Haaland off to flier as Man City start title defense with win

London, Aug 8

Erling Haaland didn't need long to make his mark on the Premier League as Manchester City's star signing scored twice and his side kicked off their defense of the title with a 2-0 win away to West Ham United. The Norwegian titled a potentially difficult game with a 36th-minute penalty after he had been brought down in the West Ham area.

He then sealed the points from a game City dominated from start to finish, with a cool finish after excellent work from Kevin de Bruyne as Pep Guardiola's team started off the new season as they ended the last one.

Liverpool's title challenge got off to a slow start on Saturday when they were held to a 2-2 draw away to newly promoted Fulham.

Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic continued the form that saw him score 43 goals in the Championship last season, with his side's two goals: a 32nd-minute header and a 72nd-minute penalty, but Liverpool twice drew level thanks mainly to Darwin Nunez.
The new arrival came off the bench to score after the hour and then cross for Mohamed Salah to level the scores with 10 minutes left.

Tottenham had a more positive start as they thrashed Southampton 4-1. Although James Ward Prowse put Southampton ahead in the 12th minute, Ryan Sessegnon and Eric Dier turned the scores around before halftime and an own goal from Mohammed Salsu and a strike from Dejan Kulusevski sealed Spur's win.

There was 10 minutes of injury time in the first and second half of Chelsea's 1-0 win away to Everton, which was decided by Jorginho's penalty in the 9th minute of first half injury time after Everton defender, Ben Godfrey suffered a bad ankle injury.

A medical emergency in the crowd led to the delay in the second half, which saw Marc Cucurella make an impressive Chelsea debut.

There is a new coach at Manchester United, but it was the same story as last season at Old Trafford as Erik ten Hag's debut was ruined by a 2-1 defeat to Brighton.

United were all over the place defensively in the first half, allowing Pascual Gross to put Brighton 2-0 ahead and although Alexis MacAlister scored an own goal to give Ten Hag's side hope, even with Cristiano Ronaldo on as a substitute, they were unable to find an equalizer.

Brentford showed personality to come back from 2-0 down to claim a draw away from Leicester City, who had looked to be cruising thanks to Timothy Castagne's 33rd-minute header and Kieran Dewsbury-Hall's long-range shot.

However, last season's top scorer Ivan Toney pulled a goal back for Brentford with 28 minutes left and Josh da Silva scored a brilliant curling shot to secure a point for his side.

Leeds United beat Wolves thanks to Rodrigo Moreno and an own goal from Rayan Ail Nouri after Daniel Podence had opened the scoring for the visitors.

Bournemouth had a happy return to the Premier League with a 2-0 win at home to Aston Villa thanks to goals from Jefferson Lerma after just two minutes and a second from Kieffer Moore with 10 minutes left to play.

Nottingham Forrest had a much harder return, failing to have a shot on target as they lost 2-0 away to Newcastle United, who claimed all three points thanks to second-half strikes from Fabian Scharr and Calum Wilson.

Arsenal kicked the season off on Friday night with a confident 2-0 win away to Crystal Palace thanks to Gabriel Martinelli's first-half opener and a Marc Guehi own goal in the closing minutes.

--IANS