Sunday premier League round up

A goal by Romelu Lukaku on his second Chelsea debut and a strike by defender Reece James earned the Blues a 2-0 win at London rivals Arsenal on Sunday, their second victory in as many games at the start of the Premier League season.

Lukaku needed only 15 minutes to get off the mark for the Blues after his reported 97.5 million pounds ($132.8 million)transfer from Inter Milan, tapping in a cross played into his path by James.

The wing-back scored Chelsea’s second goal himself 20 minutes later, taking his time to fire past goalkeeper Bernd Leno after being found in acres of space by Mason Mount.

Lukaku, who never scored a league goal for the Blues in his first spell, showed why Chelsea were prepared to break their spending record to bring him back to the club seven years after he left London.

The Belgian provided the Blues with the kind of muscular presence in attack they have lacked since the departure of Diego Costa in 2017, both when running at Arsenal’s defence and holding the ball up with his back to goal.

Only a reflex save by Leno denied him a second goal when the German palmed Lukaku’s point-blank header onto the bar with 15 minutes to play.

Arsenal, lacking several key players through injury and illness, rarely threatened to disrupt Thomas Tuchel’s well-drilled side, who kept another of their trademark clean sheets and could afford to start with star names such as N’Golo Kante, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech on the bench.

MASON Greenwood’s second-half strike meant Saints were left to settle for a 1-1 draw in their first home Premier League contest of the campaign.

Che Adams’s deflected shot, which went down as a Fred own goal, had put the hosts in front after 30 minutes against Manchester United at St Mary’s.

But Greenwood’s strike from inside the box levelled up the contest for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men as Saints were pegged back on the south coast.

Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl named an unchanged starting XI from the side which started the club’s 3-1 defeat to Everton in the Premier League last time out.
Harry Kane returned to Tottenham action as Dele Alli’s early penalty saw them edge past Wolves 1-0, with the hosts once again suffering from a lack of final product.

All eyes were on the teamsheet at 1pm, where Nuno Espirito Santo had named Kane on the bench for the first time since his delayed return to Spurs after Euro 2020.

The striker’s future remains very much undecided with nine days left of the summer transfer window, but came on as a 72nd-minute substitute. The away fans sang ‘Harry Kane, he’s one of our own’ as he replaced Heung-Min Son.

Alli’s ninth-minute penalty proved to be the decisive goal, the midfielder firing his spot-kick into the bottom corner after he had been brought down by Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa.

However, as was the story under Nuno last season, Wolves suffered from a lack of final product with Raul Jimenez and Adama Traore both going close in a string of efforts as they lost a second successive game 1-0.

Tottenham maintain their perfect start to the new Premier League season, with Hugo Lloris marking his 300th Premier League appearance for Spurs with a clean sheet.