Premier League round-up: Liverpool suffer 3-0 defeat at the Hawthorns

Zoltan Gera

Liverpool slumped to a 3-0 defeat away at West Brom in Brendan Rodgers' first Premier League match in charge of the Merseyside outfit.

A spectacular goal by Zoltan Gera put the Baggies 1-0 up just before half-time, while Peter Odemwingie netted from the penalty spot after the break before Romelu Lukaku added a third.

Minutes before the second goal, Liverpool defender Daniel Agger was sent off for bringing down Shane Long, who missed from the spot when referee Phil Dowd awarded an earlier penalty.

It was the perfect start for West Brom's newly-appointed coach Steve Clarke - Kenny Dalglish's assistant at Anfield last season - but certainly an inauspicious start for Rodgers.

However, the Reds were not on the receiving end of the heaviest Premier League defeat of the afternoon.

That dubious honour fell to Queens Park Rangers and Norwich City, who were both thumped by Swansea City and Fulham, respectively.

QPR's new signings failed to gel at Loftus Road and were comprehensively beaten by the Swans, whose new manager Michael Laudrup could not have wished for a better start.

One of his summer signings, Miguel Michu, made a major contribution on his first Premier League appearance. The Spaniard, who signed from Rayo Vallecano this summer, netted the first goal of the 2012/13 Premier League campaign with less than 10 minutes on the clock at Loftus Road.

The 26-year-old's speculative effort crept under QPR debutant Robert Green, who conceded another goal from the same man early in the second half.

Nathan Dyer then scored twice to make it 4-0 to the Welsh side, before Scott Sinclair – who could leave the Liberty Stadium in the next fortnight – added a fifth.

Over at Craven Cottage, Fulham thrashed Chris Hughton's Norwich by the same scoreline.

New boy Mladen Petrić scored twice on his Fulham debut, while Damien Duff, Alexander Kacaniklic and Steve Sidwell (penalty) also got themselves on the scoresheet.

The Cottagers' emphatic victory was all the more impressive given the fact they were without the wantaway Clint Dempsey.

Meanwhile, Arsenal began life without Robin van Persie with a 0-0 home draw with Sunderland.

Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla all tried, but failed, to break down the Black Cats' resilient defence.

West Ham won their first match back in the Premier League thanks to Kevin Nolan's first-half goal, while a late penalty by Adam Le Fondre earned fellow new boys Reading a hard-fought 1-1 draw with 10-man Stoke, who took the lead through Michael Kightly but surrendered their three points when Dean Whitehead fouled Gareth McCleary inside the box.

Rob Swan - follow me on Twitter

Join us on Facebook

Follow our Bettor Football updates on Twitter