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West Ham pushed their top-four credentials as they thrashed 10-man Aston Villa 4-1 to condemn them to a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat.

The result leaves David Moyes’ side level on points with third-placed Manchester City in fourth, while Villa remain 15th, three points above the bottom three.

Ben Johnson opened the scoring for the visitors with a low drive into the bottom left corner from 18 yards after being picked out by Declan Rice’s cross-field pass.

And Rice drove into the same corner to restore the Hammers’ lead after Ollie Watkins had swept home an equaliser following good work from Emiliano Buendia near the byline.

Though Villa rallied and saw Watkins head against the bar from John McGinn’s cross their hopes of taking anything from the contest were ultimately undermined by Ezri Konsa’s dismissal for a foul on Jarrod Bowen, with the Hammers forward through on goal.

As they pressed forward for an equaliser, Pablo Fornals tapped in a third on the break and Bowen rounded off the scoring for West Ham with another close-range finish into an empty net after good work from Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini.

West Ham’s victory epitomised their fine start to the campaign and saw them equal an eight-game unbeaten run on their travels in the top-flight dating back to November 1986.

Moyes’ side building momentum

While there is still a considerable distance to go until prizes and European places are confirmed next May, momentum and hope appears to be building at West Ham.

Moyes’ side have been excellent on three fronts this term, with a superb Premier League start, reaching the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and taking charge of their Europa League group with three straight wins.

And there is also a positivity and attacking impetus attached to his side that has perhaps not always been present in his previous jobs elsewhere.

Rather than sitting back at Villa Park they went straight after their out-of-sorts opponents and the likes of Bowen, Tomas Soucek and Antonio all had good opportunities to double their lead before the home side levelled.

Rice’s goal owed a little to luck with Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez complaining that he had been unsighted by the England midfielder’s effort from distance.

However, after Konsa’s red card, they were thoroughly professional and eventually made their extra man count.

Villa, who started Leon Bailey for the first time and lost Jacob Ramsey to a first-half injury, will consider themselves unfortunate in moments but they were also far too passive early on, and with a man down, paid the price for having to constantly chase the game.

However, Chelsea extended their lead at the top to three points as Reece James scored twice in a 3-0 win at Newcastle.

The Magpies are hoping to follow in the footsteps of Chelsea and City’s success following huge investment from foreign owners.

However, Saudi-owned Newcastle have a battle just to remain in the top flight as they remain rooted in the bottom three without a league win this season.

All the goals arrived in the second-half as James produced two stunning finishes from right wing-back before Jorginho’s penalty rounded off the scoring.

“It will never be the moment when we celebrate results on the other pitches,” said Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel. “It’s first of all far too early and second, we want to focus on ourselves.”

Liverpool stretched their unbeaten run to 24 games in all competitions, but will feel two points slipped away after another flying start.

“It feels like a defeat,” said Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. “In the second-half, we were not good enough. The body language I didn’t like it all.”

Mohamed Salah’s scoring streak came to an end at 10 games, but the Egyptian set up the opener as his pass was swept into the far corner by Jordan Henderson.

Sadio Mane doubled the home side’s advantage with a back post header before the Senegalese had another goal ruled out for handball after he caught Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez in possession.

The Seagulls grabbed a lifeline before half-time when Enock Mwepu’s cross flew over the stranded Alisson Becker.

Brighton snatched a point when Leandro Trossard rounded off a brilliant team move 25 minutes from time.

City’s first home defeat of the season rounded off a perfect day for the Chelsea in the title race.

Wilfried Zaha punished slack defending from Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte to fire into the far corner after six minutes.

Laporte was then sent off for pulling down Zaha as the last man in first-half stoppage time. Gabriel Jesus thought he had equalised midway through the second half only for the goal to be ruled out for off-side against Phil Foden.

The 10 men were then caught out two minutes from time when Conor Gallagher smashed high past Ederson. — BBcsport.