falling behind again several minutes later, as Abdoulaye Doucoure hit the post with a screaming shot from 25 metres.
Palace draw 0-0 at West Brom to move off bottom of table
Alan Pardew maintained his record of never losing his first Premier League game in charge of a club as his West Brom team were held to a 0-0 draw at home against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Christian Benteke carved out Palace's best chance deep in the first half, dribbling through several West Brom defenders before being denied a first goal of the season by Ben Foster's smart save.
Jay Rodriguez went close for West Brom after the break but Julian Speroni, making his 398th appearance in goal for Palace after Wayne Hennessey injured his back in the warm up, spread himself well to deny the forward from close range.
Palace survived several West Brom chances late on, including a Salomon Rondon header that went just wide, and have now gone four games unbeaten to move off the bottom of the table, above Swansea City and West Ham United, who are at leaders Manchester City on Sunday.
