LONDON — Samir Nasri struck an 80th minute winner as Manchester City came from behind to begin the defense of its Premier League title with a patchy 3-2 win over promoted Southampton Sunday. In similar scenes to May when it came back to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 to seal the title, City went ahead through Carlos Tevez in the first half only for Southampton substitutes Rickie Lambert and Steven Davis to stun the home crowd. Edin Dzeko then equalized following a corner and France midfielder Nasri took advantage of some lax defending to ram the ball home for Roberto Mancini's men, who lost Sergio Aguero to an early knee injury and missed a penalty through David Silva. New Chelsea winger Eden Hazard earlier lived up to all the hype inside the first seven minutes of his league debut by setting up both goals in a 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic. First he expertly turned marker Ivan Ramis to release right back Branislav Ivanovic, who ran in and coolly slotted home in the second minute having been allowed to play despite a red card in the 3-2 Community Shield loss to City last Sunday. Hazard then danced his way into the box and was carelessly upended by error-prone Wigan debutant Ramis, leaving Frank Lampard to slam in the seventh-minute penalty. Manchester United and new striker Robin van Persie open their 2012-13 campaign at Everton Monday. On Saturday, Hatem Ben Arfa gave Newcastle a winning start to the Premier League season Saturday, clinching a 2-1 victory over Tottenham and ensuring Andre Villas-Boas made a miserable return to English football. Ben Arfa scored from the penalty spot in the 80th minute after being fouled by Rafael van der Vaart, just four minutes after Jermain Defoe appeared to have salvaged a point for Tottenham. A low-key encounter sprung into life 10 minutes into the second half when Demba Ba scored his first goal since February. Spurs looked sharper in the first half when Defoe and Gareth Bale sent shots against the goal frame. Villas-Boas replaced Harry Redknapp, who was fired despite Tottenham finishing fourth in May, one place above Newcastle. — Agencies
