Sarri's Chelsea off to a flying start
12 August, 2018
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri made a winning start to life in the Premier League as his team enjoyed a 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town at the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday.
After enduring plenty of Huddersfield pressure, Chelsea went ahead in the 34th minute when Willian's cross from the left found N'Golo Kante whose mis-hit shot squirted past keeper Ben Hamer.
Chelsea doubled their advantage just before the interval when Marcos Alonso burst into the area and went down under challenge from Christopher Schindler and debutant Jorginho coolly converted the penalty.
A brilliantly constructed counter-attack produced Chelsea's third as substitute Eden Hazard broke from midfield and slipped a perfectly-timed pass to Pedro who beat Hamer with an expert finish.
SPURS SEE OFF NEWCASTLE
In the day's earlier match, Jan Vertonghen and Dele Alli were on target as Tottenham Hotspur began their Premier League campaign with an entertaining 2-1 victory over Newcastle.
All three goals came in a frantic opening 20 minutes on Tyneside with Vertonghen and Alli heading goals for the north London team, who finished third last season, either side of Joselu's equaliser.
The only surprise was that, after Alli's 18th-minute winner, there was no further score with both goalkeepers, Martin Dubravka and Hugo Lloris, forced to make a string of impressive saves.
"It's a very important (result), everyone knows the first game of a very long season is important," Alli told Sky Sports. "Last season I scored against Newcastle away in the first game too, and now I just want to keep improving. The World Cup was a great experience but it's all about Tottenham now."
Tottenham became the first Premier League team to make no signings during a summer transfer window with manager Mauricio Pochettino urging disgruntled fans to be happy with the quality of the existing squad.