United, Blues win; Brentford end 74-yr wait for first top-flight victory

Manchester United enjoyed a dream start to the Premier League season as Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 thrashing of Leeds in front of 73,000 at Old Trafford, while Chelsea swept aside Crystal Palace 3-0 on Saturday.

Over 300,000 fans are expected to attend the opening weekend of the season with full crowds restored following the easing of coronavirus restrictions. United were inspired by a raucous atmosphere as Fernandes and Paul Pogba combined to blow away Marcelo Bielsa’s men.

Fernandes walked away with the match ball, but Pogba was just as impressive as the Frenchman produced four assists for the Portuguese’s first two goals and second-half strikes from Mason Greenwood and Fred.

Luke Ayling’s stunning strike early in the second-half briefly brought Leeds level, but it was another Old Trafford trip to forget for them after also being thrashed 6-2 last season.

After seeing United display their title credentials, European champions Chelsea dispatched Palace in Patrick Vieira’s first match in charge of the Eagles with ease to make their own case.

Marcos Alonso’s free-kick and Christian Pulisic’s scuffed finish gave Thomas Tuchel’s men a commanding 2-0 lead before half-time.

Centre-back Trevoh Chalobah then marked his Premier League debut with a long-range strike to round off the scoring.

Elsewhere, Rafael Benitez went a long way to quieting his doubters at Everton as the Toffees came from behind to beat Southampton 3-1.

Adam Armstrong’s opener on his debut for the Saints saw Benitez’s men booed off at half-time at Goodison Park with many of the home fans still unhappy at the appointment of the former Liverpool manager.

But the mood was lifted straight after half-time by Richarlison’s equaliser before Abdoulaye Doucoure and Dominic Calvert-Lewin ensured Benitez got off to a winning start. Leicester also secured all three points as Jamie Vardy’s deft flick proved the difference in a 1-0 win over Wolves.

The FA Cup winners are once again seen as the biggest threat to the established top four of champions Manchester City, United, Chelsea and Liverpool for a place in the Champions League next season and were worthy winners despite two big missed chances from Adama Traore in Bruno Lage’s first game in charge of Wolves.

Life for Aston Villa without Jack Grealish got off to a terrible start as Watford celebrated their return to the top flight with a 3-2 win at Vicarage Road.

Goals from Emmanuel Dennis, Ismaila Sarr and Cucho Hernandez had the Hornets cruising towards victory.

John McGinn pulled a goal back and Danny Ings netted from the penalty spot on his debut, but it was too little, too late for Villa.

Brighton bounced back from conceding inside two minutes at Burnley to win 2-1 at Turf Moor thanks to second-half goals from Neal Maupay and Alexis MacAllister.

Virgil van Dijk returns to the Reds starting line-up for the first time since suffering cruciate ligament damage last October.

Earlier, Brentford started their first top flight campaign since 1947 by stunning Arsenal 2-0 Friday in the opening game of the Premier League season.

Sergi Canos put Brentford ahead in the 22nd minute and Christian Noergaard headed in the second in the 73rd after Arsenal failed to deal with a long throw-in, handing the promoted club a perfect start to life in the Premier League in front of nearly 16,500 fans at the Community Stadium.

Those fans finally had a chance to celebrate inside the stadium, which was opened last year amid the lockdown when no supporters were allowed into games.

They had waited even longer for a moment like this. Brentford’s last game in England’s top division was a 1-0 loss to Arsenal, in May 1947. Now the team is top of the league for at least an evening, ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.

“Nobody who was here will ever forget that. And I’m proud to be a part of that,” Brentford manager Thomas Frank said. “I have such belief in this group of players, so even though I knew we were going to face Arsenal, a massive club with unbelievable players, I had a feeling I would be disappointed if we didn’t beat them.”

For Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, it was another disappointing performance and a worrying start. The team only finished eighth last season and showed little sign of having sorted out its previous problems. With strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette both missing - Arteta said they were feeling “unwell” - Arsenal again struggled to create any kind of clear scoring chances despite dominating possession for stretches of the game.

Agencies