Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United reign got off to a false start on Saturday as Swansea City won 2-1 in the season’s opening Premier League game at Old Trafford.
Meanwhile, manager-less Crystal Palace’s week took another turn for the worse when it conceded a stoppage-time goal in a 2-1 defeat at Arsenal. Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey pounced as the clock moved past 90 minutes to complete a comeback win for the Gunners who had trailed after 35 minutes to a Brede Hangeland header. Arsenal equalised on the stroke of halftime when Laurent Koscielny headed in a free kick from new signing Alexis Sanchez.
van Gaal was taking charge of his first competitive game as United manager, but his new side exhibited many of the same failings from last season — when it finished seventh — as it slumped to a surprise defeat.
South Korea midfielder Ki Sung-yueng exploited inattentive marking to give Swansea a 28th-minute lead with a left-foot shot from the edge of the box.
United’s new captain Wayne Rooney equalised early in the second period, but Gylfi Sigurdsson condemned the host to a first opening-day home defeat since 1972 with a close-range finish in the 72nd minute.
It gave Swansea back-to-back wins at Old Trafford, following its shock FA Cup success in January, and was a reversal of United’s 4-1 win at the Liberty Stadium on the first day of last season.
“It is very disappointing that we have lost our first home match,” said van Gaal, who took over at United after leading his native Holland to the World Cup semifinals.
“We were very nervous in the first half, made the wrong choices, and that is a pity. In the second half, we never played as a team. Therefore, I’m responsible.”
Injuries obliged van Gaal to give competitive debuts to Tyler Blackett, 20, and 21-year-old Jesse Lingard.
The results:
Arsenal 2 (Koscielny 45, Ramsey 90+1) bt Crystal Palace 1 (Hangeland 35); Manchester United 1 (Rooney 53) lost to Swansea 2 (Ki 28, Sigurdsson 72); QPR 0 lost to Hull 1 (Chester 52); Stoke 0 lost to Aston Villa 1 (Weimann 50); West Brom 2 (Berahino 42-pen, 74) drew with Sunderland 2 (Cattermole 5, Larsson 85); West Ham 0 lost to Tottenham 1 (Dier 90+3); Leicester 2 (Ulloa 22, Wood 86) drew with Everton 2 (McGeady 20, Naismith 45).
