(MENAFN- Arab Times) LONDON Sept 20 (AFP): Liverpool suffered a second successive Premier League defeat after losing 3-1 away to West Ham on Saturday. Brendan Rodgers's side had lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa the previous weekend before marking their Champions League return with a 2-1 success against Bulgarian club Ludogorets in midweek. Poor defence their Achilles heel when finishing runners-up to champions Manchester City in last season's Premier League cost Liverpool dear at Upton Park where West Ham were 2-0 up inside seven minutes. Although Liverpool were the better side for almost an hour after that a late goal by home substitute Morgan Amalfitano made sure there was no comeback for the Merseysiders' travelling supporters to celebrate in east London. Rodgers handed Italian forward Fabio Borini a first start since January last year and the first in the Premier League since September 2012. West Ham manager Sam Allardyce started with Alex Song for the first time the former Arsenal midfielder having been borrowed from Barcelona for the season. There was an extraordinary start to the game as the home side took the lead after just 77 seconds. James Tomkins out-jumped Jordan Henderson at the far post from Stewart Downing's free-kick and Winston Reid was there to head in off Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren. Reid was then booked for a foul on Borini before West Ham made it 2-0 in the seventh minute. Mark Noble's ball found Diafra Sakho in space on the right of the box and the Senegal striker floated what appeared to be a cross over Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and into the net. Enner Valencia another new recruit came rushing in to make sure but the ball was already over the line but the goal belonged to Sakho. Liverpool continued to toil and Mignolet had to tip a long-range shot from Aaron Cresswell round a post before Mario Balotelli became the centre of attention at the other end. The Italy forward went in late on West Ham goalkeeper Adrian who reacted angrily and referee Craig Pawson ended up booking both men. Rodgers made a tactical change after just 22 minutes switching to three at the back by replacing Javier Manquillo with Mamadou Sakho. It worked as Raheem Sterling smashed in a reply in the 26th minute after Balotelli had seen a shot charged down. There were more problems for Liverpool however when Lovren was hurt in a clash with Mamadou Sakho his team-mate but the Croat was able to carry on with a bandage round his head. Liverpool made another change at half-time with Adam Lallana replacing the anonymous Lucas. Sterling fired wide before Borini forced Adrian into a save as the visitors began to look more menacing with Balotelli next to see an effort saved. Liverpool had the momentum with the speedy Sterling the biggest threat and Allardyce made changes bringing off Guy Demel and then Song for Carl Jenkinson and Amalfitano respectively. Rodgers introduced England forward Rickie Lambert in place of Borini for the final 15 minutes and the Hammers sent on an extra defender in James Collins who replaced Valencia. Liverpool's hopes of a point ended in the 88th minute when Downing a former Anfield player threaded a through-ball to Amalfitano who poked a shot past Mignolet and into the far corner to cue frenzied celebrations from the home fans. Burnley 0 Sunderland 0 In London Struggling Burnley and Sunderland remain searching for their first Premier League win this season after playing out an uninspiring goalless draw at Turf Moor. New boys Burnley have settled for goalless draws in their last three matches having missed a chance to take all three points at Crystal Palace last week. Ashley Barnes had come close to the hosts' first victory of the campaign only to see his effort five minutes from time deflected off the crossbar. Sean Dyche's side sit just above the drop zone with three points from five games. Patrick van Aanholt's long-range drive also hit the Burnley post late as the Black Cats are just one point above Burnley in 15th position. Clarets striker Marvin Sordell replaced the injured Danny Ings but he missed a chance to put the hosts ahead in the fifth minute. It was Sordell's first league start for Burnley who are without both Ings and Sam Vokes who scored 47 goals between them last season. But Sordell struggled to make the difference. Sunderland recalled Emanuele Giaccherini in place of Ricardo Alvarez but their best chance of an early goal came through a series of crosses from Swedish midfielder Sebastian Larsson. The Black Cats enjoyed greater possession after the break with Jordi Gomez and Jozy Altidore coming on for Larsson and Adam Johnson. Burnley almost claimed the three points when Lukas Jutkiewicz and Scott Arfield combined to set up Ashley Barnes but to no avail. Wes Brown then picked up one of the crosses only for Ben Mee and Jason Shackell to clear. Connor Wickham headed another into the box where Jack Rodwell failed to finish off. The game ended with the hosts camped in the Sunderland box where the Black Cats missed a last-gasp effort when Van Aanholt's strike crashed against the post.
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