14th August, 2011
Manchester United opened the defence of their English Premier League title with a 2-1 victory at West Bromwich Albion today.
United sealed their victory after 81 minutes when West Bromâ€
“Weâ€
Wayne Rooney gave United a 13th-minute lead, with Shane Long scoring on his debut for West Brom after 37 minutes.
United, Bolton and Wolverhampton Wanderers are the only teams to win their opening matches, all three starting their campaign with an away victory.
Tottenhamâ€
The visitors had early chances today, with a free kick from Young forcing a save by ex-United goalkeeper Ben Foster, who also had to punch clear after Anderson lifted a ball into the penalty area. At the other end, a Jonas Olsson free kick was cleared by Wayne Rooney.
It was Rooney who scored the opener, exchanging passes with Young before making room to shoot and hitting a low effort into the far corner of the net.
David de Gea, signed by United following the retirement of goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, stuck out a hand to push a strongly hit Paul Scharner shot wide after 35 minutes to protect his teamâ€
Two minutes later, De Gea failed to deal with a low effort from Long that went under his body as he dived to try and make a stop. The Spaniard was criticized after Unitedâ€
United had to replace both center-backs, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, because of injuries in the second half, but the visitors kept out West Brom and managed to snatch the win.
Ferdinand will be out for six weeks with a hamstring injury, manager Alex Ferguson said afterwards. It follows an injury to fellow defender Rafael, who suffered a dislocated shoulder in training and will miss the first 10 weeks of the season.
Todayâ€