Football: Norwich the early birds

NORWICH CITY, who scored four goals after the interval at Highbury to beat Arsenal on Saturday, established themselves as unlikely early Premier League leaders, with a 100 per cent record, after another second-half comeback.

After they had gone in 1-0 down at half-time against Chelsea, goals from Dave Phillips and Mark Robins - his third of the season - gave them a 2-1 victory. Chelsea had gone ahead after set up Graham Stuart headed home Andy Townsend's cross.

Three places behind lie Queen's Park Rangers, who put on a sparkling display to beat Southampton 3-1, with two goals from Les Ferdinand. The match was overshadowed by injury-time violence as Southampton, under orders from the FA to clean up their act, collected their first red card of the season: the defender, Micky Adams, was sent off after a brawl.

There was also trouble at Ayresome Park, where Manchester City's Niall Quinn was dismissed after only 25 minutes for throwing a punch at Middlesbrough's Paul Wilkinson in their 2-0 defeat.

To make matters even worse for City, Paul Lake was carried off early on with a knee injury in only his second comeback appearance after two years out with cruciate ligament trouble.

The second and third goals of the season from John Williams, Coventry's pounds 250,000 summer buy from Swansea, in the 2-0 win at Tottenham, put them into second place. Eddie McGoldrick gave Crystal Palace a 1-1 draw at Boundary Park after Graeme Sharp had put Oldham ahead.

In the First Division, Glenn Hoddle's Swindon went 3-0 up at Bristol Rovers, and survived a fightback to run out 4-3 winners. A brace from John Aldridge helped Tranmere Rovers to a 3-0 win over Blackpool in the Coca-Cola Cup.