The chants from the away end about winning the league were sung in jest, but Hull continue to show they are here to stay. Sergej Jakirovic’s dogged, intelligent side are third in the Premier League after extending their unbeaten start to four games and can even count themselves unfortunate not to have beaten another of the Big Six after pushing Chelsea to the limit in an absorbing battle at a frustrated Stamford Bridge.

Hull were 2-1 up at half-time, and they had the chances to snatch the points during the second half. It took two big saves from Emiliano Martínez to prevent an upset, but this was not a good day for the Chelsea goalkeeper or his new teammates. He was one of several at fault when Hull, having dusted themselves down after conceding from Morgan Rogers early on, went ahead through Mohamed Belloumi’s quickfire double. The ease with which Chelsea’s advantage was handed over left the normally calm and considered Xabi Alonso accusing his side of being “soft” without the ball.

Alonso craves the comfort of a forgettable win. Chelsea have been exhilarating in attack, but they cannot defend. They are conceding two goals per game and the basketball nature of Alonso’s approach has created chaos rather than control. “It’s all entertaining, but I hope that one day you say it was a boring game and we win,” he said. “It will take time. When we get the lead you still need to be competing and not to give the chance so easily for them to come back. “Especially in the first goal, we can do much better. It was too soft to give them hope because until then we were controlling, we were creating chances, but that changed the mood. We will get better, but it’s having an impact on our performances.”

One of these teams boasts the most expensive squad in world football at just over a billion pounds. The other sat winless and pointless with speculation of unrest already growing around their new manager. For a little more than 90 minutes, you would not have known which.
And so the wait for Andoni Iraola’s first Anfield win goes on. Many inside the stadium were already making their way to the exits when the final whistle brought this unfulfilling goalless draw with Fulham to an end. Plenty were already long into the concourse by the time Rio Ngumoha saw the last of Liverpool’s openings come to nothing.

For this was a shadow of the Liverpool from Wednesday night, where they came away deserved winners against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. This was a leggy, sloppy, uncertain Liverpool. Error-strewn and unsure of themselves. How much of it was because Iraola made only three changes from that midweek triumph? Not enough to excuse Florian Wirtz, Kostas Tsimikas – one of those changes and who was hooked at half-time – and the usually rock-solid Dominik Szoboszlai all passing the ball straight out of play and frequently to the opposition.

Roberto De Zerbi’s expensively assembled side have made a wretched opening to the new campaign and they were easily held by Everton in north London.
Tottenham have taken two points from their first four matches, with their only goals this season coming against second tier Charlton in the League Cup.
Their search for a goal takes them to Liverpool in the League Cup third round on Tuesday before they host Aston Villa in the top-flight next weekend.
David Moyes’s Everton remain unbeaten after three draws and a win.
Despite spending more than £300 million ($406 million) on 10 signings since the end of last term, Tottenham’s crisis is mounting after a remarkably bad start.
Defeats against Brentford and Newcastle and a draw against Nottingham Forest left them languishing in the relegation zone ahead of this weekend’s action.
With the spectre of another relegation battle looming after last season’s final-day escape, De Zerbi desperately needed a morale-boosting victory.
Tottenham, who finished 17th for the last two seasons, climbed out of the bottom three after this draw, but it was hardly any reason for celebration.