London, Aug 24: Chelsea beat Leicester City 2-1 at their home ground Stamford Bridge. Chelsea's richly-assembled side maintained their perfect start to the season with a battling 2-1 win over Leicester City on Saturday (August 23) despite having new midfielder Njitap Geremi sent off. Chelsea were given the perfect start after three minutes when Leicester's Lilian Nalis directed Juan Sebastian Veron's corner past his own goalkeeper Ian Walker. Just before halftime Leicester drew level with a Jamie Scowcroft header, but their fightback was short lived when five minutes later Adrian Mutu scored on his Chelsea debut giving the home team the advantage going into the break. The Romanian international striker blasted home from long range when his original free kick rebounded to give him a second chance.



In the second half Chelsea's Geremi was shown the red card for a two-footed tackle on Riccardo Scimeca, but Leicester finished with nine men after Alan Rogers and Scimeca were also sent off late in the game.


Chelsea and Manchester United are the only teams with six points from two matches after the champions won 2-1 at Newcastle United in a noon kickoff.


English Premier league soccer standing after matches played on Saturday: P W D L F A Pts 1. Manchester United 2 2 0 0 6 1 6 2. Chelsea 2 2 0 0 4 2 6 3. Blackburn Rovers 2 1 1 0 7 3 4 4. Manchester City 2 1 1 0 4 1 4 5. Portsmouth 2 1 1 0 3 2 4 6. Birmingham City 2 1 1 0 1 0 4 7. Charlton Athletic 2 1 0 1 4 3 3 8. Everton 2 1 0 1 4 3 3 9. Arsenal 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 10. Tottenham Hotspur 2 1 0 1 2 2 3 11. Fulham 2 1 0 1 4 5 3 12. Southampton 2 0 2 0 2 2 2 13. Leeds United 2 0 1 1 3 4 1 14. Leicester City 2 0 1 1 3 4 1 15. Newcastle United 2 0 1 1 3 4 1 16. Bolton Wanderers 2 0 1 1 2 6 1 17. Middlesbrough 1 0 0 1 2 3 0 18. Aston Villa 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 19. Liverpool 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 20. Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 0 0 2 1 9 0


Bureau Report