LONDON, Nov 5: The only member of the English Premier League’s top six in action on Saturday, Liverpool took full advantage.

Juergen Klopp’s side won at West Ham 4-1 to secure successive league victories for the first time since August.

Mohamed Salah scored twice, while Joel Matip and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also found the net as Liverpool made light work of West Ham at the Olympic Stadium.

The victory took Liverpool level on points with Chelsea and Arsenal, which both face tough challenges on Sunday against top two Manchester United and City, respectively. Third-placed Tottenham meets Crystal Palace.

“Two weeks ago I felt quite different. We knew after that game at Tottenham (4-1 defeat) that we were bad,” Klopp said. “We wanted to strike back and the boys did with three really nice results.”

After an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Brighton in its last home league game, West Ham’s display did little to relieve the increasing pressure on manager Slaven Bilic.

“I definitely don’t feel a broken man. I’m very, very strong,” Bilic said. “On the other hand, the situation for West Ham is not good.”

The Hammers dropped to 17th, with just a point separating them from the relegation zone.

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MANE RETURNS

Almost as important as the victory for Liverpool, was the return of Sadio Mane.

The Senegal winger missed the last five games after injuring a hamstring on international duty.

Mane didn’t score, but coming through 77 minutes unscathed with assists for both of Salah’s goals vindicated Klopp’s decision to start him.

“(Playing) Sadio Mane from the beginning after his injury, after yesterday his second session with the team. I never did it before,” Klopp said. “Sadio is a naturally fit player, a little machine.”

The first set-up came as Mane and Salah performed a two-man counterattack, with the latter putting the ball in the net just 13 seconds after West Ham took a corner at the other end.

The second was equally impressive as Mane beat two defenders before switching the ball to Salah, who arrowed his finish into the bottom corner.

DEBUTANTS EXCELLING

Brighton and Huddersfield both won to move into the top half of the standings in their debut league seasons.

Brighton extended its unbeaten run to four games by defeating Swansea 1-0 with Glenn Murray scoring for a third consecutive league game.

“Eighth has surpassed our expectation, most newly promoted teams would say the same, but we’ve got to be guarded against any type of complacency,” Brighton manager Chris Hughton said.

Huddersfield held on for a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion despite playing the final third of the game with 10 men.

Christopher Schindler was sent off after receiving a second yellow card, but Rajiv van La Parra’s first-half strike was enough.

The other promoted team, Newcastle, conceded a last-minute goal to Bournemouth in a 1-0 loss. Steve Cook’s injury-time header left Rafael Benitez’s side with just one win in its last six.

DYCHE STOCK RISES

Another overachieving club is Burnley. Sam Vokes scored in the 80th minute to beat Southampton 1-0.

Everton is reportedly interested in hiring Sean Dyche away from Burnley after firing manager Ronald Koeman in October.

“I’ve had numerous times when I’ve been linked with situations and I just continue to see it clearly and that is to work hard at what I do,” Dyche said.

“There’s not a story there. My story is the Burnley story; five years here, another win today, which is a fantastic win, a clean sheet, Southampton away, a place that’s been historically very, very tough for us to come and get results – both me as a manager and the club – and we’ve won 1-0, that’s the story.”

Earlier, Leicester stayed unbeaten under manager Claude Puel while twice wasting the lead in a 2-2 draw with Stoke. AP

LONDON, Oct 29: Anthony Martial struck late against Tottenham to ensure Manchester United still has Manchester City within its sights at the top of the English Premier League.

Martial came off the bench to score the only goal of the game at Old Trafford on Saturday, preventing third-placed Spurs from claiming what would have been a valiant point in the absence of leading scorer Harry Kane.

Having suffered its first league defeat of the season last weekend at Huddersfield, United remained five points behind City, which showed no sign of slowing down as it stayed unbeaten at the expense of West Bromwich Albion 3-2.

It looked like the gap in the standings would be larger with 10 minutes remaining at Old Trafford, until Martial latched onto Romelu Lukaku’s flick on and calmly found the bottom corner.

“I was so disappointed at Huddersfield because it looks like in that match we didn’t know the responsibility, we didn’t know the ambition, we didn’t know that every point is a precious point,” United manager Jose Mourinho said.

“Today, if we drew the match or even if in the last minute we concede a goal and we lose 1-0, I wouldn’t be against the players because I felt from minute one every ball was like the last ball of their careers. They gave absolutely everything.”

Arsenal and Chelsea won to move within a point of Tottenham, while Liverpool was three points further back after it brought Huddersfield back to reality at Anfield.

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SUPER SUB

United match-winner Martial has more goals as a substitute than any other player in the Premier League this season.

The French forward scored for the fourth time in six appearances from the bench. He vies with Marcus Rashford for a start on the left flank.

“I want to play. I don’t want to be on the bench but Rashford plays good, too,” Martial said. “So the manager tries to give us a chance.”

RECORD START

Manchester City equaled the best ever start to a Premier League after it defeated West Brom.

City has 28 points from its opening 10 games, matching its own performance under Roberto Mancini in 2011, and Chelsea in 2005. Both of those sides went on to win the title.

Goals from Leroy Sane, Fernandinho and Raheem Sterling were enough to secure an eighth consecutive league victory for Pep Guardiola’s side.

MILESTONES

Arsene Wenger was able to celebrate his 800th Premier League game in charge of Arsenal as the Gunners came from behind to defeat Swansea 2-1.

Sam Clucas’ calm finish gave Swansea a halftime lead but goals from Sead Kolasinac and Aaron Ramsey ensured Wenger could celebrate the milestone, 10 games short of Alex Ferguson’s record.

Daniel Sturridge’s opener in Liverpool’s 3-0 victory over Huddersfield was his 100th in club competition. The former Manchester City and Chelsea striker broke the deadlock after Mohamed Salah missed a first-half penalty.

Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum also scored as Juergen Klopp’s side bounced back from last weekend’s humbling defeat at Tottenham.

HAZARD: BEWARE

Eden Hazard’s third goal in as many games proved decisive as Chelsea earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Bournemouth.

It took the Belgium winger 17 games to score his previous three goals for the Blues.

Antonio Conte’s system requires an in-form Hazard for Chelsea to flourish. His 16 goals last season were crucial in the title-winning campaign.

ZAHA RESCUES PALACE

Wilfried Zaha scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time to earn Crystal Palace a 2-2 draw against West Ham.

Javier Hernandez and Andre Ayew gave the Hammers a 2-0 halftime lead, but Luka Milivojevic’s penalty and Zaha’s dramatic strike earned a well-deserved point for Roy Hodgson’s side.

Palace remained at the bottom of the table, with just four points from its opening 10 games.

Also, Darren Fletcher scored the only goal as Stoke posted a much-needed victory at Watford.

LIVERPOOL, Oct 15: The goals finally dried up for Manchester United in the English Premier League. They are flowing more than ever at title rival Manchester City.

Hours after United’s cautious approach eked out its latest 0-0 draw at Liverpool on Saturday, City produced an attacking masterclass in a 7-2 home win over Stoke — the biggest victory in the league this season.

The standard of opponent was vastly different but it was hard to escape the contrast between the top two teams, who many are tipping to be vying for the title.

After eight rounds, the Manchester rivals remain unbeaten but City has taken the outright lead for the first time by two points from its neighbor.

City is setting new standards in attacking play: Its goal tally of 29 is the most by a team in the first eight league games of a top-flight season in 123 years, since Everton scored 30 in 1894. Before its trip to Anfield, United had 21 goals from seven games.

There was finally something to celebrate for Crystal Palace, which registered its first points and goals of the season in a surprise 2-1 win over Chelsea.

With Chelsea losing for the second straight game, third-placed Tottenham leads the chase to the Manchester clubs after beating Bournemouth 1-0 for a first league win at its temporary home of Wembley Stadium in four attempts.

Arsenal conceded in injury time to lose 2-1 at Watford.

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HISTORY REPEATED

Twelve months after a 0-0 draw in what has traditionally been regarded as the biggest fixture in English soccer, Liverpool and Man United played out another goalless draw at Anfield.

Afterward, coaches Juergen Klopp and Jose Mourinho launched a defense of their respective footballing philosophies, aiming little digs at each other and claiming private victories.

The loser was a global audience that expects more quality from England’s most decorated and illustrious clubs.

United defended in numbers and had goalkeeper David De Gea to thank for preserving a point in the game’s most significant incident, the Spain goalkeeper sticking out his left boot to keep out Joel Matip’s effort from point-blank range.

Liverpool controlled possession but couldn’t pierce the wall of white United jerseys set up by Mourinho, whose players carried out his game plan to the letter.

SLICK CITY

City didn’t even need top scorer Sergio Aguero in its latest attacking clinic.

The Argentina striker stayed on the bench on his return to the squad after sustaining a broken rib in a car crash. He watched as City’s free-scoring attack — a front three of Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling, with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne orchestrating behind them — ran amok at Etihad Stadium.

On his 100th appearance for City, De Bruyne had a hand in four of the goals — including a no-look pass in one of the build-ups and a threaded ball that took out four Stoke players for Sane to score.

Gabriel Jesus scored twice and Sterling, David Silva, Fernandinho and Bernardo Silva also netted for City, which has at least five goals in its last three home league games.

City has won seven of its eight games.

RELIEF FOR PALACE

“We’re Crystal Palace, we score when we want,” sang the fans as the league’s bottom club found the net for the first time this season — in its eighth game.

Invariably, it was an own goal, by Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta, in the 11th minute, but it sparked a surprisingly impressive display by Palace at Selhurst Park.

Tiemoue Bakayoko equalized for the champions with a header from a corner in the 18th but Palace responded on the stroke of halftime through winger Wilfried Zaha, who was back in the team for the first time since getting injured on the opening weekend.

Chelsea has lost back-to-back games, having been beaten by Manchester City 1-0 before the international break, and has dropped nine points behind first-place City.

TOTTENHAM WINS, ARSENAL LOSES

After two draws and a loss at Wembley, Tottenham finally won at its new home thanks to Christian Eriksen’s goal just after halftime. Harry Kane had his first game in six without a goal.

In contrast to its concerning home form, Spurs have won all four away league games. They stayed five points behind City, and trimmed the gap to United to three points.

Tom Cleverley scored Watford’s winner against Arsenal in the second minute of injury time, completing his team’s comeback from going behind to Per Mertesacaker’s goal. Troy Deeney equalized from the penalty spot.

In other games, Burnley came back to draw 1-1 against West Ham, which had Andy Carroll was sent off for two bookings, and Swansea beat Huddersfield 2-0. AP