MANCHESTER, England: Erling Haaland's second successive hat-trick earned Premier League champions Manchester City a 3-1 win at West Ham United on Saturday as Arsenal were held to a 1-1 home draw by Brighton & Hove Albion following Declan Rice's red card.
Everton suffered a painful 3-2 home loss to Bournemouth and Aston Villa returned to winning ways as goals by Amadou Onana and Jhon Duran secured a 2-1 victory at Leicester City.
After narrowly missing out on their first Premier League title since 2004 last season, Arsenal looked on course for a ninth successive league victory after forward Kai Havertz's calm lofted finish gave them a halftime lead.
England midfielder Rice's second yellow for trying to stop Brighton taking a quick free kick, however, turned the tide in the visitors' favour.
"I am amazed," Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta told reporters. "Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be."
Brazilian striker Joao Pedro levelled 12 minutes later and both teams had chances to win a gripping match.
City opened up an early two-point lead over last season's runners-up Arsenal, with Haaland following up last week's treble against Ipswich Town to record his seventh goal in three games.
The Norwegian calmly slotted past Alphonse Areola to put City ahead and, after West Ham equalised against the run of play through Ruben Dias' own goal, Haaland restored City's lead on the half-hour mark.
Haaland secured the win with another cool finish in the 83rd minute, charging on to Matheus Nunes' through ball and lifting his shot over substitute keeper Lukasz Fabianski.
"We played really well, it was an unfortunate goal against," City boss Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports. "The second half was more open but we controlled it better and the performance is good.
"Officially, the pre-season is now over. We played one game a week and it was a super season. Now they play two a week."
EVERTON STUNNED
Everton, under pressure after two league losses, opened up a 2-0 lead over Bournemouth in a seven-minute spell after the break through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Bournemouth spent most of the game on the back foot, but with three minutes left they pulled a goal back when Antoine Semenyo poked home from close range.
In added time, Lewis Cook's powerful header found the back of the net and Luis Sinisterra broke Everton hearts with the winner to leave the hosts rooted to the bottom of the table, booed by their own supporters at full time.
After leading 2-0 goals until the 87th minute, Everton's defeat was the latest a team has ever been two or more goals ahead in a Premier League game they have gone on to lose.
"We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," Everton captain Seamus Coleman said.
"We cannot take our foot off the gas at this level. Unfortunately we did that. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror."
Villa's summer signing Onana touched in from close range after a clever free kick routine in the 28th minute to give his side the lead against Leicester.
Hosts Leicester were more of a threat in the second half but Duran's 63rd-minute header proved decisive.
Brentford shrugged off the loss of star striker Ivan Toney as Bryan Mbeumo's double and a goal by Yoane Wissa earned a comfortable 3-1 home win over promoted Southampton.
Fellow promoted side Ipswich Town were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Fulham and Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers played out a 1-1 draw at the City Ground.