Manchester United replaced Manchester City at the Barclays Premier League summit on a day of contrasting fortunes for the rivals.
City slumped to a third straight defeat in all competitions – and to second in the league – as Tottenham enjoyed a handsome 4-1 at White Hart Lane.
United had a much more straightforward afternoon against Sunderland at Old Trafford, leapfrogging City by a point with a 3-0 win.
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The decisive goals came either side of the half-time whistle, Memphis Depay putting his side ahead at the end of the first period and Wayne Rooney bundling home from close range shortly after the restart.
England captain Rooney had gone 1,000 Premier League minutes without a goal, but he now sits level third alongside Denis Law on United’s all-time list. Juan Mata later added the gloss.
Under-pressure Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers had Daniel Sturridge to thank for a much-needed 3-2 win over Aston Villa at Anfield.
James Milner eased the nerves with a second-minute opener before Sturridge’s fine volley made it 2-0 in his second start after a lengthy injury lay-off.
Sturridge grabbed a second in the 67th minute, with Villa’s Rudy Gestede scoring two of his own either side of that to make Rodgers sweat over the points.
Daniel Sturridge has 37 goals in 57 Premier League games for Liverpool. Astonishing record. His loss has been underestimated.
— Kieran Cunningham (@KCsixtyseven) September 26, 2015
Arsenal ended Leicester’s unbeaten start to the campaign to go third with a 5-2 win, Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez opening his account for the season with a hat-trick.
Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes took the lead at the King Power Stadium through Jamie Vardy’s 13th-minute effort, only for Theo Walcott to level within five minutes.
Sanchez took centre-stage with goals in 33rd, 58th and 81st minutes before the in-form Vardy and substitute Olivier Giroud netted late on.
Stoke picked up a first win of the season at home to Bournemouth, Mame Biram Diouf settling a 2-1 victory in the 83rd minute after goals from Dan Gosling and Jon Walters had cancelled each other out.
Cherries striker Callum Wilson suffered a nasty first-half injury.
Southampton saw off visiting Swansea 3-1, as Virgil van Dijk, Dusan Tadic and Sadio Mane established a healthy advantage in little more than an hour.
Gylfi Sigurdsson pulled one back from the penalty spot, Swans’ first goal in September.
At the Boleyn Ground, Cheikhou Kouyate stole a point for West Ham in the dying seconds against Norwich.
Nathan Redmond thought he had won it for the Canaries seven minutes from time after strikes from Robbie Brady and Diafra Sakho.
