Leicester City have endured a tough few months in English Premier League and have looked a pale shadow of the side that breathtakingly ripped apart teams on the counter-attack on their way to winning the title last season.

There have been a few who who have had their doubts over whether Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola could cut it on a rainy night against a robust side, waiting to break at speed. The ruthlessness with which Claudio Ranieri’s side ripped apart the City backline at the King Power Stadium yet again showed what the champions can do on their day.

A large part of Leicester’s success is also down to how well Jamie Vardy performs. The English striker broke a 741-minute goal drought to net a stunning hat-trick as Leicester romped to a 4-2 win. Vardy opened the scoring with barely two minutes on the clock and Andy King doubled The Foxes’ lead just two minutes later. City scored two late goals through Aleksandar Kolarov and Nolito to add some respectability to the scoreline.

It was a matchday where goals came thick and fast and Burnley brought Bournemouth crashing down to earth with a 3-2 win at Turf Moor. Hull City and Crystal Palace shared six goals between them while Arsenal provisionally moved to the top of the table with a comfortable 3-1 win against Stoke City. Everton endured another difficult evening, going down 2-3 to Watford.

Arsenal climb to the summit, for now

It was visitors Stoke City who took the lead at the half-hour mark with Charlie Adam sending Petr Cech the wrong way from the penalty spot. Arsenal hit back with a wave of attacks and leveled scores just a couple of minutes before half-time through Theo Walcott. The English winger brought up his 100 club goal with the effort.

Mesut Ozil put the Gunners in the lead early in the second half with a measured header. With 15 minutes left on the clock, Alex Iwobi made a powerful run from the left flank to net the third. Arsenal and Chelsea are currently level on points and on goal difference. Arsene Wenger’s side have grabbed the top spot on the virtue of having scored more goals.

Swansea prevail in bottom-table clash

Swansea City cruised past Sunderland 3-0 at the Liberty Stadium to help themselves move out of the relegation zone. The match was tight between the teams before Jason Denayer gave away a needless penalty.

Gylfi Sigurdsson made no mistake from the spot but it was striker Fernando Llorente who was the star of the show through his two headed goals. It was only the second win for manager Bob Bradley and his side moved out of the red zone on goal difference.

Brief scores

  • Leicester City 4 (Jamie Vardy x 3, Andy King) beat Manchester City 2 (Aleksandar Kolarov, Nolito)
  • Arsenal 3 (Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi) beat Stoke City 1 (Charlie Adam)
  • Swansea City 3 (Gylfi Sigurdsson, Fernando Llorente x 2) beat Sunderland 0
  • Watford 3 (Stefano Okaka x 2, Sebastian Prodl) beat Everton 2 (Romelu Lukaku x 2)
  • Burnley 3 (Jeff Hendrick, Stephen Ward, George Boyd) beat Bournemouth 2 (Benik Afobe, Charlie Daniels)
  • Hull City 3 (Robert Snodgrass, Adama Diomande, Jake Livermore) draw with Crystal Palace 3 (Cristian Benteke, Wilfred Zaha, Frazier Campbell)