England

LONDON — A late goal from substitute Eddie Nketiah gave Arsenal a 2-1 home win over West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday after Michail Antonio's first-half strike for the visitors had cancelled out Alexandre Lacazette's 50th goal for the Gunners.

West Ham were more organised playing with a five-man defence than in their opening 2-0 home loss to Newcastle United as they faced an Arsenal side fresh from a 3-0 win at promoted Fulham.

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester United's season got underway with a shock 3-1 defeat by Crystal Palace as Wilfried Zaha grabbed a late brace for the visitors in the Premier League on Saturday although VAR was once again the centre of attention over a re-taken penalty. 

United looked off the pace early on as Andros Townsend put Palace in front after seven minutes, with the home side's campaign starting a week later than initially scheduled due to last season's Europa League commitments running into mid-August.

LEEDS — Newly-promoted Leeds United continued their barnstorming return to the Premier League as they claimed their first points with a thrilling 4-3 win over Fulham at Elland Road on Saturday.

After a 4-3 loss to champions Liverpool on the opening day, Leeds, back in the top flight after a 16-year absence, produced more vibrant attacking football along with defensive jitters.

Helda Costa gave them a flying start only for Aleksandar Mitrovic's penalty to level for Fulham before Mateusz Klich restored their lead also with a spot kick before halftime.

LIVERPOOL, England — Colombian playmaker James Rodriguez scored his first Premier League goal and Dominic Calvert-Lewin bagged a hat-trick as Everton thrashed 10-man West Bromwich Albion 5-2 at Goodison Park on Saturday.

West Brom started brightly and opened the scoring through Grady Diangana, but when Calvert-Lewin equalised following an intervention from the Video Assistant Referee, Everton took control.

They scored five goals in 35 minutes as West Brom capitulated following a needless red card for defender Kieran Gibbs.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has fired a broadside at the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) as his team prepare to play three times in a week on multiple fronts.

Spurs are having to negotiate the Europa League qualifying rounds by winning three matches to get into the group stage, with Premier League and League Cup matches also in the mix.

Former Derby County winger Reg Harrison, who was the oldest living winner of the FA Cup, has died at the age of 97, the Championship club announced on Friday.

Harrison lifted the FA Cup as a 22-year-old when Derby beat Charlton Athletic 4-1 after extra time at Wembley in 1946 for their only FA Cup triumph.

Derby County are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of 1946 FA Cup winner, Reg Harrison.

We will miss you, Reg 

Liverpool have reached an agreement to sign Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcântara from Bayern Munich, the German club's CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on Thursday.

British media reported the deal will cost the Premier League champions around $25.81 million with $6.5 million in add-ons. Thiago will leave the German giants a year before his contract is set to expire and is expected to sign a four-year deal with the Anfield club.

Timo Werner said on Wednesday that he was in discussions with Liverpool over a close season transfer but eventually chose Chelsea as they were the perfect fit for his game while manager Frank Lampard also played a key role in making the decision.

Chelsea signed the German striker, 24, in a reported 50 million euros ($59.20 million) deal in June as the London club looked to rebuild their squad ahead of the new season.

The 2020-21 Premier League season began this past weekend with eight fixtures and 16 clubs in action. When the dust had settled, the table showed Arsenal and Leicester City leading the way after vanquishing the newly promoted duo of Fulham and West Brom.

There isn’t much use for Premier League Power Rankings after about six or seven weeks of the season — the table doesn’t lie — but we still want to get in on the action with an exercise that’ll include vastly differing metrics from week-to-week.