English Premier League Round-Up: August 23, 24, 25

There was late drama at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Stoke City struck in the dying seconds against Aston Villa to claim victory in their first home game back in the Premier League. Tony Pulis's men needed a confidence-booster after their 3-1 opening day defeat at Bolton, and they got off to the best possible start through Liam Lawrence's 30th minute penalty. John Carew levelled up midway through the second half with a neat finish from Ashley Young's pass, but this didn't fluster the determined Potters.

They had controlled much of the first half, continued their fine football in the second and regained the lead ten minutes from time. Lawrence threaded the ball through to Ricardo Fuller and the forward finished neatly from an acute angle to make it 2-1. Martin Laursen smashed home two minutes later to seemingly put the visitors on course for a point. But the Potters were not to be denied and, with just seconds left, Mamady Sidibe bundled home Rory Delap's long-throw to seal a sensational home debut for the Premier League new-boys.

There was also late drama at Anfield, where Liverpool came back from a goal behind to beat Middlesbrough 2-1. The afternoon started badly for Gareth Southgate's men as Ross Turnbull had to step in for Brad Jones, who injured his finger in the warm-up. However, Boro played the better football for long stretches and deservedly took the lead midway through the second half when Mido smashed into the bottom corner from 22 yards out.

Liverpool continued to struggle as the match entered its closing stages, with Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane's partnership still not gelling. However, a stroke of luck turned things in their favour.