COLE PALMER SCORED four times in 20 first-half minutes to make Premier League history as Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2 to move up to third on Saturday.
The Blues had trailed early on as Georginio Rutter took advantage of a calamity of errors in the Chelsea defence to head in his first goal for the Seagulls.
However, Palmer soon took over to become the first Premier League player to score four times in the first half.
The England international swept home Nicolas Jackson’s pass to level before he coolly slotted in from the penalty spot.
Palmer completed his third Chelsea hat-trick in style with a free-kick that curled into the top corner.
Carlos Baleba pounced on another mistake from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to reduce Brighton’s arrears.
But Palmer rounded off his history-making first 45 minutes when he blasted past Bart Verbruggen at his near post.
Palmer could have had even more before the break as he hit the post and saw another effort ruled out.
After an enthralling first half, the second was scoreless.
But the damage to the visitors had been done as Brighton succumbed to their first defeat under Fabian Hurzeler.
Since losing to Manchester City on the opening weekend of the season, Chelsea have taken 13 points from a possible 15 to make a fine start under Enzo Maresca.
Raul Jimenez’s controversial penalty clinched Fulham a 1-0 win at the City Ground and halted Nottingham Forest’s unbeaten Premier League start.
Jimenez converted his 50th goal in the English top flight early in the second half after a lengthy VAR check, which ended with referee Josh Smith viewing the pitch-side monitor.
Forest had won two and drawn three of their previous five matches and their highest crowd in over a decade – 30,139 – was denied a first home league win since April.
But Forest’s fans were left frustrated as a second VAR decision went against them and Fulham – now unbeaten in their last five league games – had their measure.
Dwight McNeil’s two goals secured Everton’s first win of the season after a rare comeback as they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Goodison Park.
Not since October 2022 had the team recovered from going behind to pick up three Premier League points and after twice squandering 2-0 leads to lose in the last month it was a relief for manager Sean Dyche to experience the other side.
Trailing to Marc Guehi’s early goal the game swung in the space of nine minutes at the start of the second half.
Just 77 seconds after the restart McNeil curled home from 25 yards after Ashley Young intercepted a pass deep in Palace territory before firing past Dean Henderson after bringing down a cross from half-time substitute Jack Harrison.
It ensured a week which had begun with positive off-field news as the Friedkin Group agreed a deal to buy out majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri ended with an important success on the pitch.
Brentford raced into the Premier League record books but still only had a point to show for it after a 1-1 draw with West Ham.
The Bees went ahead after only 37 seconds through Bryan Mbeumo to become the first team to score in the first minute of three consecutive matches.
But, just like in the previous two games, they were unable to hold on to their early lead and Tomas Soucek grabbed a second-half equaliser for the Hammers.
Additional reporting by Press Association
