Johnson scored a brace

London: Champions Chelsea beat bogey team Charlton Athletic 2-1, Everton trounced Liverpool 3-0 in the Merseyside derby and Arsenal drew 1-1 with 10-man Middlesbrough in Saturday’s Premier League action.

On a difficult day for pre-season title favourites, Chelsea secured victory with a deflected Ricardo Carvalho header and needed a potential equaliser for Charlton by Marcus Bent to be ruled off-side.

Liverpool were cut down to size by England striker Andrew Johnson, who scored twice for Everton, while a faltering Arsenal were heading for another defeat before Thierry Henry converted a penalty, soon after a red card for Boro’s George Boateng.

It somehow finished 0-0 between Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers despite three penalties being awarded, Fulham came from behind for a 2-1 win at Newcastle United and Gary Speed converted a stoppage-time penalty to give Bolton Wanderers a 1-0 win over Watford.

Chelsea will be glad just to have taken three points off a side which caused them trouble last term.

Charlton, the only side to deny Chelsea a home league win last season and who also dumped them out of the League Cup, were constantly on the back foot after Didier Drogba gave the champions a sixth-minute lead.

But Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink took advantage of some lax defending to equalise in the 54th minute.

Chelsea gave a big welcome soon afterwards to left-back Ashley Cole, making his debut as a substitute after his move from Arsenal.

(Reuters)