Nicolas Jackson scored twice to help Chelsea to a third straight away win with a 3-0 victory at London rivals West Ham United on Saturday that suggested new coach Enzo Maresca is getting his huge squad to gel.

Jackson capitalised on poor defending to find the net in the fourth minute when he sprinted down the wing, cut inside unchallenged and beat Alphonse Areola with a low shot.

Fourteen minutes later the Senegal striker was left in space by West Ham’s defenders to receive a pass from Moises Caicedo and double Chelsea’s lead.

West Ham were 3-0 down a little more than a minute into the second half when Jackson, on the break, teed up Cole Palmer and the England striker fired home from the edge of the box.

Chelsea won 1-0 at Bournemouth last Saturday and 6-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers in August.

Maresca, the fourth permanent coach to work for Chelsea’s American owners since they bought the club two years ago, has faced questions over his ability to create a coherent team following a latest spate of signings.

Missed chances

Manchester United missed a number of big chances as they were held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the Premier League.

Fresh from their 7-0 EFL Cup win over Barnsley on Tuesday, Erik ten Hag’s side were positive in the first half and cut Palace open at will.

Alejandro Garnacho, who returned to the starting XI in place of Marcus Rashford, had an early effort tipped round the post, before Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez were denied by the feet of home goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

The visitors continued to pile on the pressure with Garnacho sweeping against the bar after being played in down the left.

At the London Stadium on Saturday, he gave first starts to Jadon Sancho in attack and Tosin Adarabioyo in defence and played Wesley Fofana in the unusual position of right back due to injuries to Reece James and Malo Gusto.

But the reshuffling did not knock Chelsea off their stride as they took full advantage of West Ham’s own adjustment to life under new coach Julen Lopetegui.

Maresca played down talk of Chelsea putting behind them a disappointing couple of seasons when they finished sixth and 12th in the Premier League, even as he became the first coach to win his
first three away games in the Premier League since Pep Guardiola achieved the same feat at Manchester City in 2016.

“I think we are improving in many things, even if today (Saturday) we could have attacked better and defended better,” he told reporters. “Especially we could manage the game much, much better... But overall I think we deserved to win the game.”

Boos from the home fans rang out at half-time and also when Lopetegui replaced winger Crysencio Summerville — who provided some much-needed spark on his first start for the Hammers — with Michail Antonio in the second half. The hosts had a penalty claim denied after Summerville went down in a tangle with Fofana after half an hour but they did not seriously threaten Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

Ruthless Reds

Luis Diaz scored twice in the first half as Liverpool returned to winning ways in the league with a 3-0 victory over Bournemouth at Anfield.

Arne Slot’s team, beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest last weekend, thought they had fallen behind after only five minutes when Antoine Semenyo turned in Justin
Kluivert’s cross, only for the goal to be disallowed for offside by the video assistant referee.

The Reds responded in ruthless fashion, going close through Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez before Diaz rounded Kepa Arrizabalaga and slid the ball into an empty net to open the scoring.

The Colombian struck again moments later to double the hosts’ lead, collecting Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass and firing through Kepa’s legs from close range.

Aston Villa denied Wolverhampton Wanderers their first victory in the league after they came from behind to win their West Midlands derby 3-1 with two late goals.

Wolves took the lead when Matheus Cunha anticipated a pass from Diego Carlos and skipped past a challenge before shooting from outside the box to beat Emi Martinez in goal. Villa did not have a shot on target in the first half but their pressure in the second eventually paid off.