Chelsea maintained their iron grip on top spot in the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday and Sergio Aguero fired a four-goal warning that Manchester City will not relinquish their title without a fight.
Goals from Oscar and Cesc Fabregas made it seven wins from eight games for Chelsea, who overcame the sending-off of Cesar Azpilicueta before halftime to stay five points clear.
Aguero lit up the day’s early kickoff, scoring all four goals as Manchester City beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 in a match of four penalties and a red card for Spurs defender Fabrizio Fabio.
The Argentine scored twice from the spot and had another penalty saved.
Pride of place, however, went to Southampton who thrashed Sunderland 8-0 to stay in third place. West Ham United moved into the top four after a 3-1 victory at struggling Burnley.
Arsenal’s mediocre start to the season continued as they were held to their fifth draw in eight matches, Danny Welbeck scoring late to salvage a 2-2 home draw with Hull City. Everton returned to form with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
Newcastle United’s home game against Leicester City was a delayed kickoff after a pre-match safety issue with a new video screen inside St James’ Park.
Southampton recorded one of the biggest victories in Premier League history when they crushed a woeful Sunderland side 8-0 at St Mary’s on Saturday.
The thumping win fell one goal short of Manchester United’s record 9-0 triumph over Ipswich in 1995 and maintained the south coast club’s remarkable start to the season under manager Ronald Koeman.
Top scorer Graziano Pelle was among seven names on the scoresheet, netting twice to take his tally for the season to six.
Southampton continue to confound predictions they would struggle after they sold several first-team players in the close season. They remain third in the table on 16 points, six behind leaders Chelsea.
Two days before they ventured north to face Premier League champions Manchester City, their manager Mauricio Pochettino described Sergio Aguero as the best striker in the world -- calling him the Mozart of football.
Aguero duly delivered a virtuoso performance to destroy Tottenham on Saturday, bagging all his side’s goals in a 4-1 victory that was never as comfortable as the score suggested.
The fact that two of them came from the penalty spot and he also had another spot-kick saved took a little gloss off his feat, but the Argentine maestro was simply a class apart as he became City’s all-time leading Premier League hitman.
While Carlos Tevez, whose record he surpassed, was a relentless warrior, Aguero plays his football with classical elegance combined with soaring passages of brilliance.
Aguero has nine Premier League goals this season, the same as Chelsea’s Diego Costa, and if City are to retain their title he could be the difference.
City might have dropped points without him against a Tottenham side whose lively attack often worried City’s rearguard, but whose defence was fragile.