LONDON — Manchester United needed an own goal to start the new Premier League season with a 1-0 victory over Tottenham Saturday, while Claudio Ranieri's Leicester beat Sunderland 4-2 and Crystal Palace earned a controversial 3-1 win at Norwich. There was no fairytale start to Bournemouth's first ever season in the English top flight, though, as the team slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at its 11,700-capacity seaside stadium. Watford, promoted along with Bournemouth at the end of last season, was twice in front against Everton before having to settle for a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park. At Old Trafford, Spurs defender Kyle Walker handed all three points to United by steering the ball into his own net in the 22nd minute as he tried to tackle United captain Wayne Rooney. It was one of very few chances in a scrappy match which Louis van Gaal's new-look United started with four pre-season signings. Sergio Romero was in goal after Van Gaal decided that Real Madrid target David de Gea was not in the right frame of mind to play. Fullback Matteo Darmain, along with midfielders Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay all made convincing debuts and Romero improved after some early signs of nerves. Another of new United's new signings, midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, replaced Michael Carrick on the hour mark. Leicester was the place to go for goals, where former Chelsea coach Ranieri made an ideal start to his return to the Premier League after an 11-year absence. Jamie Vardy struck first after 11 minutes with a header to the bottom right corner and Riyad Mahrez scored in the 18th and from the penalty spot in the 25th. Jermain Defoe and Steven Fletcher grabbed second-half goals for Sunderland, while Marc Albrighton got Leicester's fourth at the King Power Stadium. If Sunderland was well-beaten on the day, Norwich players were furious after a potential equalizer was disallowed in their home defeat to Palace. Substitute Cameron Jerome thought he'd made it 2-2 when he stretched his boot up for an acrobatic overhead shot that flew into the net in the 74th — only for referee Simon Hooper to whistle for his foot being too high. Norwich also appealed for a penalty when Sebastien Bassong was pushed over by Connor Wickham in the area in the 89th. Given the two setbacks, it was almost predictable that Palace would score again — and new signing Yohan Cabaye netted the Londoners' third on a counterattack in stoppage time. Wilfried Zaha and Damien Delaney had given Palace a 2-0 lead before Nathan Redmond pulled one back in the 69th. Bournemouth's hopes of a dream start to life in the Premier League were also dashed in the closing stages against Villa. The much-awaited game at Vitality Stadium was decided by substitute Rudy Gestede's header in the 72nd for last season's FA Cup finalists. 10-man PSG prevails A second half goal from Brazilian winger Lucas Moura gave ten-man Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win, its first in a Ligue 1 opener since its new Qatari owners took over in 2011, at Lille Friday. The three-time Ligue 1 champion was a player down after half an hour after midfielder Adrien Rabiot was given his marching orders for two yellow cards in the space of five minutes. Rabiot picked up the first on 22 minutes for a dangerous tackle on Lille midfielder Florent Balmont, and minutes later was sent off by referee Fredy Fautrel for a foul on defender Sebastian Corchia. In the sole Ligue 1 game Friday night, the Parisians had been struggling to contain Lille which finished eighth last season and was playing its first competitive match under new coach Herve Renard. PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who arrived from Frankfurt for 12 million euros from Eintracht Frankfurt this summer, was in goal at the expense of Italian Salvatore Sirigu. Lucas, who scored seven Ligue 1 goals last season, finally got the breakthrough after 57 minutes to give PSG its first away win in a season opener in 19 years. Brighton off to winning start Kazenga LuaLua got Brighton's Championship campaign off to a flying start as the Congolese winger's fine strike sealed a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest Friday. LuaLua settled the first match of the English second tier season when he netted from wide on the left side of the Forest penalty area five minutes into the second half at the Amex Stadium. Wolfsburg, Schalke and Leverkusen thru German Cup holder Wolfsburg began its title defense with a 4-1 win at third-division Stuttgarter Kickers Saturday, while Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen also progressed from the first round. Wolfsburg strikers Max Kruse and Bas Dost scored in the first half and Kevin de Bruyne made it 3-0 two minutes into the second. French striker Lhadji Badiane pulled one back for the Kickers in the 79th minute, seven before Nicklas Bendtner completed the scoring. Schalke routed second-division local rival Duisburg 5-0 and Leverkusen won 3-0 at fourth-tier Sportfreunde Lotte. Eintracht Frankfurt defeated fifth-tier Bremer SV 3-0, while Cologne won 4-0 at fourth-tier side Meppen, which had its goalkeeper sent off in the first half. Fourth-tier Viktoria Cologne came from behind to beat second-division Union Berlin 2-1 for the only early upset. — Agencies
