LONDON: The Premier League season’s opening Saturday saw Chelsea make an impressive start under Maurizio Sarri while Fulham and Cardiff came unstuck on their return to the elite.
Chelsea ran out comfortable 3-0 winners over Huddersfield at the John Smith’s Stadium. N’Golo Kante gave Chelsea the lead after the half hour, before new signing Jorginho scored one of the collest penalties you’ll ever see to double their advantage on the stroke of half time.
Pedro completed the scoreline ten minutes from the end in a comfortable win for the Blues and a worrying start for the Terriers, who struggled to score last season and could suffer the same problems this time around.
Chelsea gave Kepa Arrizabalaga his debut just days after becoming the most expensive goalkeeper in history, and the 23-year-old, who cost £72.1m from Athletic Bilbao, responded with a clean sheet.
Fulham’s 2-0 home defeat by Crystal Palace meant a happy return to Craven Cottage for Roy Hodgson but an unhappy return to the Premier League for the Cottagers in their London derby.
Jefferey Schlupp was another surprise scorer in the Premier League’s opening weekend as he gave the Eagles the lead four minutes before the interval. Fulham may have spent over £100m in the transfer window but getting used to the top flight takes more than money, as Palace showed with Wilfried Zaha sealing the three points with his goal 11 minutes from the end.
Roberto Pereyra was the hero for Watford as they started their season off with a 2-0 win against Brighton at Vicarage Road thanks to his brace either side of half time.
Javi Gracia’s men took the lead ten minutes before the break, and doubled their advantage nine minutes after the restart as Brighton started the season with a familiar feeling on the road.
No team had a worse away record than Chris Hughton’s men last season and by the looks of things that could again be an Achilles heel for the Seagulls.
It was a tough start to the season for relegation favourites Cardiff on the south coast as Bournemouth ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson.
Neil Warnock’s side face an uphill battle to remain in the top flight – and the difficulty of the task was highlighted as the Cherries completed a comfortable win – even managing to miss a penalty and still take the three points.
The promoted Bluebirds showed plenty of fight but created little and would have lost by more had Wilson’s first-half penalty not been kept out by Neil Etheridge.
Bournemouth will hope to improve even further this season after they introduced club-record signing Jefferson Lerma and fellow summer recruit Diego Rico to the home crowd ahead of the game.
Tottenham made a winning start to the 2018/19 Premier League season with a 2-1 victory over Newcastle at St James’ Park, with all three goals coming in a thrilling first 20 minutes.
The visitors needed just eight minutes to get their noses in front when Jan Vertonghen converted via the crossbar, with referee Martin Atkinson awarding the goal after being alerted that the ball had crossed the line.
The lead lasted just three minutes as Joselu rewarded manager Rafael Benitez for his faith in picking him ahead of summer signings Salomon Rondon and Yoshinori Muto by scoring the equaliser.
Dele Alli headed what turned out to be the winner as Spurs proved that no new signings may not be a problem for them this season.
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