London (AFP)

Chelsea won with authority (3-1) in Brighton, Monday during the first day of the Premier League, while Wolverhamtpon quickly folded his match at Sheffield United (2-0).

- Chelsea's promises

Faced with a Brighton team that will make more than one suffer, Chelsea, very spending this summer, hinted at great things, with its two biggest investments: the Germans Timo Werner in tip and Kai Havertz in the middle.

The first, very moving, notably obtained the penalty for opening the scoring on a ball stupidly lost 30 m from their goals by the Seagulls.

Italian midfielder Jorginho, exercise specialist, took the opposing goalkeeper on the wrong foot (0-1, 23rd).

With N'golo Kanté holder but Olivier Giroud remained on the bench, the Londoners were mistreated at times in the first period, especially until the exit shortly before the break of poor Adam Lallana, defector from Liverpool and used to repeated injuries.

They then controlled the game better, scoring two more goals.

One of a terrible 22-meter strike from young side Reece James in the top corner (1-2, 56th) and the other on a recovery from Kurt Zouma deflected by an opposing defender (1-3, 66th).

The click, paradoxically, was the equalizer of Brighton on a distant strike from Belgian winger Leandro Trossard, on which Kepa, holder pending the apparently imminent signing of Rennais Edouard Mendy, was, once again, not dazzling.

Chelsea, third in the standings, may regret not having scored a fourth goal that would have given them first place ahead of Arsenal and Leicester.

But before receiving Liverpool, heckled by the promoted Leeds (4-3) and his devil of coach Marcelo Bielsa, Saturday, the Blues, who will therefore have 48 hours of recovery less, seemed more developed than the outgoing champion.

- Hot start for Wolverhampton

Two goals in the first six minutes gave Wolverhampton an ideal start to Sheffield United (2-0).

Wolves initially negotiated very well against and a three-on-two situation, concluded with coolness and skill with the flat foot by their Mexican center forward Raul Jimenez, author of his 45th goal in 100 Premier League matches. (0-1, 3rd).

Three minutes later, on a corner, it was the former resident of the French club Angers, Romain Saïss, who doubled the score with a header (0-2, 6th).

Caught cold, the Blades regained strength after returning from the locker room.

John Fleck could have reduced the score if the post had not repelled his powerful cross shot at ground level (51st).

But the men of Nuno Espirito Santo, who extended this weekend until 2023 on the bench for the Midlands team, could also have made the score worse by the two scorers in the first act.

On a ball recovered in the middle of the field, Saïss, a central defender, continued his action and his strike was deflected on the post by Aaron Ramsdale.

The ball returned to the feet of Jimenez, whose reflex recovery came close to hand.

After a marathon season last year (59 matches), punctuated by a 7th place in the league and a narrowly lost Europa League quarter-final, against the future winner Sevilla (1-0), the Wolves will remain a team to follow in the race for Europe.

© 2020 AFP