Watford’s Premier League title challenge remains on course after the Hornets picked up a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace to get Sunday’s action underway.
With nine points through their first three matches, Watford are third in the league table, trailing Liverpool and Chelsea.
The Blues maintained their perfect start with a hard-fought 2-1 win against Newcastle in which they finished with 81.1 percent of possession. DeAndre Yedlin scored an own goal in the 87th minute to condemn his team to a defeat.
Roberto Pereyra scored his third goal in as many matches to give Watford a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute. Jose Holebas doubled their advantage in the 71st minute, which proved to be the decisive blow in the match.
Wilfried Zaha pulled a goal back for Crystal Palace in the 78th minute, but Palace couldn’t find an equalizer to avoid a second straight loss this week.
Pereyra’s showing in particular is encouraging for Watford as the club looks to continue its hot start. The 27-year-old Argentine has been in a rich vein of form dating back to last season:
At St James’ Park, Newcastle did their best to stymie Chelsea, with Eden Hazard in particular the target of physical challenges.
“In Italy these tactics were usual, but I never saw [Rafael Benitez] play with five in defense, so at the beginning I was really surprised,” Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri said of Newcastle’s approach, per the Guardian‘s Louise Taylor. “It was so difficult for us, Newcastle were so compact, we needed to move the ball very fast. Winning here shows the character of my team. Our character is strong.”
Winning ugly still counts as three points.
Chelsea’s attack should be more and more fluid as the players become accustomed to Sarri’s system. The fact the Blues have nine points through three matches while working through those adjustments is an ideal way to kick off the 2018-19 campaign.
Fulham delivered the most impressive performance Sunday, putting four goals past Burnley at Craven Cottage. Jean Michael Seri opened the scoring before Aleksandar Mitrovic’s brace gave Fulham some breathing room. Andre Schurrle capped off the afternoon with a goal in the 83rd minute.
Schurrle had 11 shots on his own as Fulham unleashed 25 total shots and 12 shots on goal at Joe Hart:
Fulham had a rude awakening in their return to the Premier League, dropping their first two games to Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur. Sunday’s victory is more of what supporters expected after the club spent more than £100 million this summer to strengthen the squad.
Here’s a look at Sunday’s results in Matchday 3.
Watford 2-1 Crystal Palace
Newcastle 1-2 Chelsea
Fulham 4-2 Burnley
