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United defeat terrible news for punters

THIS season was meant to be so different for Manchester United - a new manager, new formation and a new-found belief - but the first day ended in a 2-1 defeat at home to 10-1 shots Swansea as the Theatre of Dreams turned into the Theatre of Recurring Nightmares.

It was an awful start for the Red Devils, who lost seven games at Old Trafford last season under David Moyes, and punters who had expected a resurgent United to bury the ghosts of that painful campaign shared the agony. 

The shock defeat scuppered many accas with Hills reporting a third of all bets placed on the weekend football were for a Manchester United victory. 

United had been backed into 5-1 third favourites for the Premier League title before the game but unimpressed layers wasted no time in shunting them out to 7-1 in the aftermath, with Ladbrokes quoting 2-1 that they will win any trophy this season. 

United boss Louis van Gaal faces a huge test to turn things around and he is just 4-1 with Hills to not last the season, although Coral quote 6-1. 

Defenders are likely to be top of his shopping list before the transfer window shuts and Ladbrokes go 5-1 that he brings in Mats Hummels from Dortmund and 7-2 United sign Roma's Mehdi Benatia.

Arsenal struggled to justify odds of 2-7 against Crystal Palace but Aaron Ramsey netted a late winner to seal a 2-1 victory.

Leicester twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at home to Everton, with Leonardo Ulloa scoring on his debut and Chris Wood bagging a late equaliser.

But QPR, who were promoted alongside the Foxes, lost 1-0 at home to Hull.  

Andreas Weimann was on target for Aston Villa as they started their campaign with an away victory at Stoke, while Sebastian Larsson rescued a point for Sunderland in a 2-2 draw away to West Brom.

West Ham had a golden opportunity to beat Tottenham when Spurs defender Kyle Naughton was sent off after 29 minutes, but they missed the resulting penalty and debutant Eric Dier netted a last-minute winner for Tottenham. 

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