Chelsea looked virtually flawless to start the Soccer Betting Premier League season as they routed Portsmouth 4-0 on Sunday. Defending champion Manchester United was held to a 1-1 draw by Newcastle while the other main title contender for the Premier League title, Arsenal, defeated West Brom 1-0.

Last season Chelsea finished second to Manchester United but looked like a different squad under new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. They dominated Portsmouth with goals by Joe Cole, Nicolas Anelka, Frank Lampard and Deco. It was the biggest opening win for Chelsea since 1999. Chelsea will look to start strong this season, especially since United is dealing with injuries, including the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo until October.

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Chelsea was very impressive in their opener as Cole scored first in the 12 minute off an assist by Michael Ballack. Jose Boswinga and Deco assisted on Anelka’s goal in the 26th minute. "I said to Anelka, 'today you have three or four chances and you have to make one or two goals for me and for the people because I want the people to believe in you,"' Scolari said, "and he played very well." It was not all good news for Chelsea as Ballack went out with an ankle injury that will probably cause him to miss this week’s action. Still, it was a very nice opening win for Chelsea. "That was more than I expected," said Scolari, "Today they played very well. It's important, but more important is that the fans of Chelsea saw a beautiful game."

United played to a 1-1 draw at home against Newcastle. Considering all of the injuries that United has at the moment, the result was not that bad. United is already missing Ronaldo and on Sunday they were without Carolos Tevez who went home to Argentina due to a death in the family. They will also be without Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs for at least two weeks.
 
In the game on Sunday it was Newcastle that scored first as Obafemi Martins scored in the 22nd minute. United struck back moments later as Darren Fletcher scored on an assist from Ryan Giggs. United had a number of chances in the game but Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given was excellent. United now has to play at Chelsea and Liverpool in two of the next three matches. "In the context of the season, we can come from behind - there's no question about that," manager Alex Ferguson said. "There are 37 games left and it's not a disaster. We lacked real width and penetration to make a make a difference to that game and that was a real problem."

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