LONDON, Aug 20, (Agencies): Arsene Wenger’s difficult start to the season continued when his 10-man Arsenal side lost 2-0 at home to Liverpool on Saturday thanks to an Aaron Ramsey own goal and a late strike from Luis Suarez. Ramsey’s freak own-goal set Liverpool on course for a first win of the season after Kenny Dalglish’s side had been held by Sunderland on the opening day. But Arsenal’s decline had begun eight minutes earlier when Emmanuel Frimpong marked his first Premier League start with a red card following an ugly challenge on Lucas Leiva. Frimpong’s dismissal comes on the back of Gervinho’s sending off at Newcastle last week and means that Wenger’s side have collected one point and two red cards in their opening two games of the campaign. And having already come in for heavy criticism from fans for his failure to strengthen the squad during the close-season, this result will do nothing to lift the pressure on Wenger. By contrast Liverpool manager Dalglish will be relieved to have got off the mark after spending heavily on new signings.

The spark, following Frimpong’s dismissal, was provided by the introduction of Uruguay forward Suarez.
The outcome overshadowed Wenger’s decision to restore Samir Nasri to his starting line up. Wenger had insisted before the game that Nasri was in his plans as Manchester City continue to struggle to conclude a deal for the unsettled France midfielder. The reaction when Nasri’s name was announced before kick-off was muted and by the time the player surged forward from deep inside his own half before firing narrowly wide in the 35th minute, the signs were that, for now, he was back in favour. That at least was one less thing for Wenger to worry about after a troubled start to the campaign. There was bad news for Wenger when centre back Laurent Koscielny pulled up with a back problem in the 15th minute.

That meant he was forced to introduce 18-year-old Ignasi Miquel for his league debut, exposing Arsenal’s stretched defensive resources. Despite that, the Gunners backline did well to handle a Liverpool attack led by Andy Carroll, with Suarez held back on the bench. Dalglish’s side started the brighter of the two teams with Carroll and Jordan Henderson both sending free headers too close to Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny, but Arsenal grew in confidence as the first half wore on. Frimpong added steel to the midfield in the absence of the injured Jack Wilshere while Nasri and Robin van Persie caused problems for the Liverpool defence. Too often, though, the home side were guilty of taking the wrong option, notably when Theo Walcott led a break three minutes before half time but elected to pass to Van Persie when Andrey Arshavin was clear.

Newscastle 1, Sunderland 0
In Sunderland, Newcastle’s Ryan Taylor settled a stormy Tyne-Wear derby with a stunning free-kick that clinched a 1-0 victory over 10-man Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. Alan Pardew’s side stretched their impressive run at their rivals’ home to just one defeat in 31 years thanks to Taylor’s second-half strike and the late dismissal of Sunderland defender Phil Bardsley. Taylor’s 25-yard free-kick from just outside the penalty area, after Sunderland skipper Lee Cattermole had fouled Jonas Gutierrez, settled a contest that was high on commitment, but sadly lacking in quality. Taylor, who scored four times against his current employers earlier in his career for Wigan, before being sold by current Sunderland manager Steve Bruce, stepped up to comprehensively beat goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who was caught badly out of position.

The margin of victory could have been greater but for a glaring error by the officials after 15 minutes.
Newcastle manager Pardew had called for an “astute” display from Howard Webb, who had to use all his experience to keep a lid on a fiery affair. But the World Cup final referee was found wanting as Shola Ameobi rose to meet a Yohan Cabaye corner, his downward header flicked goalwards by Joey Barton, before Seb Larsson, guarding the post, flicked up an arm to deflect the ball to safety. Despite repeated pleas from the Newcastle players, and after consultation with his assistant, Webb, who was the best placed of the officials to see the infringement, awarded a corner as the injustice went unpunished.

Villa 3, Blackburn 1
In Birmingham, Alex McLeish got his first win as Aston Villa manager as the hosts crushed Blackburn Rovers 3-1 at Villa Park on Saturday. Playmaker Gabriel Agbonlahor got the Villains on their way with a classy 12th-minute goal before veteran forward Emile Heskey doubled the lead in the 25th. Norway winger Morten Gamst Pedersen pulled one back for Rovers against the run of play but England striker Darren Bent sealed victory for Villa in the 67th minute. Despite the acrimony over his pre-season switch from relegated city rivals Birmingham, McLeish was given a sustained warm reception when he walked across to the dugout.
The Scot named an unchanged side for his first competitive home game in charge of the Villains.
Rovers boss Steve Kean, who on Monday was banned from driving for 18 months for a drink-driving offence, made two changes in the bid to land Blackburn’s first points of the season.
He brought in captain Ryan Nelsen, the New Zealand skipper, back into the heart of his defence in place of Australia’s Brett Emerton, who has a hamstring tweak.

Kean handed a first Blackburn start to striker David Goodwillie, a pre-season signing from Dundee United, with Argentina’s Mauro Formica relegated to the substitutes’ bench.
Within minutes of taking his place in the dugout, McLeish was cheering Villa’s first goal of the season as Agbonlahor charged into the penalty box from the left and curled a superb right-foot shot past goalkeeper Paul Robinson.
Agbonlahor managed only five goals for Villa last season but the effort was enough to take him to 50 Premier League goals for the Villains. Only Dwight Yorke has scored more.
Goodwillie showed his ability with a dangerous shot over Shay Given’s crossbar.

Chelsea 2, West Brom 1
In London, Chelsea came from behind to beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday, giving Andre Villas-Boas his first win as manager.
Florent Malouda powered in the winner in the 83rd minute after latching onto Jose Bosingwa’s cross at Stamford Bridge.
Shane Long had taken just four minutes to put West Brom in front after dispossessing Alex and sidefooting past Hilario.
But Chelsea equalized in the 53rd when Nicolas Anelka cut inside and unleashed a shot that deflected off Jonas Olsson’ heel before landing in the far corner of the net.
Villas-Boas’ reign as Chelsea manager had started with a 0-0 draw at Stoke last weekend, leading to Malouda losing his place in the starting lineup.

But Long’s early opener for a team that has lost all 10 of its Premier League matches against Chelsea led to Malouda being brought on after just 35 minutes to replace Salomon Kalou. Chelsea had been struggling to get in behind the visitors, who were having no such problem, with Paul Scharner testing Hilario from a tight angle. It could even have been 2-0 in the 25th when Chris Brunt’s ball released Long, whose cross was too far in front of Somen Tchoyi. It took until the 41st for Chelsea to truly threaten, Ashley Cole unleashing a rising drive toward the top corner, which was tipped behind by Ben Foster. The home fans appealed for a penalty two minutes later when Foster clattered into Anelka but referee Lee Mason felt the goalkeeper had got a bit of the ball.

Wigan 0, Swansea 0
In Swansea, Wales, Swansea claimed their first Premier League point on Saturday after drawing 0-0 with Wigan managed by the Welsh side’s former boss Roberto Martinez. The Swans, who were hosting the first ever Premier League match outside England, had keeper Michael Vorm to thank for their point as he saved a Ben Watson penalty in a match that the Welsh side dominated for the most part. For all Swansea’s dominance Wigan turned the whole match round in a spell of 20 minutes and looked a different side to the one that had played for most of the match.

Vorm’s match saving moment when he was equal to Watson’s spotkick in the 73rd minute after Jordi Gomez - the former Swans star having gone close to opening the scoring but hitting the post - was upended by Ashley Williams just after Victor Moses’s shot had come off the bar. However, Wigan looked deflated after that and for the final 18 minutes Swansea resumed their attacks on the visitors goal but Ali Al Habsi was equal to everything they fired at him, saving twice from Stephen Dobbie and then getting down well to Nathan Dyer’s shot six minutes from time. The first-half had seen little action though Swansea were unfortunate not to go in a goal up having had the best chance when after just two minutes Danny Graham was presented with a golden opportunity after Wayne Routledge’s poor headed clearance. However, he failed to get much power on his shot and it went straight to Al Habsi.

QPR 1, Everton 0
In Liverpool, QPR piled on the misery for cash-strapped Everton as Tommy Smith’s goal clinched a 1-0 win at Goodison Park on Saturday. The build-up to QPR’s visit to Merseyside had been marred by an admission from Toffees chairman Bill Kenwright that Everton cannot borrow any more money from the bank and desperately need a new owner. Kenwright thought his comments were strictly for a group of Everton supporters, but they were leaked into the public domain, casting a shadow over his team’s preparations. Everton boss David Moyes, whose only close-season signing was a free transfer, admitted on Friday that fans shouldn’t expect a top-10 finish and this lacklustre defeat — sealed by Smith’s first half strike — confirmed his worst fears. While Everton face a dispiriting season, QPR are suddenly looking forward to a brighter future following the takeover this week by Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes.

Fernandes bought 66 percent of the newly-promoted west London club and Neil Warnock’s team responded by securing their first top-flight away win since February 1996. Moyes’ side were making a delayed start to their Premier League campaign after last weekend’s scheduled opener at Tottenham was postponed due to the London riots, but they might have wished for another weekend off. Everton had been in control early on, with Jack Rodwell having an appeal for a penalty turned down after a challenge from Matthew Connolly. But it was the performance of the 17-year-old debutant Ross Barkley which caught the eye as the midfielder — who was by far Everton’s best player — won a free-kick that Leighton Baines fired against the crossbar.

However, Everton’s early dominance began to wane and from QPR’s first real spell of pressure they took the lead. Phil Jagielka carelessly gave the ball away to Alejandro Faurlin and it was quickly transferred to Akos Buzsaky in the inside-left channel whose low cross perfectly picked out Smith. Smith’s first touch took the ball out of his feet and with Jagielka out of position he coolly slotted his shot past Howard’s outstretched left hand and into the far corner of the net. Tim Cahill missed from close range at the far post as he made a poor connection with another Baines free-kick as Everton tried to respond. Everton’s last chance went when Cahill drove in a powerful effort that Kenny turned behind.