Cole Palmer makes Premier League history as Liverpool and Everton also win

Palmer became the first Premier League player to score four first-half goals as Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2, while Liverpool needed a Mo Salah penalty to down Wolves

Cole Palmer scored four goals, all in the first half, for Chelsea (PA Wire)

Cole Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score four goals in the first half of a match during Chelsea’s 4-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge.

Palmer has now scored six times in as many games, including a wonderful free-kick in the 31st minute at Stamford Bridge after a poor piece of goalkeeping allowed Georginio Rutter a seventh-minute opener for the visitors.

Palmer tapped in Nicolas Jackson’s delivery in the 21st minute, then converted a 28th-minute spot-kick after Jadon Sancho drew the foul.

The 22-year-old completed his hat-trick with the free-kick, Brighton only able to claw one more back through Carlos Baleba three minutes later.

Palmer was not content with three, however, and blasted his effort first-time towards the near post past Bart Verbruggen for a fourth in the 41st minute as Albion slumped to their first defeat of the season. 

In the Saturday evening contest, Liverpool were unconvincing for large parts of their game against Wolves but managed to snatch a 2-1 win to go top of the Premier League table after Man City’s earlier draw with Newcastle.

Mohamed Salah secured all three points for Liverpool (Getty Images)

Ibrahima Konate headed home Diogo Jota’s cross on the stroke of half-time to give the Reds the lead and although Rayan Ait-Nouri took advantage of a defensive mix-up to poke in the equaliser for basement club Wolves, Mohamed Salah slammed home a 61st-minute penalty after Jota was hauled down to hand Arne Slot’s men all three points.

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.

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.

Elsewehere, Raul Jimenez’s controversial penalty clinched Fulham a 1-0 win at the City Ground and halted Nottingham Forest’s unbeaten Premier League start.

Raul Jimenez scored the only goal of the game (PA Wire)

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 and confirming the spot-kick

Meanwhile, 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.