Liverpool and Chelsea were forced to settle for draws against Fulham and Hull City on Saturday evening, marking fresh setbacks for the two giants while providing vital morale boosts for their visiting opponents.
Álvaro Arbeloa marked his return to his former club’s home ground by securing his first Premier League point in charge of Fulham, holding Liverpool to a goalless 0-0 draw at Anfield following three consecutive defeats to start the season.
Fulham’s draw was no stroke of luck; the visitors managed four shots on target compared to Liverpool’s three, registering their first clean sheet of the campaign. Meanwhile, Andoni Iraola’s side remained unbeaten after four matches, though constrained by three draws and just a single victory.
At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea opened the scoring early through Morgan Rogers in the seventh minute, before Mohamed Belloumi turned the match on its head with a quickfire double for Hull City in the 28th and 34th minutes. João Pedro later leveled the score for the hosts in the 66th minute.
Hull continued their remarkable start following their top-flight promotion, raising their tally to eight points from two wins and two draws without a loss. They entered the matchday as one of the newly promoted sides to gather seven points from their opening three games—a tally that no team in Premier League history has ever recorded and gone on to suffer relegation.
Elsewhere in Saturday’s completed fixtures, Nottingham Forest defeated Aston Villa 2-1, Ipswich Town edged Crystal Palace 3-2, and Bournemouth played out a 2-2 draw with Brentford, with the day’s action concluding with matchups between Tottenham against Everton and Sunderland facing Arsenal.
The result moved Chelsea to seven points to occupy fourth place provisionally, while Liverpool moved into sixth with six points, sitting behind Brentford on goal difference—with both positions subject to change pending the outcome of the evening matches and the remainder of the fixture list on Sunday and Monday.
Prior to the international break running from September 21 to October 6, Liverpool face Tottenham in the EFL Cup on September 15 before visiting Bournemouth in the league on September 20. Chelsea travel to face Brentford on September 18 in their final fixture before the international hiatus.
