Chelsea title defence back on track, but United looking like team to beat so far

LONDON — Any doubts Antonio Conte had about his Chelsea players were dispelled with a victory over Tottenham that lifted the gloom surrounding the champions.

With a 2-1 victory on Sunday secured through Marcos Alonso’s double, the Premier League champions are finally up and running after a tough couple of weeks.

Defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium was followed by a surprise capitulation to Burnley as Chelsea made a losing start to its league title defence. Back at Wembley — Tottenham’s home for the season while White Hart Lane is being redeveloped — Chelsea players were smiling again. Conte too. “I want to thank my players,” Conte said. “They won . . . . They showed me great desire, great spirit, great willingness to fight. I saw today the fighters.”

Wembley wasn’t the only ground staging a Premier League game for the first time on Sunday. Huddersfield’s Kirklees Stadium is now a destination in soccer’s richest league, and its occupant has opened its first-ever Premier League campaign with two wins out of two.

Huddersfield’s victory at Crystal Palace last weekend was followed by a 1-0 victory over fellow promoted side Newcastle on Sunday. Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion are the only other teams to open with two wins. The second round will be completed today by a meeting of Everton and Manchester City, who both triumphed last week.

Free-scoring, tight at the back, and confidence oozing through the side, Manchester United showed why it might be the team to beat.

United hasn’t challenged for the title since winning its record-extending 20th championship in 2013, Alex Ferguson’s last year in charge. But back-to-back 4-0 wins has sent a powerful early season message to its rivals.

Swansea was on the end of United’s power and new-found clinical edge on Saturday. Eric Bailly scored in the first half then Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial all netted in a devastating four-minute passage from the 80th.

“There was happiness in our play,” United manager Jose Mourinho said. “There was no need to close the door. Just let the horses run freely, and they were magnificent.”

Elsewhere on the weekend, Liverpool squeezed past Crystal Palace 1-0 and Arsenal lost at Stoke 1-0, while there were comfortable first wins of the season for Leicester and Watford.

United’s performance stood out, though — six days after its 4-0 win over West Ham at Old Trafford.

As United’s attackers poured forward in the final 10 minutes, scoring at will and in stylish fashion too, memories flooded back to the entertaining teams that Ferguson moulded. United was profligate last season, the lowest scorer by far in the top seven with 54, but that seems to be a thing of the past in Mourinho’s second year in charge.

“36 more games like this please,” tweeted United midfielder Juan Mata.

It is the first time in 110 years that United has scored at least four goals in each of its opening two games of a season. Tougher tests await Mourinho’s side, however.

TOTTENHAM’S WEMBLEY WOES

It could be a long, grueling season away from White Hart Lane for Tottenham unless the Wembley jinx ends.

In 11 matches at the national stadium since it was rebuilt in 2007, Tottenham has only won twice. And it’s now eight losses.

“Wembley is not the reason we lost the game,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said. “It’s not fair to blame Wembley.”