London, Aug 17: Arsenal opened the Premiership season with a 2-1 win over Everton despite having 10 men from as early as the 24th minute. Sol Campbell became the 51st red card under Arsene Wenger when he upended Thomas Gravesen on the edge of the box. Up till then Everton had had the best chance with new goalkeeper Jens Lehmann being forced to block a shot from Nick Chadwick. The sending off spurred the home side into action, with Thierry Henry hitting home a penalty after Alan Stubbs handled Henry's attempted cross. Robert Pires made it 2-0 after half-time after Everton goalkeeper Richard Wright had saved well from Henry and Patrick Vieira. Wright, formally with Arsenal, again shone when he pushed a point-blank Vieira shot over the crossbar. Tomasz Radzinski gave Everton hope with a goal after Arsenal failed to clear substitute Wayne Rooney's corner. But their hopes of an equaliser were finally extinguished when Li Tie was sent off for a second foul on Ray Parlour. Arsenal 2 Everton 1 Birmingham City 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0 Blackburn Rovers 5 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Fulham 3 Middlesbrough 2 Leicester City 2 Southampton 2 Manchester United 4 Bolton Wanderers 0 Portsmouth 2 Aston Villa 1


Playing on Sunday: Charlton Athletic v Manchester City (1300 GMT) Leeds United v Newcastle United (1300) Liverpool v Chelsea (1505)



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


Bureau Report