Chelsea suffered fresh frustration after blowing the lead in a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace, while Newcastle beat Tottenham 2-1 on Sunday. Enzo Maresca‘s Chelsea have won only once in the first three league games of the Italian’s reign after a chaotic close-season. Beaten by Manchester City on the opening weekend, Chelsea powered to a 6-2 win at Wolves last weekend before scraping into the UEFA Conference League group stage after a 2-1 loss at Servette on Thursday. Former Leicester boss Maresca insists his expensive Chelsea rebuild, featuring a host of new signings, is ahead of schedule despite their inconsistent start.

Jadon Sancho‘s loan move from Manchester United was the final piece in Chelsea’s overhaul since last term and the winger was introduced to the crowd before taking his seat in the director’s box next to Blues co-owner Behdad Eghbali.

But Sancho can’t have been impressed by his new team as they failed to kill off Palace after Noni Madueke picked out Cole Palmer and his pass was slotted home by Nicolas Jackson in the 25th minute.

Isak fires Newcastle

Maresca was furious after Palace midfielder Will Hughes avoided a second yellow card for a foul on Palmer.

Looking for their first point this season after defeats against Brentford and West Ham, Palace made the most of that escape to drew level in the 53rd minute.

England midfielder Eberechi Eze unfurled a superb curling finish that flashed past Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez from 20 yards.

Eze’s eye-catching goal and a late close-range miss by Jackson ended Chelsea’s run of 14 successive wins against Palace in all competitions.

At St James’ Park, Wilson Odobert, Pape Sarr and Pedro Porro all wasted good chances for Tottenham in the early stages.

Newcastle took the lead in spectacular fashion in the 37th minute when Lloyd Kelly pulled the ball back to Harvey Barnes, who unleashed a sublime volley into the far corner from 10 yards.

Tottenham equalised in the 56th minute as Newcastle defender Dan Burn accidently diverted the ball into his own net while trying to clear after Brennan Johnson’s cross eluded Nick Pope, who had weakly parried James Maddison‘s shot in the build-up to the goal.

Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali came on for his first Premier League appearance in over 10 months after his ban for breaching betting rules.

The Magpies went back in front in the 78th minute when Jacob Murphy ran onto Joelinton’s defence-splitting pass and laid on a tap-in for Alexander Isak.

Unbeaten Newcastle’s second win in three league games condemned Tottenham to a first defeat this term, with the north London derby against Arsenal next up after the international break.

Liverpool travel to Old Trafford in Sunday’s late game as Reds boss Arne Slot gets his first taste of the bitter rivalry with United.

Hired from Feyenoord to succeed Jurgen Klopp in the close-season, Slot has overseen 2-0 wins against Ipswich and Brentford in his first two games.

Slot’s fellow Dutchman Erik ten Hag is already under pressure at United after their 2-1 defeat at Brighton last weekend.

Chelsea confirmed Jadon Sancho has joined their wealth of attacking options on Saturday.© X (Twitter)

File photo of Federico Chiesa.© Instagram

Noni Madueke hit a hat-trick as Chelsea crushed Wolves 6-2 to give Enzo Maresca his first Premier League win as Blues boss, while Newcastle rescued a controversial 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Sunday. Maresca suffered a 2-0 loss against Manchester City last weekend in his first game since arriving from Leicester to replace Mauricio Pochettino in the close-season. Chelsea got off the mark under Maresca with a UEFA Conference League play-off victory against Servette on Thursday, but that low-key success was only the prelude to their goal spree at Molineux.

Maresca’s side made the perfect start after just 98 seconds when Matheus Cunha could only flick his attempted clearance from a corner towards Nicolas Jackson, who was left unmarked to head in from six yards.

Jackson’s goal infuriated Wolves fans already angry with Chelsea after Madueke posted and then deleted a critical review of Wolverhampton just hours before kick-off.

Madueke shared his location, which was Wolverhampton, in the post, which read “this place is s**t”.

He later shared: “Damn wrong Instagram account. You lot are too fast.”

Cunha hauled the hosts level in the 27th minute as the Brazilian forward tormented the Blues again after last season’s hat-trick at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo carelessly lost possession and Rayan Ait-Nouri drove forward before teeing up Cunha, whose fierce strike flashed past Robert Sanchez and sparked a samba-dancing goal celebration.

Cole Palmer restored Chelsea’s advantage in the 45th minute, the England forward taking Jackson’s flick and lobbing a sublime finish over Wolves keeper Jose Sa.

Chelsea run riot

The Blues made a hash of clearing Ait-Nouri’s free-kick seconds before the half-time whistle and Toti headed it across to Jorgen Strand Larsen, who poked home from close-range.

But the rollercoaster clash switched back in Chelsea’s favour in the 49th minute as Palmer found Madueke and his shot deflected in off Ait-Nouri.

Madueke struck again nine minutes later, slotting a composed finish through Sa’s legs after Palmer’s run unhinged the creaky Wolves defence.

The 22-year-old completed his treble with a carbon copy of his two previous goals, once again finishing off another Palmer assist to silence the Wolves boo-boys.

Joao Felix came off the bench to cap the rout in the 80th minute as the Portugal forward marked his debut for Chelsea following his permanent move from Atletico Madrid earlier in the week.

Felix, who spent the second half of the 2022-23 season on loan at Chelsea, blasted into the top corner after former Wolves forward Pedro Neto picked him out.

At the Vitality Stadium, Newcastle trailed when Joelinton carelessly lost possession and Antoine Semenyo’s low cross was touched in by Marcus Tavernier in the 37th minute.

Eddie Howe’s team equalised in the 76th minute as Harvey Barnes floated in a cross that Anthony Gordon slotted home from close-range.

Bournemouth were furious to be denied a stoppage-time winner when VAR ruled Dango Ouatarra had handled before heading in.

Arne Slot will take charge of his first Premier League home game as Liverpool boss against Brentford later on Sunday.

Slot was hired from Feyenoord to replace Jurgen Klopp after the German stepped down at the end of last term following nine successful years at Anfield.

The 45-year-old started his reign with a 2-0 win at Ipswich in Liverpool’s opening league match last weekend.

Manchester City got their Premier League title defence off to a winning start as goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Enzo Maresca in his first match in charge of Chelsea. Haaland marked his 100th appearance for the club with his 91st goal before Kovacic struck on his return to Stamford Bridge to give Pep Guardiola’s men the perfect start to their attempt to win a record fifth consecutive English top-flight title. City were shorn of all four of their Euro 2024 finalists — Rodri, Kyle Waker, John Stones and Phil Foden — from the start as Guardiola opted to give them extra time off to recover from their summer exertions.

Yet, the champions were still able to lay down a marker against one of the few sides they failed to beat in the league last season.

Maresca has the tough task of moulding a functioning team unit from a bloated Chelsea squad that has 43 players and over 50 on the books including those on loan.

The consequences of those difficult decisions played out even before kick-off as Raheem Sterling‘s camp released a statement expressing his dismay at being left out of the matchday squad.

Ben Chilwell was another to face the cull, while Conor Gallagher and Romelu Lukaku are among those not to have been handed squad numbers.

None of Chelsea’s nine summer signings to date were included in Maresca’s starting line-up.

Even more surprisingly, Enzo Fernandez was named captain despite being embroiled in a race row for a post on social media after Argentina’s Copa America victory last month.

City, by contrast, are a model of continuity and consistent excellence.

Haaland was one of City’s few stars to have had a summer off from international tournaments and took just 18 minutes to make his mark.

Jeremy Doku’s low cross was deflected by Bernardo Silva into the Norwegian’s path and he coolly dinked over Robert Sanchez.

Kevin De Bruyne curled inches wide and Sanchez leapt high to turn over Doku’s deflected shot.

But Chelsea ended the first half in the ascendency and should have been level before the break.

Ederson spilled Cole Palmer‘s tame shot but was bailed out by Nicolas Jackson’s straying needlessly offside before he turned in the rebound.

Foden was forced into action earlier than Guardiola would have hoped at half-time as the lively Savinho was forced off injured on his Premier League debut.

The lack of pre-season minutes for many on show was apparent in the more pedestrian pace than normal for a major Premier League clash.

Chelsea did most of the pressing for an equaliser but offered City chances to extend their lead in doing so.

Sanchez made a fine save to deny Haaland a second before De Bruyne again fired inches off target when unmarked at the edge of the area.

However, the Chelsea goalkeeper was at fault for the goal that sealed their fate.

Kovacic was allowed to burst through the midfield unchallenged and took aim for the top corner, which he found thanks to a weak hand from Sanchez.

Real Madrid defeated Chelsea 2-1© AFP

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has blasted Chelsea’s ruthless sacking of Mauricio Pochettino.© AFP

File photo of Mauricio Pochettino© AFP

Mauricio Pochettino may have enjoyed a meal with Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly ahead of a 2-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday that secured European football next season, but the Blues boss said he was no closer to knowing about his long-term future at Stamford Bridge. Victory at home to the Cherries on the final day of the Premier League season, in part secured by Moses Caicedo’s stunning goal from the halfway line, ensured Pochettino’s debut campaign as Chelsea manager finished with the Blues in sixth place.

Now the only issue for Chelsea, after a season away from European competition, is whether an FA Cup final victory for Manchester United over Manchester City at Wembley on May 25 will drop the London club from the Europa League into the Conference League.

Pochettino had been expecting to meet with Chelsea chiefs at the end of the campaign to review the season but the 52-year-old Argentine said Sunday: “I don’t know if (the meeting) is going to happen or not.

“On Friday night Todd invited me for dinner. It was a very nice dinner together.

“I don’t know about the rumours about the review. My staff tomorrow are flying (on holiday). Maybe tonight if (club bosses) decide another thing or tell us to stay, (otherwise) they’ll go for a holiday.

“I’m going to stay a few days more in London. My door is always open and my phone is going to be on.”

Nevertheless, Pochettino took some comfort from dining with Boehly.

“If I invite you alone, and you and me have a dinner, it’s not for a bad thing. If I need to tell you something, I call to go for a coffee, not for a dinner.”

Chelsea’s secured a fifth win in a row in the league by beating Bournemouth, a further sign of the progress being made by a youthful squad under former Tottenham manager Pochettino’s guidance.

Raheem Sterling doubled Chelsea’s lead after half-time, and although Bournemouth pulled a goal back when Enes Unal‘s strike deflected in for an own-goal off Benoit Badiashile, the Blues hung on.

“Always you can improve,” said Pochettino. “They’re going to be much better next season. They’re going to have one year experience, tough experience. That’s the advantage of being solid and consistent and not too many changes.

“If next season we keep 80, 85 percent of the squad, for sure it’s a big step forward. It’s about having continuity in the ideas, and the knowledge between (the players).”