West Ham moved to the top of the Premier League with an impressive 3-1 win at Brighton.

James Ward-Prowse scored his first goal for the club to open the scoring, with Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio wrapping up the points after the break.

Pascal Gross grabbed a late consolation for the Seagulls, who slipped to a first defeat of the season.

England boss Steve Borthwick insisted he will stay loyal to his players and management team despite one of the darkest days in the nation’s rugby history.

A 30-22 defeat by Fiji was their first loss to the Islanders in eight meetings and the first time they have fallen to a current tier-two team, with the result expected to plunge them to an all-time lowest position of ninth in the global rankings.

The worst possible build-up to the World Cup has seen their record under Borthwick number only three wins in nine Tests and their critical Pool D opener against Argentina is only a fortnight away.

Borthwick refused to panic, however, as he outlined his belief that England will come good.

“I’m very confident with the all the people involved in the team – the players, the coaches, the management,” Borthwick said.

“This isn’t the result that we wanted and we’re all disappointed. But the focus is to make sure we put in the performance we need against Argentina.

“We’ve got a very good group of talented players who we are sure will play exceptionally well against Argentina. I’m very happy with the squad we’ve got.

“I’ve been involved with other England teams before that have been under pressure, in difficult circumstances and facing adversity like the challenges we’ve faced – and they’ve come apart.

“What I sense is that this is a group that is coming even tighter together. We’re looking forward to getting into this World Cup.”

England made a high-octane start as they raced into an 8-0 lead but Fiji – who matched their customary magic in attack with tactical smarts and impressive organisation – took hold of the game by scoring three entertaining tries.

“We’re bitterly disappointed. Frustrated that we saw growth in some areas of our game but other areas dropped off,” Borthwick said.

“If you miss that many tackles against a team like Fiji they are going to score tries. The team started positively but made too many errors and slipped off too many tackles.

“Credit Fiji for an excellent performance. We knew they were a dangerous side after they pushed France very hard in France.

“They are going to do very well at the World Cup and there’s the potential for us to meet them again in a few weeks time.

“Our focus is to be ready for Argentina. These games in August are there for us to understand the areas that we need to develop.”

Fiji’s all-court performance will have shaken their Pool C rivals Wales and Australia as they fully justified the growing expectations that they will claim some major scalps at the World Cup.

“We don’t get to play at Twickenham too often so this was a great honour for us. It’s huge to get the victory and I’m very proud of the boys,” head coach Simon Raiwalui said.

“I wouldn’t say we were comfortable because it was a tough match. We’ve made a huge progression with our rugby.”

Duhan van der Merwe led the charge with a double as five-try Scotland overcame another half-time deficit to ensure they headed off to the World Cup on a triumphant note by beating Georgia 33-6 at Murrayfield.

For the fourth warm-up match in succession, Gregor Townsend’s side trailed at the break after a couple of penalties from stand-off Luka Matkava put the visitors 6-0 up.

But as was the case in their previous two home matches against Italy and France, the Scots got a grip of proceedings in the second half and went on to make it three wins in four summer Tests after scores from Van der Merwe, Rory Darge, Kyle Steyn and Jack Dempsey.

Georgia, who had won 11 of their previous 12 Tests, made a bright start and they gained the first points of the game in the 12th minute when Matkava kicked a penalty between the posts from 40 metres out after Grant Gilchrist failed to roll away.

The slow-starting Scots survived a scare in the 17th minute when Georgia wing Mirian Modebadze tried to get on the end of a kick through and slam down over the line but full-back Ollie Smith got back just in time to avert the danger.

The visitors continued in the ascendancy though and they doubled their advantage to six points in the 21st minute when Matkava kicked another penalty.

The 6-0 deficit seemed to inject a semblance of urgency into Scotland’s play and they started to become more of a threat as the first half wore on.

The hosts thought they had got themselves up and running in the 36th minute when Steyn – added to the starting XV on Friday after Darcy Graham was ruled out with a minor quad strain – forced his way over the line in the right corner but following a TMO review he was deemed to have lost control of the ball before placing it down.

The only first-half blemish for the dogged Georgians was the worrying sight of hooker Shalva Mamukashvili – on his 100th appearance – hobbling off before the break, just two weeks ahead of their World Cup opener against Australia in Paris.

With Scotland unable to get a point on the board, they found themselves in the now familiar position of having to mount a second-half recovery.

And that is exactly what they did. Van der Merwe began the revival with his 19th try for Scotland as he eased over on the left after being teed up perfectly by a lovely pass from the outside of Finn Russell’s boot. Russell added the extras to edge the hosts in front.

The Scots swiftly took control. Darge – who also scored in the last match away to France – forced his way over from close range in the 51st minute after Van der Merwe had been held up following a marauding run. Russell again converted in what was the talisman’s last act of the match before going off amid a raft of substitutions.

Dempsey then powered his way through a ruck of Georgian bodies to push down just left of the posts in the 59th minute, with replacement Ben Healy converting.

Steyn – who scored a double in St Etienne last time out – added his team’s fourth try of the match from close range in the 69th minute after Dempsey was denied just in front of the line. Healy again added the extras.

And Van der Merwe had the 54,000 crowd in raptures when he capped an impressive second-half display from the Scots with a straightforward touchdown on the left two minutes from the end, with Healy again on target with his kick.

Mikel Arteta insisted it has not become a psychological issue for Arsenal after they conceded in the first minutes of a home game for the third time this year against Fulham.

Bukayo Saka’s blind pass let in Andreas Pereira to score for the visitors after just 57 seconds in front of a stunned Emirates, after the team made similarly poor starts against Southampton and Bournemouth last season.

The hosts had looked to have done enough to seal a fine comeback victory when substitute Eddie Nketiah slotted past Bernd Leno from Fabio Vieira’s cross 18 minutes from the end.

That was two minutes after Saka made amends for his early error and equalised from the penalty spot, with defender Kenny Tete penalised for tripping Vieira as he charged into the box from Gabriel Martinelli’s pass.

And when Calvin Bassey was shown a second yellow card for bringing down Nketiah near the halfway line, Fulham’s hopes seemed to have gone until Joao Palhinha found space inside the box to hook Harrison Reed’s corner beyond Aaron Ramsdale in the 87th minute.

Arteta lamented that his side had gifted Fulham a point by gifting two poor goals, but praised the way the players regathered their composure and went at their opponents after yet another bad start.

“When in the first minute you make a mistake that we made and you give a goal to the opponent, the game becomes much more difficult,” said Arteta.

“The reaction after that, even the first half, the number of situations and chances we generated, we didn’t give anything away. We controlled the game for full periods, but we didn’t score the goal.

“In the second half we made some changes. The dynamic changed, we had better relationships. I think the subs (Nketiah and Vieira) made a huge difference and impact. I loved the determination and confidence they brought to the team.

“We go 2-1 up and then you have to defend the box with your life. You cannot concede a goal after everything we’ve done, because we should have scored five, six, seven.

“We had a big (error) here last year against Fulham where we gave a goal to (Aleksandar) Mitrovic. It’s part of football.

“I haven’t seen it (playing on the players’ minds). I don’t see that afterwards, the way the team played. In any other sport you would win by a hundred points difference, but this is football.

“We drew, we conceded two very, very poor goals. In the Premier League, when you give something (away), you’re going to get punished, and we were today.

“If I compare the game we played against Fulham this season and last season, we were at least 10 times better today than last season. We were much better than last season. Last season we won 2-1 in the last minute, today we drew 2-2.”

Arsenal had struggled to find a way back into the game despite putting Fulham under near constant pressure after going behind.

It was not until the introduction of Nketiah and Vieira midway through the second half that their fortunes turned.

Vieira showed ready instincts to anticipate Martinelli’s clever ball in behind to win the penalty, then his pinpoint cross was expertly timed for Nketiah to crash home their second to send the Emirates into raptures.

Gabriel Jesus, who returned to training this week after surgery, was kept in reserve until being brought on in added time, a decision Arteta defended.

“The way we generated chance after chance I didn’t think it was necessary (to bring on Jesus earlier),” he said. “In the last minute we decided to bring him in, he’s only had a few days of training sessions after the surgery. But I’m very happy with the subs, the way they came in.

“Fabio, I’m delighted with him because he hasn’t played any minutes this season. To see a player that comes with a determination and positiveness to the team and has the impact he had, it’s difficult. I’m really pleased and I’m happy for him as well.”

Fulham boss Marco Silva reflected on a point hard earned as his side recovered from the disappointment of their 3-0 home loss to Brentford last time out.

“Really tough and emotional,” he said. “After the last defeat against Brentford – a harsh result for us – we wanted to react.

“People said that (the Emirates) was not the best place to show a reaction. Our idea was completely different, that it was the best place for us to show a reaction.

“In my opinion Arsenal are going to be even stronger than last season. The quality that they have is impressive. I have to say they are going to be contenders again.”

Thousands of Manchester United fans stayed behind to protest against the Glazers’ ownership after the comeback win against Nottingham Forest.

It has been 18 years since the Americans’ controversial leveraged takeover of the club and nine months since they announced a strategic review.

The sale of United was one option being considered but the interminable potential takeover process rumbles on, despite offers from Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The 1958 supporters’ group have led calls for the Glazers to sell up and organised an hour-long sit-in after the 3-2 win against Forest on Saturday.

“Stay in your seats and protest,” read their tweet before kick-off. “History, Dignity, Integrity. They stole it all. For you. For us. For each other.”

Thousands did just that, with banners held aloft and chants filling the air long after the full-time whistle.

Asked about the fans’ protest, United manager Erik ten Hag said: “They are entitled to have that opinion.

“But you see also between the fans and the team there’s a very strong bond.

“I think throughout my time here it even got stronger and stronger.

“Today I think, even again, we make it stronger because such a magnificent comeback will help and support that.

“We got big support from them, away from home and at Old Trafford, and we have to keep strengthening that.

“It’s very good to see that fight and the spirit between us.”

Northampton boss Jon Brady hailed Sam Hoskins’ ability to pop up in the right place at the right time after his late strike sealed a 1-0 win at Cheltenham.

The only goal of a largely uninspiring game arrived in the 88th minute after a ball over the top of the home defence from Sam Sherring and a slip from Lewis Freestone left Hoskins with only Luke Southwood to beat.

He confidently beat the goalkeeper for his third of the season and Cheltenham rarely troubled Max Thompson in the Cobblers goal.

“It just feels great to get the win away from home against a team you’re probably expected to compete with in same area of the table,” Brady said.

“I felt we came here really positively and again we dominated the ball for most of the game. There was probably a five or 10 minute period in the second half – it felt longer at the time – where we wobbled a little bit and they went more brave. They moved to three at the back, pushed their wing-backs right in and went very direct and tried to land on things.

“I think they only had a couple of shots over the bar and three or four crosses and we had to defend that period well, but we made the changes and I felt we could get in behind their defence.

“Lo and behold we did and there you go – it’s that man again Sam Hoskins who scores a late winner. He’s got a knack of that, which is lovely, and to come away with three points feels really good.”

Will Ferry sent a shot over the bar for the home side in the third minute, but Northampton went on to control much of the opening period.

Patrick Brough smashed an effort wide in the 17th minute and Kieron Bowie was off target after good work from Louis Appere in the 23rd minute.

Sherring saw a header hit the bar after Marc Leonard’s corner five minutes later.

Elliot Bonds curled an effort over the bar in the 61st minute and Luciano D’Auria-Henry’s header was kicked away by Sherring in the six-yard box as Cheltenham showed an improvement.

But Hoskins had the final say as promoted Northampton made it seven points from their last three games.

Cheltenham boss Wade Elliott admitted his side need attacking reinforcements before the transfer window closes on Friday night.

“I really feel for the players because in the second half it looked like if one team was going to edge it, it was going to be us,” Elliott said.

“I thought we were on top in the second half, but ultimately, we can’t keep relying on clean sheets to accumulate points. It’s pretty obvious where we are a little bit deficient at the minute.

“In terms of attacking changes, we were very light. In most departments, we are probably OK, but it’s obvious which departments we need help in.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell could not have been prouder of his team as they bagged a dramatic late winner to beat Reading 2-1 at St James Park.

Despite their first-half dominance, Exeter went in level after Will Aimson’s 34th-minute header was cancelled out in stoppage time through Harry Knibbs’ strike.

The Royals shaded the second half but it was Exeter that won it when Reece Cole struck a sublime 93rd-minute effort to take City up to second place in the League One table.

“It was a sensational performance from start to finish,” Caldwell said. “The first half was outstanding and was the best 45 minutes of football since I’ve been at the club.

“We were totally dominant against a team that was in the Championship last season and had won their last two games; we created numerous chances and the only disappointment was not scoring more goals.

“It was an even bigger disappointment to concede a really poor goal just before half-time but all credit to the players.

“I just said to them ‘you can’t dominate a game against teams like this for 90 minutes, you have to show different parts of your character and your quality as a team’ and we had to do that second half.

“We lost a bit of control and had to defend, but we still created chances and it was an absolutely fantastic goal in terms of the quality of strike from someone I have known a long time and has had really difficult moments in football.

“He (Cole) was playing for Hayes & Yeading last year – I don’t know how many leagues below us that is – but he’s a quality player for us and it was great to see him score like that in front of the Big Bank.”

Reading boss Ruben Selles felt his side only performed in the second half.

“We had a couple of chances to go in front in the second half, but we didn’t take them and then a mistake that shouldn’t have happened from a throw-in led to us conceding a goal from the edge of the box,” he said.

“So the first part of the game and small mistakes in the second half kept us away from getting something today.

“We could have got something but we didn’t put the ball in the net and the opposition did.

“We showed in the second half the team that we want to be. We showed we are a team that wants to play at a high intensity, high tempo, to be make counter press under pressure situations.  We weren’t like that in the first half.

“I think we did enough for a point. But we didn’t score a goal and the opposition scored. We need to learn to manage those situations better. I am pretty sure we will be able to get some victories in the next set of games.”

Wycombe manager Matt Bloomfield sang the praises of defender Joe Low after he played the role of local villain to perfection in a tense 2-1 victory over Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.

The former Bristol City defender put the Chairboys in command after 19 minutes when he headed in ex-Rovers skipper Luke Leahy’s free-kick, only to be booked for goading the home fans who greeted his celebrations with disdain.

Veteran striker Garath McCleary strengthened Wycombe’s grip on the game when he rounded off a swift counter-attack with a clever finish after 74 minutes only for Rovers’ on-loan Chelsea forward Harvey Vale to spark a tense finale with a deft strike 10 minutes later.

The Wanderers goal was under siege for most of the closing stages but 21-year-old Low showed off his defensive capabilities with a series of aerial clearances before his stoppage-time block to divert Tristan Crama’s goal-bound shot wide ensured a victorious return to Bristol.

“Joe said he enjoyed the block more than the goal, but I don’t want to go overboard about him,” Bloomfield.

“He’s done everything we’ve asked of him and we’re really proud to have him as one of us with the way he treats everyone and goes about his work.

“He’s going to be a very good player and we absolutely love him. We’ve got high hopes of Joe but at the time same time he’s got a lot to work on. He’s got to enjoy his football and keep improving.”

Bloomfield also leapt to the defence of the centre-back – whose father Josh started his career at Rovers – following his booking by referee Lee Swabey after scoring.

“When a local boy comes back against the team which is the opposite of the one he used to play for and then he scores, silly boy, and celebrates like that we’ll have to stop it,” Bloomfield added.

“But it’s all part of the emotion of the game and we’ve got to be careful we don’t take too much of that out. He enjoyed his moment, and you can’t hold that against him.

“These boys work extremely hard and sacrifice a lot in their lives and while we don’t encourage provocative behaviour in terms of inciting the crowd, you’ve got to be able to enjoy those moments.”

Rovers manager Joey Barton, who said defeat was “tough to take”, criticised the referee’s performance.

“We don’t get much out of that referee and we never tend to when he comes here and I’d quite happily never see him again,” Barton said.

“I don’t think he’s a fantastic referee for us. We’ve got this new directive to speed play up and he was constantly slowing play down to get himself a breather.

“He needs to get fitter. These are fit boys at this level and if a directive is coming from the EFL to drive more ball-in-play time then unfortunately the referees and assistants are going to have to get down and do a bit of work to keep up with the physicality.

“The little fella in there was gasping for air. He wasn’t the only one, there were a lot of W players doing the same.”

Birmingham head coach John Eustace says match-winner Jay Stansfield will be a “really big player” for the club after his wonder goal gave his side a 2-1 win against Plymouth.

On-loan Fulham forward Stansfield, 20, volleyed home from the edge of the box in the fifth minute of time added on for a dream debut for the substitute to make it three wins out of four for Blues.

“Jay is an excellent player and it was an outstanding finish,” said Eustace.

“He comes with a real hunger and a great pedigree and for him to choose to come here over 12 or 13 other Championship clubs is a really massive statement of intent from the club.

“It’s very pleasing he chose to come to us.

“We’ve watched him over the last couple of seasons to see how he’s progressed and developed and he’s going to be a really big player for us.”

Eustace was relieved after Argyle played a full part in the game and looked like earning what would have been a hard-earned point until Stansfield’s wonder goal.

“Plymouth are in a really good moment. They have got really good momentum, they have a fantastic manager who plays the right way and they’re a fantastic footballing team,” he said.

“They did really well when we weren’t at our best and we knew they’d have a lot of the ball.

“It was a real collective performance in a game where we weren’t good with the ball which was disappointing.

“We need to be better when we have the ball but we were always a threat in transition.

“They had a couple of good chances from balls over the top where John Ruddy pulled off a couple of good saves.

“This was our toughest game of the season but we knew that if we defended our box properly then with our pace we had a chance on the turnover.”

Blues led in the eighth minute when Scott Hogan got ahead of Kaine Kesler-Hayden to slide the ball home from close range after the tricky Koji Miyoshi crossed from the left.

Plymouth equalised on the hour when Morgan Whittaker’s curling left-footed shot was saved by John Ruddy and Ryan Hardie reacted quickest to stab home.

Then came Stansfield’s moment of glory. The former Exeter attacker latched onto fellow substitute Lukas Jutkiewicz’s pass before lobbing Lewis Gibson then lashed a volley into the roof of the net to clinch victory.

Plymouth manager Steven Schumacher said: “I was gutted to lose the game in that fashion in the 95th minute again.

“And after what happened last week (Southampton’s Che Adams scored a 90th-minute winner to win 2-1) I’m devastated.

“Again I thought we played really well but I don’t want to keep saying after games that we did great but got beat – that’s doing my head in.

“But it’s part and parcel of football and we’ve got to learn from our mistakes.

“Today I felt we caused our own problems with that goal in the last minute.”

Schumacher felt if Argyle had stuck to their footballing principles they might not have conceded Stansfield’s wonder goal.

“There were 15 seconds to go and we had a throw-in – all day we’d played them short and controlled possession,” he said.

“This time we threw it short then tried a big diagonal pass and it probably wasn’t on.

“If we’d have kept possession and played it into the corner it would have been game over and we’d have gone home with a point.”

Cardiff boss Erol Bulut was relieved to get his first league win in a last-gasp 2-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday and believes it has been coming.

Wales skipper Aaron Ramsey had a hand in the opening goal of the game two minutes after half time as Ike Ugbo hammered in his third goal in four games since joining from French Ligue 1 side Troyes in the summer.

Barry Bannan’s screamer looked set to earn a point for Wednesday but Will Vaulks was adjudged to have handled the ball in the seventh minute of added time.

That gave Ryan Wintle the chance to step up and hammer home the winner from the penalty spot to give new Cardiff boss Bulut his first league win.

“I didn’t expect it [first win] to be so difficult. After three games, what we played, we were unlucky at Leicester and Leeds, conceding last-minute goals, so confidence was not like before,” said Bulut.

“That is why this game was really important for us. We could have been 2-0 up if (Callum) O’Dowda or (Yakou) Meite could have taken their chances.

“I think we deserved the win. Everybody fought and we really wanted these three points.

“Sometimes it’s not enough to play well. At Leeds, we played well for 45 minutes, 45 minutes at Leicester. We could have more points by now but 45 minutes is not enough.

“Today, for 90 minutes we were really fighting and we had our moments to make it easier for ourselves but I’m really happy we got three points for the morale of the team. It’s really important.”

Wednesday are still pointless after four games since coming up from League One.

“I think it was our best performance of the season today and we need to continue like this. After we drew level we began to control the game and tried to go on to win it,” said Wednesday boss Xisco Munoz.

“We need to improve on our clean sheets because at the moment we need to score at least two goals to win any game. We lost today because of some of our mistakes, it wasn’t so much a case of Cardiff winning it.

“I am very, very sad for my players because I know how hard they are working every day. We have lost the game because of some silly mistakes.”

Bulut confirmed after the game that goalkeeper Ryan Allsop has been given the go ahead to leave the club. He has been linked with a move to Hull.

“We got a message from his management. If somebody wants to leave, we don’t keep anybody here,” explained Bulut.

“For that shirt, you have to fight. He did it in years before but his management said they wanted to make their move, so we made our move also.

“We took Alex Runarsson on loan so we let him go.”

Under-fire Hibernian manager Lee Johnson apologised to supporters after his side put in an ‘unacceptable’ performance to lose 3-2 to Livingston.

Hibs had been looking for a reaction following their 5-0 defeat to Aston Villa but they fell behind early on as Jordan Obita turned James Penrice’s cross into his own net under pressure from Scott Pittman.

Martin Boyle equalised with a solo strike but goals from substitutes Bruce Anderson and Mo Sangare gave Livingston the win.

Josh Campbell’s late tap-in proved in vain as Hibs succumbed to a third straight league defeat and Johnson said: “I genuinely do apologise because I didn’t want to start like this.

“I was full of beans – I still am – going into the season and this has caught us out a little bit.

“I hope they (the board) stick with me, I really do, because I want to be here. I’d never throw the towel in.

“And I understand there will be fans calling for my head. But I genuinely believe that we’ll do it. I think we’ve got a good squad, I think we’ve had a few issues – and we’ve got to tidy up our defensive stuff.

“It’s unacceptable, I understand that. I’m okay to take responsibility for that knowing I still have belief in the squad.

“I think the squad still believe in us and what we’re doing and are as frustrated as anybody.

“I can understand the scrutiny. I have been here before. It’s not nice. There’s a human there as well and sometimes people forget that.

“We work extremely hard and I just want the positivity in the football club. That focus is on me and I’d rather it was on me than the players.

“It’s small margins and I honestly believe if we see out 10 minutes at 1-1 our momentum takes the game back.

“I’m disappointed because I love it here and I believe in us. But at the same time I’ve experienced this before in my career.”

Livingston manager David Martindale, meanwhile, was full of praise for his side who recorded their first away victory in the league since a 4-2 win over St Johnstone in January.

He said: “I’m really, really happy. I thought the boys were very good within the game. I’ve changed the shape three or four times and it’s not really had a negative impact on the fluidity of the game.

“I felt we created the best chances and had the best scoring opportunities. Martin Boyle scores a really good goal so I’ll take that on the chin.

“The second one is a mistake which comes from us but apart from that I don’t think they threatened our goal a lot in the game, whereas we had Joel Nouble’s one-v-one, we had the penalty shout and we had Bruce Anderson’s chance.”

Livingston’s three goals were also their first away strikes in the cinch Premiership since January and Martindale was delighted with the impact of Anderson and Sangare off the bench.

He added: “Mo (Sangare) goes on and has a fantastic strike. He scored a similar goal for Liberia recently. It’s one of the reasons I brought him into the club.

“And with the second goal, wee Bruce (Anderson) is very good in the air in the box. He’s just a natural goalscorer and he comes alive if you can get the ball into the penalty box, Bruce Anderson is a very, very good striker.”