Mourinho: Officials punished Blues

Leicester was the place to go for goals, where former Chelsea coach Ranieri made an ideal start to his return to the Premier League after an 11-year absence.

Replacement goalkeeper Asmir Begovic came on for his debut after an £8m move from Stoke, with opening goalscorer Oscar making way.

The Blues were found wanting in the first department against Garry Monk’s impressive side, although they showed no little determination to secure a 2-2 draw after Thibaut Courtois’ sending off.

That was part of a sustained attack from Swansea on Chelsea’s box, with Courtois pulling off a number of good saves as they managed to hold on.

Only five teams featured in the predictions, and with 21 votes Chelsea were the overwhelming favourites to clinch the title.

Swansea were first to threaten, with Gomis heading wide and then being denied by a late John Terry block.

Chelsea were already struggling to cope against Swansea’s extra man before Hazard was tripped by Gylfi Sigurdsson with six minutes remaining, leading to Mourinho’s frustration.

Never before had the competition begun with a player scoring into his own goal until full back Walker inadvertently prodded the ball past Michel Vorm in the 22nd minute when desperately trying to dispossess Wayne Rooney.

“The players came to the home of the champions and naturally we didn’t quite push enough but I have told the players to believe in themselves”.

“I don’t want to talk about it”, Mourinho said of the referee’s decision.

Given the two setbacks, it was nearly predictable that Palace would score again – and new signing Yohan Cabaye netted the Londoners’ third on a counterattack in stoppage time.

Champions Chelsea on the contrary have not rued the loss of Cech and have instead added more experience upfront in the form of Colombian worldwide Radamel Falcao, who was on loan from French club Monaco to Manchester United lasts season.

The red card was pretty much unarguable since Gomis would have been through on goal if he’d not been collected by the Belgian.

The Welsh outfit drew four and won just one of their pre-season games but I’m sure they will be right up for this game with January’s 5-0 humiliation to Chelsea still fresh in the memory.