Chelsea late in fightback
FREE-SPENDING Chelsea came from 3-0 down to salvage a 3-3 draw at newly promoted West Brom, while Manchester United was rescued by Bruno Fernandes’s 100th-minute penalty, awarded after the full-time whistle, to beat Brighton 3-2 on the weekend.
But it is Everton who is setting the early pace in the Premier League as it secured a third-straight win in controversial circumstances, 2-1 at Crystal Palace.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard handed the captain’s armband to Thiago Silva on his Premier League debut, but the Brazilian had a nightmare first 45 minutes as the Blues’ defensive deficiencies were easily exposed.
Callum Robinson pounced on errors from Marcos Alonso and Silva to fire twice beyond Willy Caballero, who replaced Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Chelsea goal.
Kyle Bartley then made it 3-0 to the Baggies, who had lost their opening two games back in the top flight.
Chelsea has spent a reported $399m to try and close the gap to Liverpool and Manchester City in the title race and even a spirited second-half fightback, which takes it to just four points from its first three games, could not hide the embarrassment of his side’s defending for Lampard.
“It’s two points lost,” said Lampard. “You can have as many meetings as you want, but if you make clear mistakes, you give yourself a mountain to climb.”
Mason Mount got the comeback started to a swerving long-range effort. Substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi then swept home 20 minutes from time before Tammy Abraham secured a point in stoppage time when he rolled in the rebound after Sam Johnstone had parried Mount’s initial effort.
United bounced back from its 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace last weekend, but had a lot of fortune on its side after being outplayed by Brighton.
The Seagulls hit the woodwork five times and thought they had earned a point five minutes into stoppage time when, trailing 2-1, Solly March headed home at the back post. But there was just enough time for United to attack and Neal Maupay raised his arm to block Harry Maguire’s header.
The ref initially blew fulltime but awarded a penalty after consulting the pitchside monitor and Fernandes confidently converted.
“We got away with one. Maybe one point we deserved, we didn’t deserve more,” admitted United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Everton sits top of the embryonic table as it won the battle of two sides who started the day with a perfect record, thanks to a controversial penalty of its own.
James Rodriguez again starred for Carlo Ancelotti’s men and played his part in Everton’s opener, converted by Dominic Calvert-Lewin for his fifth goal of the season.
Palace quickly responded through Cheikhou Kouyate, but the game was decided by a VAR review five minutes before halftime.
After consulting the pitchside monitor, Kevin Friend pointed to the spot for a handball by Joel Ward after he was struck on the arm by Lucas Digne’s header and Richarlison converted the spot-kick.
“I have despair about a rule that I believe is ruining the game of football,” said Palace boss Roy Hodgson.