Man City, Liverpool start with narrow wins, Costa and Fab impress for Chelsea

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Manchester City, Liverpool start with narrow wins
Manchester City and Liverpool, last season's top two in the Premier League, were both made to sweat by determined opposition before opening their campaigns with hard-fought victories on Sunday (Aug 17).

David Silva and Sergio Aguero scored as City began their title defence with a 2-0 success at Newcastle United, after Daniel Sturridge had struck late in the game to earn Liverpool a 2-1 win at home to Southampton.

City manager Manuel Pellegrini gave a debut to new Brazilian midfielder Fernando and saw his side take the lead in the 38th minute at St James' Park. Yaya Toure found Edin Dzeko with a lofted pass over the top and as Newcastle's centre-backs rushed across, the Bosnian teed up Silva with a clever back-heel and the Spain midfielder coolly beat Tim Krul.

Newcastle, who handed debuts to Daryl Janmaat, Jack Colback, Remy Cabella and Emmanuel Riviere, improved after the interval, with Cabella and Paul Dummett spurning opportunities to hit the target.

Newcastle substitute Ayoze Perez then saw a curling effort deflected agonisingly wide by Fernando, before Aguero ran through and beat Krul at the second attempt in stoppage time to finally put the game to bed.

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Earlier, Sturridge snaffled a 79th-minute winner as Liverpool edged Southampton at a sun-soaked Anfield. Raheem Sterling put Liverpool ahead midway through the first half, but Nathaniel Clyne lashed home an equaliser shortly before the hour following a neat exchange with debutant Dusan Tadic.

Brendan Rodgers's Liverpool looked destined to drop points in their first competitive game since the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona, but with 11 minutes to play, Sterling teed up Sturridge to flick home the winning goal.

There was time for one last scare for Liverpool, with Mignolet touching a drive from Schneiderlin onto the bar and Southampton debutant Shane Long - a late substitute - heading the rebound wide.

Costa off the mark as revamped Chelsea down Burnley
Diego Costa began to pay back his hefty transfer fee with a debut goal for Chelsea as they recovered from the shock of going behind to seal an emphatic 3-1 win over Burnley on Monday (Aug 18).

Spain striker Costa, bought from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid for £32 million (S$39.8 million, US$53 million), cancelled out Scott Arfield's opener for Burnley before Andre Schurrle and Branislav Ivanovic scored further goals before half-time to ease Jose Mourinho's side to an impressive victory in their Premier League opener at Turf Moor.

The arrival of Costa therefore came as a serious show of intent and Chelsea's determination to dethrone reigning champions Manchester City was further underlined as they went top of the table after a dominant performance inspired by a masterful debut from Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

Burnley's back four, the same one which had the best defensive record in the Championship last season, couldn't cope with Chelsea's movement and the vision of Eden Hazard in particular.

It could have been worse had Costa been awarded a penalty rather than a booking when he went to ground under slight contact from goalkeeper Tom Heaton before the third goal went in.