LONDON — Mauricio Pochettino’s return to the Premier League didn’t begin with a win, however there was lots to love for the Argentine supervisor in his first recreation accountable for Chelsea.

Pochettino noticed his staff dominate possession in a way that few groups have performed in opposition to Liverpool underneath Jurgen Klopp, though the Blues lacked the firepower up entrance to come back away with greater than a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

“After four years (away from the Premier League), it is a fantastic way to start the season. I enjoyed the match a lot,” stated Pochettino, who spent one 12 months away from administration after being fired by Paris Saint-Germain. ”I feel we deserved a little bit bit extra total. We really feel happy, however on the similar time dissatisfied as a result of we needed to win and we deserved to win, however it's only the start.”

Ange Postecoglou, the brand new supervisor at Pochettino’s former membership Tottenham, additionally needed to accept a attract his first recreation however got here away with motive to imagine that his staff will be simply superb with out Harry Kane. Spurs additionally had loads of possession however needed to come from behind to attract 2-2 at Brentford within the day’s early kickoff.

Most of the eye was on Stamford Bridge, although, for the marquee matchup of the Premier League’s opening spherical.

The buildup to the sport had the added speaking level of each groups attempting to signal Brighton’s Moises Caicedo for an English report payment of greater than $140 million.

PHOTOS: Chelsea's Pochettino enjoys return to Premier League regardless of 1-1 draw in opposition to Liverpool

Chelsea appears to be like to have received that contest and, if there was any doubt why each golf equipment suppose a ball-winning defensive midfielder is price that sort of cash, Sunday’s recreation made it fairly evident that they each lack precisely that sort of participant.

The first half, particularly, was full of possibilities at each ends and will simply have seen an even bigger scoreline.

After Liverpool bossed the opening quarter-hour and took the lead by way of Luis Diaz, Chelsea step by step took management of the sport and leveled by way of new signing Axel Disasi.

Both groups additionally had a objective disallowed for offside following VAR checks within the first half.

“The start was pretty convincing, we scored two wonderful goals, one was disallowed for an offside,” Klopp stated. “We opened up the door for Chelsea, we lost the ball in moments where it was difficult to prepare for it. … From my point of view it looked like we helped Chelsea get back in the game.”

Spurs shifting on

It’s hardly a really perfect scenario for a brand new supervisor when the membership loses its report scorer the day earlier than the season opener. But Postecoglou is attempting to ensure Tottenham doesn’t linger on the previous.

“Football clubs move on pretty quickly,” Postecoglou stated about coping with out Kane after an entertaining draw at Brentford. “I haven’t needed to give (the players) a warm fuzzy cuddle just to see how they are. We had a game to prepare for and they knew that.”

This was a new-look Tottenham, not simply due to the absence of Kane. Spurs will clearly be a really completely different staff underneath the Australian supervisor than they had been final season underneath the defensive-minded Antonio Conte.

All 4 targets got here in an action-filled first half that noticed Tottenham dominate possession and take an early lead, solely to fall 2-1 behind after which rating an equalizer simply earlier than the break.

James Maddison had two assists in his first recreation for Tottenham, delivering a free kick that Cristian Romero headed in for the opening objective after which teeing Emerson Royal up for the equalizer.

Bryan Mbeumo transformed a penalty to make it 1-1 and Yoane Wissa gave the hosts the lead with a shot that took a deflection to sneak previous Tottenham’s new goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

Another recreation delay

There was one other delayed kickoff on Sunday, this time as a result of the bogs weren’t working correctly at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium.

A water provide concern meant the kickoff scheduled for two p.m. native time (1300 GMT) was pushed again by six minutes.

That got here a day after Arsenal’s dwelling recreation in opposition to Nottingham Forest was delayed by half-hour due to a difficulty with the membership’s new digital ticketing system.

“It is the most crazy reason for delaying a Premier League game I ever heard,” Brentford supervisor Thomas Frank stated. “Probably also the first time in the Premier League wasn’t it? Again, making history.”

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