Gunners fire too late as Spurs and Bournemouth set the early pace
LONDON: Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-2 in a London Premier League derby last night with defender Marcos Alonso scoring an 81st-minute winner after the Gunners had fought back from an early 2-0 deficit.
Chelsea went ahead in the ninth minute when Pedro buried a cross by Alonso. Striker Alvaro Morata scored only his second league goal of 2018, fed by a through ball from Cesar Azpilicueta 11 minutes later.
Arsenal got back into the game in the 37th minute when Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s low shot beat Kepa Arrizabalaga, the world’s most expensive goalkeeper making his home debut.
Alex Iwobi made it 2-2 four minutes later as Arsenal exploited Chelsea’s vulnerability on the flanks.
In a tighter second half, neither side could carve out as many chances but Alonso settled the game when Belgium winger Eden Hazard, on as a substitute, carved open the Arsenal defence for the Spanish defender to finish in Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri’s first home game in charge.
Earlier, Tottenham Hotspur ended a week in which they apologised to supporters for further delay in their move back to White Hart Lane by continuing to flourish at their second home of Wembley, where they beat Fulham 3-1.
The win moved Spurs top of the early table with maximum points from their opening two games, a record matched by Bournemouth, who came from behind to beat West Ham United 2-1 at London Stadium.
Leicester City and Everton posted their first wins, against Wolves and Southampton respectively. Spurs were made to work for victory, with Fulham equalising Lucas Moura’s opener before Kieran Trippier replicated his free-kick goal for England in the World Cup with another superb strike. Harry Kane rounded off an impressive win by scoring his first ever Premier League goal in August.
Bournemouth took full advantage of comic home defending to strike twice in six second-half minutes through Callum Wilson and Steve Cook, inflicting Manuel Pellegrini’s second successive defeat since returning to the Premier League with West Ham.
Everton also changed managers in the summer but Marco Silva has enjoyed a more promising beginning and secured a 2-1 win in his first home game with new signing Richarlison scoring his third goal in two games since his move from Watford.
The Brazilian only managed five in total last season but looks a different proposition since reuniting with his former manager.
Richarlison headed Everton’s second after former Southampton forward Theo Walcott had opened the scoring after a well-worked free-kick move from Leighton Baines and Morgan Schneiderlin.
“I haven’t seen Everton score a goal like that for years,” said the club’s former midfielder Ian Snodin, an indication of how Silva is instilling a new brand of football into the team he inherited from Sam Allardyce. – Reuters
Yesterday at a glance