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Drogba
Champions Chelsea got off to a rollicking start against newly promoted West Bromwich Albion, plummeting them 6-0. Drogba took off from where he had left last season scoring a hat trick and his efforts were supplemented by a brace from the now established Malouda and Mr. Dependable Frank Lampard. However it wasn’t all one way traffic against the new boys as Blackpool produced the most shocking result of the day handing Wigan a 0-4 mauling at home. Former West Ham striker Marlon Harewood scored twice and set up their first as Blackpool took an incredible 3-0 lead before half time completely outplaying Roberto Martinez’s men.
Avram Grant’s tenure as Hammer’s boss got off to a forgettable start as Aston Villa under Kevin McDonald scored a convincing 3-0 win thanks to goals from Downing, Petrov and Milner who was perhaps donning a Villa shirt for the last time. Milner’s prospective employers Man City failed to live up to all the pre match hype against Spurs as Joe Hart hogged the limelight making a couple of splendid saves to earn his team a point. Mark Hughes’ Fulham could do no better than a stalemate against Bolton but there was no shortage of drama at The Stadium of Light. Former Newcastle United man, Stephen Carr was well aware of the reception he would get from the Black Cats faithful but his day would get worse when the linesman awarded Sunderland a penalty for an infringement by Carr that video replays showed was outside the area. Darren Bent slotted home from the spot to give Sunderland the lead. Kevin McLeish’s side got new hope when Sunderland skipper Lee Cattermole got sent off just before half time after a second bookable offence. Ten minutes into the second half Carr’s misery compounded as his attempted clearance turned into his own net to give Sunderland a two goal lead. However the advantage of the extra man eventually told as Johnson got one back for Bimingham and then in the dying moments of normal time, Ridgwell finished a most scrappy goal to earn his side a most valuable point. David Moyes’ Everton suffered a shock defeat at Ewood Park after Tim Howard’s howler gave Kalinic a chance to put his side a goal to the good early in the game. Despite relentless pressure from Everton, Big Sam’s men held on for all three points. At Molineux, Stoke new signing Kenwyne Jones rattled the post early on but then had to off injured. That seemed to have taken the wind out of Tony Pulis’s men as Wolves first scored through Jones and then doubled their advantage through Fletcher. Although Faye got a consolation back for the visitors on the other side of the break, it wasn’t enough to save the day.
It was Premiership action like we know it, there were goals, red cards, injury time melee and of course angry managers. With Chelsea having made their intentions clear, it will now be up to Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd to make their claims.
