The defending champions Chelsea are held at home to an eventful 2-2 draw by Swansea as the 2015-16 English Premier League season got underway.
The Blues boss Jose Mourinho had to be satisfied with a single point after seeing his goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois pick up a straight red card.
Much of the pre-match talk was on who will start upfront – Loic Remy or Radamel Falcao. But, much to the happiness of the Blues faithful, Diego Costa shrugged off his hamstring injury and started the game.
The home side took the lead when Oscar whipped a free kick beyond Lukasz Fabianski in the Swansea goal. It was a freakish goal with the ball, intended as a pass, missing everyone and flying into the corner.
The visitors were soon on level terms, however. New signing Andre Ayew showed why he was rated highly during his time at Marseille. He showed lovely touch skills to convert from a rebound after Bafetimbi Gomis’ shot was saved by Courtois.
The lead barely lasted a minute with an own goal from Federico Fernandez putting the home side ahead. Willian’s bursting run to the box created confusion in the Swansea back four and resulted in this goal as Fabianski was left frustrated with the looping ball.
Swansea continued to attack and were rewarded when Courtois was adjudged to have brought Gomis down in the penalty area. It was a triple whammy for Mourinho – penalty awarded, Courtois shown straight red card and Gomis converted from the spot.
From there on, it was a slog-fest as both the sides wrestled to snatch the lead. The Blues boss threw loan signing Falcao as the last roll of dice but the Colombian had very little time to show any impact.
Asmir Begovic who was brought on after Courtois red card, replacing Oscar, had to deny Jefferson Montero twice in quick succession. There was even time for an off-side goal from Gomis which was rightly ruled out.
Swansea continued their tradition of surprising heavyweight opponents on the opening day. Chelsea continued the tradition of reigning champions never losing the first game, albeit sluggishly.
