LONDON: Southampton beat Stoke City 1-0 and moved into second place while Manchester City and Liverpool endured Premier League frustration on Saturday following Champions League setbacks.

Chelsea, who play at Manchester United on Sunday, lead the title chase with 22 points from their eight matches, while Saints, who beat Stoke with Sadio Mane’s eighth goal of the season, are second on 19 from nine games.

Having thrown away a winning position to draw at CSKA Moscow in midweek, champions City are third on 17 after losing 2-1 at West Ham who won with goals from Morgan Amalfitano and Diafra Sakho. City pulled one back through David Silva.

City’s second loss of their title defence was the latest eye-catching scalp for West Ham, who are fourth in the standings on 16 points.

Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli, whose performance and conduct was decried in Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Real Madrid, failed to score his first league goal for the club in a 0-0 draw with Hull City.

Balotelli missed an open goal with almost the last kick that would have won the match for the Reds.

But Arsenal hit back after last weekend’s draw with Hull to beat Sunderland 2-0 with Alexis Sanchez scoring twice and West Bromwich Albion came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home with Crystal Palace.

Manuel Pellegrini’s City, who kicked off in second place, had hoped to close the gap on the Blues to two points ahead of their rivals’ clash with United.

But West Ham maintained their impressive recent form to stun the visitors, who were beaten in the league for the second time this season following their loss to Stoke in late August.

Amalfitano opened the scoring in the 21st minute and Sakho added the decisive second goal in the 75th minute.

Silva set up a tense finish when City’s Spanish forward scored a fine individual effort two minutes later, but fourth-placed Hammers held on for a fourth win in their last five matches.

“We had a lot of chances to score but it is difficult to win if you don’t take them,” Pellegrini said. “We have 80 points left to play for...We will continue fighting because there is no title being handed out at the moment.”

For West Ham this was their first win in 11 games against City having suffered a humiliating 9-0 aggregate loss over two legs in last season’s League Cup semi-final.

“We are doing well at the moment and we wanted to continue that today, “said Hammers midfielder Alex Song. “The spirit is high and we are really enjoying it.”

Meanwhile, Southampton’s stunning start to the season continued against Stoke.

Fresh from last week’s 8-0 home thrashing of Sunderland — their record win in the English top flight — Ronald Koeman’s side scored only one goal at St Mary’s this match when Senegal winger Mane followed up in the 33rd minute after Graziano Pelle’s shot came back off the post.

It was a sixth win in nine Premier League matches this season for a Southampton side who saw 92 million pounds ($148 million, 117 million euros) worth of talent in Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Luke Shaw, Calum Chambers and Rickie Lambert all leave for rival Premier League clubs in the last transfer window, with former manager Mauricio Pochettino joining Tottenham Hotspur.

Sunderland conceded just two goals on Saturday but that was enough to ensure Arsenal won at the Stadium of Light. Sanchez scored twice, both times seizing on defensive errors.

He put Arsenal ahead in the 30th minute following a poor back pass by Wes Brown and then latched on to a ‘gift’ clearance from former Gunners keeper Vito Mannone in he closing seconds.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2014