Burnley give Champions Chelsea the blues at home
PREMIER League champions Chelsea suffered an embarrassing home defeat on the first Saturday of the new season, having two men sent off as unfancied Burnley beat them 3-2 at Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte’s disjointed side struggled from the early stages when captain Gary Cahill was dismissed for a lunging tackle and they found themselves 3-0 down at halftime to a team who gained only seven away points all last season.
Wales international Sam Vokes scored two of the goals and Stephen Ward the other.
New signing Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid came on to pull one back midway through the second half and then provided an assist for David Luiz. But in-between midfielder Cesc Fabregas was also sent off for a second yellow card.
It was a dispiriting afternoon for Conte, who won the title in his first season at the club but has complained that Chelsea have not signed enough new players while allowing several to leave.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp protested that Watford’s stoppage-time equaliser by Manuel Britos in an entertaining 3-3 draw should have been disallowed for offside. Britos was standing almost on the line before nudging in the loose ball after Simon Mignolet pushed it onto the bar.
“We were unlucky in the end,” Klopp said. “The equaliser was offside.
“It’s obvious because the linesman is on the line. He needs to see it.
“We would have had defensive areas we need to work on if we’d won 3-2. We were the better team, we should have ON TARGET: Stephen Ward scores Burnley’s second goal against Chelsea during Saturday’s Premier Legue match at Stamford Bridge in London. won.”
After the opening game of the season on Friday produced seven goals and a late winner for Arsenal, who beat Leicester City 4-3, the two teams at Vicarage Road served up more of the same entertainment, including some poor defending.
The home side, under new manager Marco Silva, led twice through Stefano Okaka and Abdoulaye Doucoure, but Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, with a penalty, both equalised.
Debutant Mohamed Salah seemed to have won the points for the visitors before Britos’s dramatic late intervention.
Promoted Huddersfield Town, playing in the top flight for the first time since 1972 and widely tipped for relegation, cruised to a 3-0 win away to Crystal Palace.
Record signing Steve Mounie, the Benin striker from Montpellier who cost 13 million euros, scored once in each half after Palace’s Joel Ward put through his own goal.
Wayne Rooney scored on his return to Everton from Manchester United to give the Merseysiders a 1-0 victory at home to Stoke City. It was his 199th Premier League goal and first for Everton since 2004.
Egyptian defender Ahmed Hegazi, on loan to West Bromwich Albion from Al Ahly, scored on his debut in the 1-0 win at home to Bournemouth. – Reuters BENNI Mccarthy got his first stint as a head coach off to a winning start as Cape Town City defeated Polokwane City 1-0 in a MTN 8 quarter-final at Cape Town Stadium yesterday.
City were deserved winners and the scoreline flattered the visitors somewhat, especially as the Cape side were supremely dominant in the second half.
If Lehlolonolo Majoro had brought his scoring boots along, the margin of victory would have been far greater.
But that won’t concern Mccarthy too much. The goal was to get off to a positive, winning start, and that was exactly what the Capetonians got.
City were dealt a blow when new signing Teko Modise was injured in the warm-up, but it didn’t have that much of an effect. Modise was replaced by Thabo Nodada and the pintsized player proved to be an energetic presence in midfield.
In a free-flowing, open game, both teams gave as good as they got. There was skill and enterprise on offer, with some really smart football being played at times. The only sign that it was still early season was the rustiness of the players in the final third. While openings were created, both teams lacked the composure in attack.
For City, last season’s Player of the Year Lebogang Manyama was always troublesome, while there was another industrious showing from Austrian Roland Putsche.