By Victor Kanayo
It was goals galore in week four of the English Premier League with Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea among the top clubs that produced positive results in the week four outings in the new 2022/23 football league season.
New signings Erling Haaland and Raheem Sterling were at their best as both Manchester City and Chelsea dug deeper to win at last.
While Haaland scored hat-trick for City against lilly-livered Crystal Palace, Sterling hit brace for Chelsea which ensured the 10-man blues beat Leicester City 2-1.
City eventually won 4-2 in an encounter they trailed 0-2 at halftime with a Nigerian midfielder Eberechi Eze who had controlled proceedings for Palace.
Liverpool spit fire of goals to whitewash newly promoted Bournemouth 9-0 to record their first victory of the current campaign.
Liverpool equalled the biggest victory in Premier League history with the spectacular performance.
Manager Jurgen Klopp had described the beginning to his side’s campaign as a “false start” after two draws and Monday night’s defeat at Manchester United, but the Reds responded in stunning fashion.
Manchester United have achieved this margin of victory twice – against Ipswich in 1995 and Southampton last year – while Leicester City did likewise against the Saints in 2019.
Liverpool should really have hit double figures in a completely one-side game as Mohamed Salah endured a rare off day in a game in which his team-mates were ruthless.
The Egypt forward missed an open net from a couple of yards out then had a shot tipped over by Mark Travers and blazed over from close range, while full-back Andrew Robertson also headed over.
The emphatic win maintained Liverpool’s dominant run over sides promoted from the Championship, now losing just one of 34 meetings against newly promoted teams.
Elsewhere, Alex Iwobi’s Everton couldn’t hold to their initial score as Brentford equalised to finish the match at 1-1. Iwobi is a Nigerian international.
Manchester United had in the first match of the day overcame spirited Southampton with a lone Bruno Fernandes strike.
Another Nigerian, Joe Aribo, had his shot blocked by United’s goalkeeper during the encounter that almost ended in a draw.
