LONDON: Liverpool had the look of Premier League title challengers again during an electrifying win at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, while Arsenal’s scoring struggles were once more exposed in a draw at Leicester City.

Having opened the campaign with a slender win over Crystal Palace and then scrambled a draw at Everton, Arsenal missed the chance to move up to third in the Premier League table after they were held to a 1-1 draw by a dogged Leicester side playing in the top flight after a decade away.

Alexis Sanchez opened the scoring with his first Premier League goal but Arsenal were pegged back within two minutes by Leicester’s record signing Leonardo Ulloa.

The visitors dominated for long spells but appeared to miss the presence of last season’s top scorer Oliver Giroud, who faces up to four months on the sidelines with a broken leg.

Arsenal sit seventh in the standings while Leicester, in 15th, remain winless but have performed well in their three games since returning to the Premier League.

Liverpool, though, recovered from their setback at Manchester City at the start of the week with a 3-0 win at White Hart Lane which ended Tottenham’s perfect start to the season.

On manager Brendan Rodgers’s 100th game in charge, Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard and Alberto Moreno scored Liverpool’s goals.

“Overall our quality was exceptional. We got three goals and could have had more,” said Rodgers.

In the day’s other game, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann hit the target as Aston Villa maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a 2-1 victory over Hull City at Villa Park and climb to third place in the early-season standings.

Chelsea will go into the international break above Swansea City on goal difference at the top of the table after an engrossing 6-3 win at Everton on Saturday, in which new striker Diego Costa scored twice.

With Giroud sidelined by a broken tibia, Yaya Sanogo started up front for Arsenal at Leicester and he played a central role in the visitors’ 20th-minute opener.

The French striker could not find a way past Kasper Schmeichel from Santi Cazorla’s dinked pass, but Sanchez followed up to slam home his first league goal since signing from Barcelona.

Arsenal’s lead was to last only two minutes, however, as Jeff Schlupp motored down the left wing before delivering an inviting cross that Ulloa powered past Wojciech Szczesny with a firm header.

Arsenal centre-back Laurent Koscielny hurt himself in a clash of heads with Schlupp when the score was still 0-0 and he made way for Calum Chambers shortly after Ulloa’s goal.

Leicester came closest to scoring a winner, but Ulloa clipped an effort into the side-netting after cutting inside Chambers and Szczesny produced a diving save to thwart substitute Jamie Vardy.

Mario Balotelli made his Liverpool debut after his 16 million pound ($26.5 million, 20.1 million euros) move from AC Milan on Monday and he produced an enterprising display before being withdrawn in the 61st minute.

After Balotelli had tested Hugo Lloris with an early header, Liverpool went ahead in the eighth minute.

Daniel Sturridge released Jordan Henderson with a ball down the right flank and the England midfielder played a low cross across the box that Sterling tucked away at the far post.

Gerrard doubled the visitors’ lead from the penalty spot in the 49th minute after Eric Dier had held back Joe Allen and Moreno sealed victory on the hour with a memorable first Liverpool goal.

The Spanish left-back, a close-season arrival from Sevilla, dispossessed Spurs substitute Andros Townsend on halfway and surged into the box before drilling a shot into the bottom-right corner.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2014