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LONDON (Reuters) – The revolving door at the top of the Premier League continued to spin on Sunday as first Tottenham Hotspur and then Leicester City arrived before Liverpool stumbled in their bid to regain it with a draw at Manchester City.
Southampton had started the day as an unlikely leader, but Harry Kane’s late goal, his 150th in the Premier League, earned Tottenham a 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion.
That put José Mourinho’s men in first place with 17 points from eight games, but a couple of hours later, Leicester’s 1-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers, sealed with a Jamie Vardy penalty, elevated them to 18 points.
Champions Liverpool were on their way to move up when Mohamed Salah shot them ahead from the penalty spot after Sadio Mane taunted Kyle Walker and fouled.
But Gabriel Jesus tied after a smart turn and City could have been in front before halftime if Kevin de Bruyne had converted a penalty awarded through a VAR control after his center was judged to have hit Joe Gomez’s arm. .
De Bruyne sent his kick wide.
The second half ended when Liverpool finished the day in third place behind Tottenham on goal difference, while City, which has yet to get under way, remains in tenth place.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said the poor quality of the second half was the result of a punishment schedule and said clubs should be able to use five substitutes as they did after Project Restart at the end of last season.
“This year, October is like December, November is like December, and December is still like December,” Klopp said. “If we continue like this, and hopefully we can play the European Championship next summer, let’s see which players can participate.”
Aston Villa got back on track with a dazzling 3-0 win at Arsenal in which Ollie Watkins hit twice.
They rose to sixth place with 15 points, having played one game less than the teams above them.
Tottenham lined up Kane, Gareth Bale and Son Heung-min early on for the first time in the Premier League, but the formidable trio was kept quiet by a brave West Brom side that have yet to win a league game this season.
But Kane appeared late to head off Matt Doherty’s long pass to secure a third straight win for Tottenham.
Leicester, which beat Tottenham in the 2015-16 title race, appears to be facing another challenge.
Vardy’s penalty in the 15th minute was enough against the Wolves, though he also had another saved penalty shot.
“It has been an incredible start, I am very happy for the players,” said coach Brendan Rodgers, whose team faces Liverpool after the international break.
“I’ve always said that failure is learning and if someone says that not getting into the Champions League last season was a failure, that’s fine. For us it was about learning and developing.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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