Arsenal battle to beat Manchester Utd, world champions Chelsea held at home by Palace

LONDON: Arsenal’s quest for Premier League glory got off to a winning start as Riccardo Calafiori’s goal beat Manchester United 1-0 on Sunday, while world champions Chelsea were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace.

After finishing second for the past three seasons, the pressure is on Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to deliver the club’s first league title since 2003/04.

The Gunners were far from impressive at Old Trafford but earned a huge three points thanks to a glaring error from United’s stand-in goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.

The Turkish international flapped at Declan Rice’s corner on 13 minutes, presenting Calafiori with the simple task of heading into an empty net.

United gave debuts to all of their new £200 million ($271 million) attacking trident of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko but could not find a way past the Premier League’s best defense for the past two seasons.

Patrick Dorgu came closest to an equalizer when the Dane smashed against the post from long range.

It was a tale of the two goalkeepers as Arsenal stopper David Raya also produced fine saves to deny Cunha and Mbeumo a perfect start to their United careers.

Chelsea suffered a Club World Cup hangover as they were kept at bay by FA Cup winners Palace.

The Eagles were denied an early opener when Eberechi Eze’s free-kick was ruled out by a VAR review for Marc Guehi obstructing the Chelsea wall.

New Chelsea signing Estevao came closest to snatching a winner for the home side, but the newly-crowned world champions were blunt in attack against a well-organized Palace defense.

Palace’s key duo of Guehi and Eze started despite mounting speculation the England internationals are set to join Liverpool and Tottenham,