Liverpool 0 Stoke City 0 Steven Gerrard thought he had scored his 100th goal for Liverpool after two minutes but, amid some confusion, his free kick was ruled out and apart from a surge towards the end they rarely got that close to scoring again. Liverpool were on the attack for most of the match but promoted Stoke, beaten 8-0 on their last visit to Anfield in 2000, held out for their first away point of the season.
Blackburn Rovers 1 Fulham 0 A game that looked destined for a goalless draw was settled in Blackburn's favour six minutes from time when substitute Matt Derbyshire latched onto Roque Santa Cruz's header back across goal to score from close range. Sunderland 2 Middlesborough 0 Two late goals for substitute Michael Chopra punished Middlesbrough heavily for Stewart Downing's penalty miss. The England midfielder blasted a spot kick over the bar at 0-0 after 75 minutes and six minutes later Chopra slid Sunderland ahead, adding the second in stoppage time.
West Ham United 3 Newcastle United 1 Gianfranco Zola enjoyed his first game in charge of West Ham as fellow Italian new arrival David Di Michele scored twice against a ragged and managerless Newcastle. Di Michele, making his first start after his arrival on loan from Torino, opened the scoring with a deflected shot after eight minutes and got his second late in the first half after Shay Given had blocked his initial effort with his head.
The Italian then crossed for Matthew Etherington to tap in the third after 53 before Michael Owen pulled one back. * Reuters
