Erling Haaland fired Manchester City to the top of the Premier League with a second consecutive hat-trick in a 3-1 win at West Ham on Saturday.

The Norwegian put Ipswich to the sword last weekend and followed up with another treble to take his tally to 70 goals in 69 Premier League games since joining City from Borussia Dortmund.

City have started the defence of their title in ominous fashion for those looking to depose Pep Guardiola’s men after winning the league for four consecutive seasons.

The English champions are the only side so far to win all three of their opening fixtures before an upcoming international break, helped in no small part by Haaland’s electric start.

Guardiola could again afford the luxury of leaving Rodri, John Stones and Kyle Walker on the bench after their exertions in reaching the final of Euro 2024, while Phil Foden missed out for the second successive game through illness.

In contrast to most of his team-mates who were in action at the Euros and Copa America, Haaland had the summer off from international duty and looks as refreshed as he has been ruthless.

After scoring in the opening weekend win at Chelsea and hitting his 10th City hat-trick against Ipswich, Haaland is now up to a Premier League record seven goals in the first three games of a season.

West Ham only had themselves to blame for the opener as they coughed up possession deep inside their own half and Bernardo Silva picked out Haaland to coolly slot beyond Alphonse Areola.

Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge hit its first stumbling block in a 1-1 draw with Brighton after Declan Rice was sent-off on Saturday, while Aston Villa won 2-1 away at Leicester.

Both Arsenal and Brighton had maximum points from their opening two games and the Gunners looked set for another victory when Kai Havertz pounced on a Lewis Dunk error to lob in the opening goal.

However, the game turned just seconds into the second half when Rice controversially received the first red card of his career.

The England midfielder was deemed to have kicked the ball away as Joel Veltman shaped up to take a Brighton free-kick and was shown a second yellow card. “I was amazed, amazed, amazed!” an outraged Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said. “Amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be.

“In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens. Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan, he turns around, he doesn’t see the player coming and he touches the ball.”

Brighton quickly made their man advantage count as Joao Pedro swept home the rebound after David Raya denied Yankuba Minteh.

Both sides had chances to win it as Bart Verbruggen denied Havertz and Georginio Rutter headed off target late on for the visitors.

But Arsenal had to settle for a point that could see them cede early ground in the title race.

Villa bounced back from their defeat to Arsenal last weekend to secure their second win in three games.

Amadou Onana stretched to turn in Jacob Ramsey’s cross from a well-worked free-kick to open the scoring.

Ollie Watkins is yet to find the net this season after helping England to the Euro 2024 final, but his understudy Jhon Duran has started the campaign in fine form. The Colombian’s towering header just two minutes after replacing Watkins gave Villa the breathing space they needed.

Facundo Buonanotte pulled a goal back, but the Foxes remain winless on their return to the Premier League.

Southampton have found the jump up to the top flight just as hard.

Brentford eased past the Saints 3-1 with Bryan Mbeumo scoring twice.

Everton suffered another gut punch on their final season at Goodison Park as Bournemouth came from 2-0 down after 87 minutes to win 3-2.

Two quickfire goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin early in the second half had put the Toffees in control.

But Antoine Semenyo gave Bournemouth life before Lewis Cook and Luis Sinisterra ensured Everton remain without a point this season.

Ipswich got their first Premier League point in 22 years in a 1-1 draw against Fulham.

Liam Delap put the home side in front at Portman Road but Adama Traore secured a draw for Fulham.

Agencies