Man Utd & Chelsea Win
Chelsea are top of the Premiership and the only team to have so far registered two wins out of two after Saturday’s matches. Manchester United & Liverpool also won, while Newcastle slumped to a home defeat to Tottenham.
The Blues won 1-0 at Birmingham, where they were up against former players Mario Melchiot and Jesper Gronkjer, through Joe Cole’s second half goal.
Manchester United recovered from their opening match defeat to Chelsea by beating Premiership newboys Norwich 2-1 at Old Trafford. David Bellion fired the ball into the net to give the home side a first half lead and early in the second half Alan Smith scored an early contender for goal of the season. However, Norwich didn’t lie down and Paul McVeigh set up an anxious finale for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
Newcastle’s nightmare week continued with a 1-0 defeat at home to Jacques Santini’s revitalised Tottenham side. The only goal of the game was scored early in the first half by Timothee Atouba, who was making his full debut.
Another new boss enjoyed a win as Rafael Benitez’s first match at Anfield ended in a 2-1 victory against Manchester City, who opened the scoring through Nicolas Anelka. Milan Baros and Steven Gerrard turned the game on its head in the second half.
Charlton bounced back from their shocking defeat to Bolton last week by beating Portsmouth 2-1 at the Valley. An own goal from David Unsworth gave Alan Curbishley’s side all three points.
Bolton couldn’t follow up their win against the Addicks as they crashed to a 2-0 defeat at Fulham, who celebrated their return to Craven Cottage after a two year absence. Summer signing Andy Cole scored both goals.
Earlier on Saturday James Beattie gave Southampton a 3-2 win at home to Blackburn with a controversial last minute penalty.
Finally, Crystal Palace are bottom of the table after losing 3-1 at home to Everton. Thomas Gravesen scored twice to ease the pressure on Toffees boss David Moyes after a turbulent summer.