Premier League Opening Day Results
Scores and Goals - Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, City Win
The opening day Premier League results bring victory to Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Sunderland, Blackburn, Newcastle and Everton as Man United draws.
Premier League Champions, Manchester United, are held by ten-man Reading to a scoreless draw at Old Trafford, while the other members of the top four elite record opening day victories.
Arsenal 2 Fulham 1
Arsenal recovered from a Jens Lehmann mistake, conceding a goal to Fulham debutant, David Healy, inside the first minute, but scored twice in the final six minutes to secure victory. Robin van Persie brought them level with a penalty and in the final minute, Alexander Hleb struck the winner past Tony Warner who had performed heroics in the Fulham goal. Warner was only playing due to an injury sustained by Antti Niemi during the pre-match warm-up.
Chelsea 3 Birmingham City 2
Chelsea also came from behind to beat promoted Birmingham City at Stamford Bridge. Former Chelsea player, Mikael Forssell put Birmingham ahead after fifteen minutes but Chelsea scored twice through two of their new signings. Claudio Pizarro equalised within two minutes and Florent Malouda scored after half an hour. However, the visitors came back to level within five minutes through Olivier Kapo. In the second half Michael Essien won the game for Chelsea who have now set a new record of sixty four home games undefeated.
Manchester United 0 Reading 0
Manchester United played out a scoreless draw which saw Wayne Rooney leave the pitch at half-time with a foot injury and scans have shown he has a hairline fracture of his left foot. In the second half, Reading substitute Dave Kitson was sent off fifty three seconds after coming on for a dangerous tackle.
Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 2
Steven Gerrard scored the winner for Liverpool against Aston Villa with only three minutes remaining. An own goal by Martin Laursen had given Liverpool a first half lead but Gareth equalised from the penalty spot with only five minutes remaining, only for Gerrard’s late winner.
Sunderland 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Of the teams tipped to break into the top four Tottenham gave a disappointing performance and lost to an injury time goal from debutant Michael Chopra at newly promoted Sunderland.
Bolton Wanderers 1 Newcastle United 3
Sam Allardyce took his new team to play his old club and they were three gaols ahead by half-time. Goals from Charles N’Zogbia and two from Obefami Martins gave them a comfortable win, although Nicolas Anelka scored early in the second half for Bolton.
West Ham United 0 Manchester City 2
Sven Goran Eriksson's new club, Manchester City, had a comfortable win at West Ham with goals in each half from Rolandi Bianchi who had scored nearly twenty goals in Serie A for Reginna last season and Geovanni. Another star was Kasper Schmeichel, son of Peter, who made a competent debut in goal for City.
Middlesbrough 1 Blackburn Rovers 2
Blackburn recovered from going a goal behind at Middlesbrough when Stewart Downing scored in the first half. Second half goals from substitutes, Roque Santa Cruz and Matt Derbyshire, with his first touch, gave the visitors the three points. Blackburn’s joy at victory was tempered by concerns about an injury to Benni McCarthy.
Everton 2 Wigan Athletic 1
A goal in each half secured the win for Everton at home to Wigan Athletic. Russell Osman put them ahead and Victor Anichebe added a second with fifteen minutes remaining. Wigan scored with a debut goal from Antoine Sibierski with ten minutes left to put Everton under some pressure.
Derby County 2 Portsmouth 2
The other promoted side, Derby County, earned a point when Andy Todd equalised a minute after Portsmouth had taken the lead with only seven minutes remaining through John Utaka. Derby had taken a fifth minute lead through Matt Oakley, only for the visitors to level through Benjani midway through the first half.
