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Brighton and Hove Albion 4 Luton Town 1
Joao Pedro and Simon Adingra claimed debut goals as Brighton set aside Moises Caicedo’s ongoing transfer saga to thrash Premier League debutants Luton 4-1.
Ireland striker Evan Ferguson came off the bench with a strong cameo, and rattled the right post not long after coming on with a fine curling effort.
The Republic of Ireland international then would not be denied a place on the scoresheet and duly slid home Pervis Estupinan’s low cross deep into added time.
Club record signing Pedro had doubled Albion’s lead following Solly March’s first-half opener by converting a 71st-minute penalty after being brought down by Hatters captain Tom Lockyer.
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Carlton Morris slotted home from the spot at the other end following Lewis Dunk’s handball to set up a tense finale but Adingra capitalised on a dreadful error from Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu before fellow substitute Evan Ferguson sealed the Seagulls’ emphatic victory.
Build up to the contest was dominated by news of Albion accepting a British record transfer fee of around £111 million from Liverpool for star midfielder Caicedo amid reports he would prefer to join Chelsea.
The 21-year-old Ecuador international was absent from the Amex Stadium as his current club launched their first campaign to feature European football in commanding fashion.
Luton, back in the top flight for the first time since being relegated from the old First Division in 1992, were second best on the south coast and could have lost by more as Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross and Ferguson each struck the woodwork.
With Caicedo seemingly heading for the exit, Brighton handed debuts to Mahmoud Dahoud, James Milner and Pedro.
Brazilian forward Pedro, whose every touch was booed by the travelling fans following his £30 million transfer from Luton’s bitter rivals Watford, should have opened the scoring inside five minutes but he skewed wastefully wide of the gaping goal.
The clubs were facing each other for the first time since the southern final of the Football League Trophy in 2009, with their only previous top-flight meetings coming during the 1982-83 campaign.
Luton did the double over Albion by an aggregate score of 9-2 back then but remained on the back foot, albeit the hosts appeared susceptible to counter attacks.
Albion eventually turned their dominance of the ball into a lead nine minutes before the break.
Kaoru Mitoma was afforded time and space on the left and his inviting, inswinging cross gave the unmarked March a simple headed finish from six yards out.
Albion’s advantage was almost instantly wiped out as Hatters forward Morris thumped a header too close to home goalkeeper Jason Steele from Ryan Giles’ corner before Welbeck hit the base of the right post at the other end.
Despite their limited possession, Luton, who were a non-league club as recently as 2014, were far from overawed in the first half and went into the break with reason for encouragement.
Gross fired against the outside of the left upright from a wide free-kick early in the second period as Roberto De Zerbi’s men attempted to add to their slender lead.
Brighton were in need of a cushion and it arrived 19 minutes from time when Pedro tumbled under Lockyer’s challenge before, as he had done twice in preseason, firing into the right corner from 12 yards.
Albion looked set to ease to victory on the back of last season’s club-record sixth-placed finish which secured a Europa League place.
Yet Morris’ successful 81st-minute penalty after a cross from substitute Jacob Brown struck the elbow of Dunk briefly brought back the tension.
However, Ivory Coast winger Adingra, who was loaned to Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise last season, thumped home just four minutes later after Mpanzu inexplicably failed to clear.
Bournemouth 1 West Ham 1
Dominic Solanke’s late equaliser denied West Ham an opening-day win as Bournemouth hit back for a 1-1 draw.
Jarrod Bowen had fired the Hammers into the lead early in the second half with a spectacular curler from the edge of the box.
But Bournemouth, playing under new boss Andoni Iraola for the first time, were good value for the point they earned when Solanke rounded Alphonse Areola with eight minutes remaining.
It has been a troubled summer for West Ham following their Europa Conference League success last season with the departure of Declan Rice, Manchester City’s attempt to lure Lucas Paqueta away and a lack of new signings coming through the doors at the London Stadium.
They arrived on the south coast with essentially last season’s team, minus Rice, and not much in the way of optimism.
Yet they almost went ahead early on when Said Benrahma fed Tomas Soucek, whose effort bounced back off the inside of the far post and into the grateful arms of Bournemouth keeper Neto.
The Cherries were relieved again when Michail Antonio’s flick from a corner was cleared from underneath the crossbar by Philip Billing.
But Bournemouth had their chances too as the first half wore on, with Solanke slipping in David Brooks who fired just wide.
Solanke then chased a long ball over the top only to be denied by the long leg of Hammers defender Kurt Zouma, before Areola beat away another Brooks drive.
The second half almost began with a bang for Bournemouth with Brooks letting fly on the volley from 20 yards, forcing Areola into an acrobatic save.
But it was the Hammers who broke the deadlock moments later after Pablo Fornals, trying to fill a Rice-shaped hole in the West Ham midfield, won possession 30 yards out.
Bowen’s last kick of the previous campaign was the late goal which secured the Europa Conference League trophy against Fiorentina 66 days ago.
This time he collected the ball off Soucek 20 yards out, cut on to his left foot and buried a superb, curling effort beyond the dive of Neto.
Bournemouth, playing their new brand of easy-on-the-eye, expansive football, tried to hit back and Areola saved from Solanke before Joe Rothwell’s shot clipped the crossbar.
Their dominance told in the 82nd minute when Antoine Semenyo’s wayward shot fell at the feet of Solanke, who showed tremendous composure to slip round Areola and tap into an empty net.
Everton 0 West Ham 1
Everton paid the price for a string of missed chances as their goalscoring issues were exploited by Fulham in a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park.
A new season brought new hope for recent relegation strugglers Everton but for all the improvements Sean Dyche has made over the summer, it appears he has not yet solved their problems in front of goal.
Substitute Bobby De Cordova-Reid struck the only goal of the game to get Marco Silva’s side off to a winning start.
Everton, the Premier League’s lowest scorers last season, were again without striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Despite generating twice as many shots as the visitors, Dyche’s side were undone by one square pass across their six-yard area when Andreas Pereira beat Nathan Patterson to an Aleksandar Mitrovic’s through-ball for a 73rd-minute tap-in by Decordova-Reid.
It burst the bubble of optimism which had been generated by an energetic and relatively creative opening 73 minutes of the season and will have infuriated Dyche as much as it delighted former Toffees boss Silva.
Michael Keane’s first-half goal was disallowed as the centre-back turned the ball into an empty net and celebrated almost apologetically before referee Stuart Atwell, having initially not blown, ruled there had been an infringement in the collision between goalkeeper Bernd Leno and James Tarkowski.
Both teams started without their recognised first-choice strikers: Calvert-Lewin was omitted due to his lack of minutes in preseason while Mitrovic was left on the bench after ongoing interest from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal.
But it was the home team who suffered the most as they generated 19 shots to their opponents’ nine from just 41 per cent possession but failed to capitalise with Calvert-Lewin’s deputy Neal Maupay most culpable.
The £15 million signing from Brighton last summer has a return of one goal in his 29 previous appearances but the reason for that conversion rate was evident after just 32 seconds when he clipped a shot wide of the far post with only goalkeeper Leno to beat after being put through by James Garner’s cushioned header.
It did not get any better for the Frenchman, whose heavy touch from Abdoulaye Doucoure’s square pass denied him another shooting opportunity before Leno blocked his close-range scuff from a Doucoure knock-down and then he fired straight at the German when played in by Amadou Onana.
Doucoure, playing just behind the striker, was not without fault either as he should have scored inside five minutes when clean through but shot straight at the goalkeeper when he could also have squared to Maupay.
Everton were fortunate the visitors were even more toothless in attack themselves, although Willian, 35, gave 21-year-old right-back Nathan Patterson, who made just 21 appearances in a debut season affected by injury, an uncomfortable 45 minutes before he was replaced by De Cordova-Reid at half-time.
But Willian was also lucky to escape with a booking for an over the top challenge on Garner.
By contrast, on the other side of the defence Ashley Young, Everton’s second-oldest debutant at the age of 38 years and 34 days, was coping easily with Harry Wilson – 12 years his junior.
The 57th-minute of introduction of Mitrovic and Pereira, seconds after debutant Raul Jimenez had struck the post with his last touch before being replaced, threatened a new element of danger for Everton.
However, it was the hosts who should have scored when Leno parried Alex Iwobi’s shot to Patterson who lashed his shot against the crossbar.
Loan signing Arnaut Danjuma assumed the central striking role from Maupay but, before he had even touched the ball, De Cordova-Reid had scored the goal which secured Fulham’s third successive win at Goodison Park.
The return of Calvert-Lewin and a debut for new signing Youssef Chermiti, the £15 million Sporting Lisbon striker watching from the directors’ box, cannot come soon enough.
Sheffield United 0 Crystal Palace 1
Odsonne Edouard’s second-half goal earned Crystal Palace a 1-0 win against Sheffield United to worsen the gloom at Bramall Lane.
Edouard struck from close range four minutes after the restart to give the Eagles a deserved three points in the Premier League opener.
It was thoroughly convincing for Roy Hodgson’s men as they had two further goals disallowed, while Blades goalkeeper Wes Foderingham made a number of saves to keep his side in it.
Indeed, Hodgson’s biggest problem was a tweet from wantaway goalkeeper Vicente Guaita before the game, seemingly questioning why he was not in the team.
United’s return to the top flight after two seasons away ended with a whimpering defeat to compound a negative few weeks which saw the sale of Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge.
Boss Paul Heckingbottom admitted before the match that United are “nowhere near” where they need to be and that showed as they lacked any real goal threat throughout the match.
The signing of Gustavo Hamer from Coventry overnight had boosted spirits and he was paraded on the pitch before kick-off.
The atmosphere helped the Blades make a strong start, with Will Osula going close inside the opening 10 minutes with an effort that was deflected just wide.
But Palace began to take control of the game, with Eberechi Eze running things with his impressive ball-carrying skills.
And he twice saw goalbound efforts blocked, first from Jack Robinson and then from John Egan.
The visitors thought they had taken the lead midway through the first half when Jordan Ayew headed home after Joachim Andersen’s shot had been fumbled by Foderingham, but it was ruled out for offside.
It was little surprise when they did go in front just after the restart.
Ayew found a good position on the right hand side and sent in a wicked low cross which was begging to be converted and Edouard duly obliged, stabbing in from close range.
It could have been two 10 minutes later as Edouard found space at the far post from Eze’s free-kick but his header was straight at Foderingham.
The former Celtic striker also had a goal ruled out for offside, while Ayew tested Foderingham’s handling with a fierce shot that was palmed away.
Palace kept knocking on the door for a second and Foderingham got down brilliantly to keep out Andersen’s header.
The Blades had nothing in the way of a response, other than plenty of effort, as Palace saw it out with ease.
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