Premier League
LONDON, Aug 26: Raheem Sterling scored twice and set up the third goal to help Chelsea beat Luton 3-0 in the Premier League on Saturday and give Mauricio Pochettino his first win as Blues manager.
Nicolas Jackson added his first Chelsea goal in the 75th after being on hand to tap in a low cross from Sterling, helping ease concerns about Chelsea’s scoring prowess following a loss and a draw in the team’s opening two games of the season.
“I’m so happy because it is important to have that winning feeling again,” Pochettino said. “It is always good when the offensive players are involved in the goals.”
Picking up the ball wide on the right, he drove in from the wing with purpose, darting into the box and cutting inside three defenders before sliding a left-footed finish past goalkeeper Thomas Kaminsky.
His second came after more Chelsea pressure in the second half. Malo Gusto whipped a low ball into the box to a wide-open Sterling, who swept it home into the bottom corner.
Stamford Bridge suddenly found its mood transformed, and within minutes it was three. Enzo Fernandez sent a clever spinning ball up to Sterling, whose cross took a slight deflection before finding Jackson in front of the net.
Pochettino said he was pleased for Jackson to get off the mark, and predicted there are more goals to come for the forward, who was signed this summer and is the team’s only fit striker at the moment.
“He’s amazing. It’s difficult to find a player like him in the market,” Pochettino said. “For me he’s going to be one of the great strikers. He has the potential to be.”
It was a second straight loss for promoted Luton, whose first home game of the season was postponed last weekend because of ongoing work on its home stadium to get it up to Premier League standards.
Spurs beat Bournemouth
James Maddison scored his first goal for Tottenham in a 2-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday that maintained Spurs’ unbeaten start under Ange Postecoglou.
Maddison put Spurs ahead in the 17th minute with a precise finish and Dejan Kulusevski doubled the advantage with his first goal of the season in the 63rd as Tottenham followed up last weekend’s home win over Manchester United with another impressive performance.
The team now has two wins and a draw under Postecoglou while playing the attack-minded style of football that the manager has brought to the club. Though with Richarlison struggling badly up front for a third game in a row and still looking for a first goal of the season — he was taken off an hour into the game — some Spurs fans might still be wondering just how good this team could have been had the club not sold talismanic striker Harry Kane to Bayern Munich on the eve of the season.
Tottenham dominated the first half and Maddison — who joined from relegated Leicester in the offseason — opened the scoring when he ran onto a pass into the area from Pepe Matar Sarr and directed the ball inside the far post with a first-time effort.
Richarlison had a chance to double the lead when he was played through on goal, but after evading one defender, he couldn’t get his feet sorted in time for a shot before the ball was blocked by another.
Bournemouth improved after the break but Tottenham doubled its lead against the run of play when Destiny Udogie exchanged passes with Son Heung-min before pulling the ball back across goal, where Kulusevski slotted it inside the far post.
Heavy rain then further reduced Bournemouth’s chances of staging a comeback.
The Cherries have one point from its opening three games after losing at Liverpool last weekend. (AP)