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LONDON. — Manchester City made it four wins in a row this season in the English Premier League, while Italy’s Juventus recorded the worst start of a Serie A champion since 1941 following a second successive defeat, this time against AS Roma.

Raheem Sterling scored his first goal for Manchester City as they maintained their ominous 100 percent start to the season with a 2-0 victory against promoted Watford to open up an eight-point advantage over champions Chelsea. The Stamford Bridge side’s underwhelming start continued after they slumped to a surprise 2-1 home defeat against an impressive Crystal Palace despite Radamel Falcao’s first goal for the club.

Manchester United and Liverpool, both unbeaten after three games, suffered surprise defeats – 2-1 away against Swansea City and 3-0 at home against West Ham United respectively. Arsenal laboured to their second win of the season with a 1-0 victory against 10-man Newcastle United thanks to Fabrico Coloccini’s own-goal.

In Spain, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale each scored twice as Real Madrid got their campaign up and running with a 5-0 win at home to Real Betis, after champions Barcelona had edged Malaga 1-0 at the Nou Camp. Thomas Vermaelen scored his first goal for Barca to maintain their perfect start with six points from two matches, level at the top with Celta Vigo, surprise package Eibar and Atletico Madrid.

Atletico earned a hard-fought 3-0 victory at Sevilla, Colombia striker Jackson Martinez netting his first goal since arriving from Porto last month, after Eibar had earlier beaten far more illustrious Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao 2-0. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund eased past Hertha Berlin 3-1 to go top of the Bundesliga with their third consecutive victory.

Shinji Kagawa helped set up two goals for the Ruhr valley club who have nine points, as many as champions Bayern Munich, but are top on goal difference. Bayern’s own fine form saw them beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 with two goals from Thomas Mueller on his 200th Bundesliga game. — Reuters.