Chelsea start with win but Man United only draw

By Mike Collett

LONDON (Reuters) - Champions Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Newcastle United but Chelsea crushed Portsmouth 4-0 when the two favourites for the title began their Premier League campaigns on Sunday.

United, without Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves, were rocked when Newcastle went ahead at Old Trafford, the unmarked Obafemi Martins powering home a header after 22 minutes.

United were level, though, inside two minutes when Darren Fletcher put the finishing touch to a fine sweeping move.

In contrast to the champions' faltering start, Chelsea, who finished as runners-up to United last season, gave their new Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari the perfect start with a stunning four-goal rout of Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge.

It took Chelsea just 12 minutes to take the lead on a gloriously sunny day in west London when Joe Cole fired past his England goalkeeping colleague David James after being set up by Michael Ballack.

Nicolas Anelka took advantage of slack Portsmouth defending to head them 2-0 ahead in the 26th minute and Frank Lampard made it 3-0 from the penalty spot just before halftime after Sylvain Distin was harshly judged to have handled a cross from Cole.

Television replays showed the ball hit his arm while his face was turned away and he made no attempt to stop the cross.

Deco, named the man of the match afterwards, capped an excellent debut when he powered home an 89th-minute strike from 25 metres which James could only help into the net.