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Man United thump Chelsea 4-0 in opener

Manchester United made the perfect start to their Premier League campaign as they crushed Chelsea 4-0 at Old Trafford.

The margin of victory was harsh on Chelsea, who twice hit the woodwork in the first half, but Marcus Rashford's penalty put United in front and he added another in the second half as the hosts took advantage of wide-open spaces in the visiting ranks.

Anthony Martial played as the central striker and justified that selection with a goal and debutant Daniel James was also on target for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side.

United are 28-1 to lift the Premier League, although a more realistic target will be a top-four finish.

They are odds-on in most places but a best-priced 11-10 to end in the Champions League qualification spots, while Chelsea are already out to 9-4 and Blues boss Frank Lampard has been slashed to 10-1 in the sack race.

Five of the big six won on the opening weekend as Arsenal defied a market drift to open their Premier League campaign with a 1-0 success at Newcastle.

Unai Emery's side, who were odds-on across the board at the start of the weekend, went out to 6-5 after naming a weakened team including Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock but leading striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was involved from the off and delivered the only goal of a match otherwise lacking attacking inspiration.

Arsenal had to wait until April for their solitary away clean sheet of last season's Premier League at Watford, but they were rarely troubled outside of a Jonjo Shelvey effort which hit the post.

It was a worrying performance from Newcastle as they failed to put any pressure on an Arsenal side who started without Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe, David Luiz, Hector Bellerin, Dani Ceballos and Mesut Ozil among others.

Newcastle are 15-8 to be relegated.

Leicester and Wolves played out a goalless draw at the King Power Stadium. VAR ruled out a Wanderers winner as Leander Dendoncker's header was adjudged to have hit the arm of teammate Willy Boly.

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