Manchester United started their defence of the Premier League title with a hard-fought 2-1 win over West Brom yesterday, while new Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas had to settle for a 0-0 draw at Stoke.
Sir Alex Ferguson sent out a youthful United team including Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck, Chris Smalling and Fabio da Silva, as well as debutants David De Gea and Ashley Young, and they needed a late Steven Reid own goal to seal the points at the Hawthorns.
Wayne Rooney opened the scoring in the 13th minute when he finished a flowing move with a fine strike from just inside the penalty area.
United winger Nani squandered two chances to extend the lead before De Gea gifted Albion an equaliser in the 37th minute.
The Spanish goalkeeper, signed from Atletico Madrid to replace the retired Edwin van der Sar, had already been criticised for his role in two of Manchester City’s goals in the Community Shield and this was an even worse mistake.
Shane Long cut into the penalty area from the left and hit a low shot that De Gea should have dealt with easily, but the 20-year-old made a complete hash of his attempted save and allowed the ball to squirm under his arms.
United lost central defenders Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic to injuries in the second half, but they snatched the points in the 81st minute when Reid deflected Young’s cross into his own goal.
“The first 25 minutes we were superb, the movement of the ball was great, but then we slowed and lost a goal which David should have done better with,” Ferguson said.
“It was just a bit of concentration there but welcome to English football. He came in for it in the second half and I thought he should have been protected more by the referee, but it’s all a learning process.”
At the Britannia Stadium, Villas-Boas’s side failed to impress in the first half, but improved after the interval and the Portuguese coach would have been celebrating a winning start but for three fine saves from Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
The 33-year-old admitted a draw wasn’t the best start but he was infuriated by Stoke’s tactics at set-pieces.
“I can’t be pleased with a draw but it’s one of the most difficult grounds to play at,” he said.
“A point I want to make when you are playing difficult games like this is the amount of pushing and grabbing in the box, because it’s out of this world.
“We know the amount of goals they score with these set plays. But I think there’s a limit to the pushing and grabbing. It makes it impossible.”
Villas-Boas showed he won’t shy away from making big decisions as he selected Fernando Torres ahead of Didier Drogba and the £50 million Spaniard responded to the vote of confidence with one of his more energetic displays.
Chelsea came closest to snatching a winner but Begovic denied John Obi Mikel, then tipped substitute Nicolas Anelka’s curling effort onto the crossbar and also saved from Salomon Kalou.
FA Cup-winners Manchester City kick off against Swansea at Eastlands tonight.
Ferdinand out for six weeks
Meanwhile, Manchester United defender Ferdinand has been ruled out for six weeks after suffering a hamstring injury in yesterday’s 2-1 win at West Brom.
Ferdinand limped off in the second half of the champions’ Premier League opener and United manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed after the game that the former England captain is expected to be out until October.
It means the 32-year-old will miss United’s games against title rivals Arsenal and Chelsea and England’s crucial Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Wales.
United captain Vidic was also injured yesterday and the Serbian defender could be out for two weeks after coming off in the second half with a calf problem.
There were further defensive concerns for Ferguson yesterday as the Scot discovered that right-back Rafael da Silva will be out for 10 weeks after he dislocated a shoulder in training.
“We’ve had a rough time with injuries,” Ferguson told Sky Sports. “Young Rafa has done his shoulder in training on Friday and will be out for 10 weeks, he’s probably going to have an operation.
“Rio will be out for six weeks. Vida will have checks tomorrow (today), we don’t know if it’s just a nerve or something, but he could be out for a couple of weeks.”
Next fixtures
Saturday: 13.00 Sunderland vs Newcastle. 13.45 Arsenal vs Liverpool. 16.00 Aston Villa vs Blackburn Rovers; Everton vs QPR; Swansea vs Wigan. 18.30 Chelsea vs West Brom.
Sunday: 14.30 Norwich vs Stoke. 15.00 Wolves vs Fulham. 17.00 Bolton vs Man. City.
Monday, Aug. 22: 21.00 Man. United vs Tottenham.