More joy for slick Swans

Swansea’s fine start to life under Michael Laudrup continued on Saturday as they cruised past West Ham.

The 11/10 Swans followed up their resounding opening-day success with a 3-0 victory over the Hammers, with summer recruit Michu on target once more. The former Rayo Vallecano striker hit his side’s second after Angel Rangel had put the hosts in front.

Danny Graham put a gloss on the scoreline after the break, leading Bet Victor and Coral to cut Laudrup’s men into 3/1 for a top-ten finish.

Fulham, who also enjoyed a five-star triumph last weekend, couldn’t repeat the feat but they did push Manchester United close at Old Trafford. 10/1 prior to kick-off, Martin Jol’s side took an early lead through Damien Duff before the hosts took control. Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa both opened their United accounts while Rafael was also on target in the first period.

But Nemanja Vidic’s second-half own goal made it a nervy ending for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men, and their cause wasn’t helped by the withdrawal of substitute Wayne Rooney with a gash to the leg.

Meanwhile, Wigan landed odds of 13/5 with a 2-0 victory at Southampton, as the Latics brushed aside the loss of influential forward Victor Moses.

Elsewhere, Everton built on their Monday night win with a 3-1 success at Villa Park, as Steven Pienaar, Marouane Fellaini and Nikica Jelavic netted for the impressive Toffees. Chelsea also maintained their 100% record after striding past Newcastle on home turf, while Tottenham and West Brom, and Norwich and QPR both played out 1-1 draws.

Sunday was a day of stalemates, too. Neither Stoke nor Arsenal could make a breakthrough at the Britannia as the Gunners endured a second successive goalless stalemate. And in the later game, Manchester City twice came from behind to peg back Liverpool, who were left lamenting Martin Skrtel’s misplaced backpass ten minutes from time. Carlos Tevez duly nipped in to rescue a 2-2 draw for the champions.

Results: Swansea 3-0 West Ham, Aston Villa 1-3 Everton, Man Utd 3-2 Fulham, Norwich 1-1 QPR, Southampton 0-2 Wigan, Sunderland P-P Reading, Tottenham 1-1 West Brom, Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle, Stoke 0-0 Arsenal, Liverpool 2-2 Man City

Back Swansea to finish in the top half at 3/1