Arsenal’s quest for English Premier League glory got off to a winning start as Riccardo Calafiori’s goal beat Manchester United 1-0 on Sunday, while world champions Chelsea were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace.
After finishing second for the past three seasons, the pressure is on Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to deliver the club’s first league title since 2003-2004.
The Gunners were far from impressive at Old Trafford, but earned a huge three points thanks to a glaring error from United’s stand-in goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.
Photo: AFP
The Turkish international flapped at Declan Rice’s corner on 13 minutes, presenting Calafiori with the simple task of heading into an empty net.
“Big result,” Arteta said. “First game of the season at Old Trafford when you feel they are building something.”
United gave debuts to all of their new ￡200 million (US$271 million) attacking trident of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, but could not find a way past the Premier League’s best defense for the past two seasons.
Patrick Dorgu came closest to an equalizer when the Dane smashed against the post from long range.
It was a tale of the two goalkeepers as Arsenal stopper David Raya also produced fine saves to deny Cunha and Mbeumo a perfect start to their United careers.
“We proved today we can win any game in the Premier League against a great team like Arsenal,” United coach Ruben Amorim said. “We deserved a different result, and we need to move forward to the next one.”
Chelsea suffered a FIFA Club World Cup hangover as they were kept at bay by FA Cup winners Palace.
The Eagles were denied an early opener when Eberechi Eze’s free-kick was ruled out by a Video Assistant Referee review for Marc Guehi obstructing the Chelsea wall.
New Chelsea signing Estevao came closest to snatching a winner for the home side, but the newly-crowned world champions were blunt in attack against a well-organized Palace defense.
Palace’s key duo of Guehi and Eze started despite mounting speculation the England internationals are set to join Liverpool and Tottenham, respectively.
“As long as they are 100 percent committed, they will play as they are so good,” Palace manager Oliver Glasner said. “They didn’t just show they are great footballers, but they are great persons, and that’s what I expected.”
Chelsea’s demolition of European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final last month had raised the Blues’ hopes they can challenge for a first Premier League title since 2017.
However, Enzo Maresca bemoaned his side’s lack of preparation time since beating PSG in New York just 35 days ago.
“They played about eight [preseason] games, we played just two, so we tried our best,” Maresca said. “We expected a tough game. Apart from the first half free-kick, we didn’t concede any chances.”
Nottingham Forest made light of manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s preseason fears over a lack of signings with a dominant 3-1 win over a much-changed Brentford.
Chris Wood struck twice either side of Dan Ndyoe’s debut goal for Forest on a nightmare afternoon for new Brentford boss Keith Andrews.
“It was a very good first half. The combinations were really good, beautiful goals,” Nuno said. “This is why we are insisting on a good balanced squad that gives us options and solutions.”
The Bees have lost their manager, captain and top scorer in the off-season.
Thomas Frank left to take charge of Tottenham Hotspur, Mbeumo got his dream move to Manchester United and Arsenal secured Christian Norgaard.
Yoane Wissa was also missing from the Brentford squad ahead of an expected move to Newcastle.
Igor Thiago’s first goal for the club from the penalty spot late on was the only consolation for the visitors.
“I do have genuine belief, but we have to take responsibility for a first half that wasn’t good enough,” Andrews said.
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