LONDON: Manchester United and Arsenal opened their title assaults in style on Saturday, with United beating Bolton Wanderers 4-0 at Old Trafford and Arsenal beating Everton 2-1 at Highbury.

But Arsenal's day was marred by the first-half dismissal of England defender Sol Campbell for tripping Everton's Thomas Gravesen after 26 minutes. Everton had Chinese international Li Tie sent off in the 87th minute.

There was nothing but smiles at Old Trafford, however, where United began their first league campaign without David Beckham in their ranks following the England skipper's move to Real Madrid in the off-season.

Ruud van Nistelrooy broke his own record when he scored for the champions for the ninth successive Premier League match, cracking home an unstoppable 87th-minute drive after earlier having a penalty saved by Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Ryan Giggs scored twice - the first with a blistering 20-metre free-kick that was straight out of the Beckham training manual - while Paul Scholes grabbed the other as United outplayed Bolton, who had won at Old Trafford in the last two seasons.

United boss Alex Ferguson gave league debuts to substitutes Cristiano Ronaldo and Eric Djemba late in the second half. Cristiano, the 18-year-old Portuguese winger wearing Beckham's old No 7 shirt, delighted the crowd with some excellent ball work while he was on.

Arsenal also played some superb football at Highbury, where a 35th-minute penalty by Thierry Henry and a 58th-minute strike from fellow French international Robert Pires put them in control.

Everton, though, put the Gunners under pressure in the closing stages after Tomas Radzinski pulled a goal back 6 minutes from the end.

Arsenal's day was marred by Campbell's dismissal. It was Campbell's second red card in successive games he has played at Highbury.

Pompey chiming

On an opening day full of goals and drama, Portsmouth enjoyed their first match in the top flight for 15 years with a 2-1 home win over Aston Villa, who had skipper Gareth Barry sent off 3 minutes from time.

Teddy Sheringham, the 37-year-old veteran who joined Pompey on a free transfer from Tottenham Hotspur, opened the scoring after 42 minutes with an instinctive volley after Villa's new keeper Thomas Sorensen had kept out a shot by Ayegbeni Yakubu.

Czech Patrik Berger, who joined from Liverpool, made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute after a clever jinking run.

Barry put Villa back in the game with an 84th-minute penalty - but was sent off 3 minutes later for dissent to complete a miserable afternoon for new Villa boss David O'Leary.

There was no joy either for promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers, back among the elite clubs for the first time in 19 years. Wolves crashed 5-1 at Blackburn Rovers.

Leicester City, who also came up, went 2-0 up against Southampton in only 10 minutes through a 5th-minute penalty from Paul Dickov and a 10th-minute goal from veteran signing Les Ferdinand, but the Saints saved a point with a superb 30-metre strike from debutant Kevin Phillips and an 80th-minute equalizer from James Beattie.

David Dunn scored the first goal of the new season with a 36th-minute penalty in a match that kicked off at noon at St Andrews - and that was good enough for a 1-0 win over injury-ravaged Tottenham Hotspur.

Agencies via Xinhua

(China Daily 08/18/2003 page8)