Two solo goals in as many minutes ensured Plymouth started life in the Championship with a 3-1 home win over Neil Warnock’s Huddersfield.
Attacking midfielder Bali Mumba swept in from the left with the wind at his back to cut through the Terriers defence before beating visiting keeper Lee Nicholls with a well-placed low shot on 74 minutes.
Two minutes later it was left to Argyle’s Scottish striker Ryan Hardie to go solo and finish crisply past Nicholls for his 50th goal in green.
Those goals turned the game on its head.
Argyle’s two big summer signings Mumba and Morgan Whittaker had combined to give Argyle a sixth-minute lead.
Quick thinking by Hardie enabled Mumba, returning to Plymouth from Norwich permanently for £1million after helping Argyle win League One last season while on loan, to drive into the Huddersfield penalty area.
His cross was headed by Rarmani Edmonds-Green and then skywards by Terriers skipper Michal Helik. The ball fell to Whittaker – the former Swansea loanee similarly returning on a permanent £1million deal – who beat Nicholls at the far post.
Nicholls had to be at his best six minutes later as Callum Wright’s clever footwork put Hardie in on goal down the right and he slipped the ball to Whittaker, whose first-time arrowed shot was well saved by the diving Nicholls at the foot of the upright.
Huddersfield’s best chance of the half fell to Josh Koroma midway through the first half and with only new home keeper Conor Hazard to beat, the Terriers forward swept the ball down the outside of the goal.
The Greens – with playmakers Adam Randell and Whittaker prominent – continued to press for a second goal but Huddersfield continued to grow into the game and levelled in the last minute of first-half stoppage time.
Argyle failed to clear their lines following a corner and Brahima Diarra let fly with a shot from the edge of the box that beat former Celtic keeper Hazard – another summer import – and smashed off the foot of the post. Helik was first to react and fired home into an unguarded net.
There was a strong wind gusting around Home Park and Diarra used the gale to good effect to almost beat Hazard with a wind-assisted strike from the right, which the keeper managed to fingertip around the far post at full stretch.
The Irish keeper had a lucky let-off in the 58th minute when he managed to recover after being robbed by Diarra.
Mumba found himself in space on the edge of the box on 66 minutes but got under the shot and with the wind still swirling the ball flew over the bar.
Minutes later he scored a brilliant individual goal, soon emulated by Hardie to wrap up the points.
Leeds cut gap to automatic promotion spots with comfortable win over Coventry
Leeds United closed the gap to second place to just two points in the Championship, following a 3-0 victory over out-of-form Coventry City at Elland Road.
Wilfried Gnonto got the game off to a good start for Daniel Farke's side, expertly turning home a cross just inside the box with a first-time finish to open the scoring.
Last season's losing play-off finalists wrapped up a comfortable victory in the second half with goals from Jayden Bogle - his first as a Leeds player - and Joel Piroe, who has now scored three in four as a substitute.
The victory sees Leeds climb to fourth, significantly taking the opportunity to cut the gap to the automatic promotion places with both West Brom and Sunderland losing.
Coventry, meanwhile, have lost four and drawn one of their last five matches in all competitions. They are fourth-bottom, with just goal difference separating them from the relegation zone.
Second-placed Sunderland missed the chance to go top as they were beaten 2-1 away to Watford.
Regis Le Bris' side went a goal down in the first half to a Festy Ebosele volley before equalising shortly after half-time through Wilson Isidor. They were unable to push on for a winner, with Tom Dele-Bashiru scoring a late penalty to win it for the hosts.
The win leaves Watford in seventh place in the Championship, outside the play-offs on goal difference, while Sunderland stay second.
Managerless Cardiff City lost their fifth straight match in all competitions and are still searching for their first league win of the season after being thumped 4-1 away to Hull City.
The Bluebirds initially went a goal up in the first half through Callum Robinson, which was just their second league goal of the season.
They could only hold the lead for four minutes, before Bachir Belloumi equalised for the hosts. He grabbed a brace 10 minutes before half-time and Hull never looked back.
Two second-half goals ensured another miserable afternoon for Cardiff, who remain bottom of the Championship with just one point after seven matches. Hull are up to 12th.
Nottingham Forest 0-1 Fulham: Jimenez penalty seals Cottagers win
Fulham brought Nottingham Forest's unbeaten start to the Premier League season to a halt with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at the City Ground.
There was very little to choose between two sides separated by a mere point at kick-off, but Raul Jimenez’s second-half penalty, awarded for Murillo's foul on Andreas Pereira, proved decisive.
Forest had started brightly with Taiwo Awoniyi missing an early chance, while Chris Wood saw a potential opener disallowed for offside following a VAR review in the 25th minute.
However, Nuno Espirito Santo's team failed to find a spark without the suspended Morgan Gibbs-White as Fulham's own impressive start to 2024/25 continued.
The result leaves Forest ninth in the table with nine points, with Fulham leapfrogging their hosts to move into sixth on 11 points.
Data Debrief: Fulham maintain unbeaten run
Fulham are undefeated in their last five games in the Premier League since going down 1-0 at Manchester United on the opening matchday.
They last enjoyed a streak of this length between December 13, 2020 and January 10, 2021.
Jimenez has now scored three goals in his last three games, maintaining his good record against Forest, with three goals in two matches against them.
Chelsea 4-2 Brighton: Palmer makes Premier League history as Maresca's side fight back
Cole Palmer made Premier League history as Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2 in a six-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer became the first player to score four goals before half-time in a single Premier League game, helping Enzo Maresca’s side record their fourth straight victory in all competitions.
Brighton took an early lead through Georginio Rutter's header, but were powerless as Palmer took command of the contest.
His remarkable quadruple came in the space of 20 minutes - including a penalty and free-kick - with Carlos Baleba's strike to make it 3-2 swiftly cancelled out by Chelsea's talisman.
Nicolas Jackson and Palmer went close after the break for the hosts, who also had a Marc Cucurella goal disallowed for offside, but they held out for another victory.
The Blues climb to third place, a point behind pacesetters Manchester City and Arsenal, while Brighton drop to eighth after suffering their first defeat of the season.
Data Debrief: History-making Palmer does the damage once more
Palmer completed his third Premier League hat-trick - the joint-most by any Chelsea player along with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard - in the space of only nine minutes and 45 seconds.
The Blues forward also hit the post, was denied by the offside flag and then slotted a decent opportunity wide after the break, so we could have been saluting the first player to score six or more goals in a single Premier League game.
His fourth goal was set up by Sancho, who became the third Chelsea player after Eden Hazard (2012) and Cesc Fabregas (2014) to provide an assist in each of his first three Premier League appearances for the club.
As for Brighton, they are now without a victory in each of their last nine Premier League visits to London, since a 3-0 win over Arsenal in May 2023.
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