Chelsea's defence of his crown in the Premier League started on Saturday with the expulsion of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and a 2-2 draw with Swansea. Jose Mourinho's team squandered the lead twice and paid dearly for the expulsion of Courtois shortly after the second half started, receiving a straight red card for bringing down Bafetimbi Gomis when the French came to the area in a counterattack.
Mourinho dodged criticizing the expulsion of Courtois, saying only that "after that, everything was different." "We played a very good first half, we had the game under control and we played with more and more confidence," said the Portuguese coach. "Playing 35 minutes outnumbered in the first game of the season when the physical condition is not optimal level is much more difficult."
Chelsea took the lead after 23 minutes thanks to a goal from free kick from Brazilian Oscar, but Andre Ayew leveled six minutes later when he pounced on a ball left adrift after Courtois clearance of a head of Gomis.
The champions restored the advantage immediately with a goal by Argentine defender Federico Fernandez. At 30, Fernandez stretched leg to deflect a center of Brazilian Willian from the left, but the ball is nestled rose at the far post.
Gomis rescued a draw for Swansea with a single maneuver that left hand side Courtois, who had no choice but to bring him down inside the area. Asmir Begovic replacing Courtois entered, but could not do before the auction Gomis, at 55.
Manchester United needed an own goal to beat Tottenham 1-0 in the first match of the season, while Leicester beat Sunderland 4-2 and Crystal Palace 3-1 in a controversial Norwich he said.
Bournemouth began its first season in the Premier League with a 1-0 setback against Aston Villa.
Watford, newly promoted to the first division with Bournemouth, took the lead on two occasions, including on 14 minutes thanks to a goal by Mexican Miguel Layún, but eventually drew 2-2 with Everton.
At Old Trafford, Spurs defender Kyle Walker gave United the three points to get the ball into his own net on 22 minutes, when he tried to mark the United captain Wayne Rooney.
It was one of the few occasions of danger in a match in which Louis van Gaal fielded four new signings for United.
Van Gaal used the Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero instead of David de Gea, who is the target of rumors of transfer to Real Madrid and, as the helmsman, had no mind on the game. They also played the central Matteo Darmain, and midfielders Morgan Schneirderlin and Memphis Depay. Another reinforcements United, Bastian Schweinsteiger, replaced Michael Carrick after an hour.
"It was a very difficult game because there were two teams who want to push, so each player with the ball had very little (time) to make a play," Van Gaal told BT Sport. "We had a lot of the ball but generate some opportunities."
Leicester had no trouble scoring on his debut coach Claudio Ranieri, who returned to the Premier League after 11 years.
Jamie Vardy opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a header and Riyad Mahrez increased at 18 and 25. Jermain Defoe and Steven Fletcher came to Sunderland in the second half and Marc Albrighton scored the fourth of Leicester.
Meanwhile, Norwich players were furious that an apparent equalizer was disallowed in their loss to the Palace.
Cameron Jerome thought he had gone 2-2 when he stretched his leg to make an acrobatic shot that shook the nets in the 74th minute, but referee Simon Hooper annulled on the grounds that the move was no goal.
Norwich also called a penalty when Sebastien Bassong was pushed by Connor Wickham to 89. Yohan Cabaye Palace sealed the victory to put the third in a counterattack in injury.
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