Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou netted twice as Chelsea, who opened the season with a 6-0 win over West Bromwich Albion last week, took their total to 20 goals in three league games including the last-day 8-0 win, also against Wigan, in May.

Theo Walcott was Arsenal's hero, scoring a hat trick in his best all-round performance for years while Blackpool paid a heavy price for having defender Ian Evatt sent off after 31 minutes.

Gareth Bale hit two goals, the second a brilliant top-corner volley from a tough angle, as Tottenham Hotspur won 2-1 at Stoke City.

The Londoners were helped by a controversial late decision that denied Stoke an equalizer when the referee ruled a Jon Walters header was not over the line before Peter Crouch cleared the ball.

In other games Bolton Wanderers won 3-1 at West Ham United, Birmingham City beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 and promoted West Bromwich Albion edged Sunderland 1-0. Everton were held 1-1 at home by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Manchester United visit Fulham on Sunday while Manchester City host Liverpool on Monday night.

When promoted Blackpool beat Wigan in their first game in the top flight for almost 40 years last week they were 3-0 up by halftime but at the Emirates they trailed by the same score at the break and were a man down.

Arsenal took the lead after 12 minutes with a nicely-worked Walcott goal and Blackpool's slim hopes disappeared when center back Evatt was sent off for fouling Chamakh on the edge of the box.

Andrei Arshavin converted the resulting penalty to make it 2-0, Walcott then spun past his marker to bang his second and Abou Diaby rattled in the fourth just after the restart.

Walcott, a surprise omission from England's World Cup squad in June, then produced a dazzling goal when he controlled a Diaby pass, ghosted forward and curled in a precize shot before leaving the field to a standing ovation.

New signing Marouane Chamakh completed the thrashing with his first goal for the club seven minutes from time.

Blackpool coach Ian Holloway was full of praise for the victors. "They are fantastic players, the way they try and play, pass and move is an education to watch," he told the BBC.

"The pace of them shocked my lads a bit but they have to get used to that. I'm just relieved it was only six."  Though Chelsea trounced Wigan 8-0 in May they had lost the away fixture to Roberto Martinez's team earlier in the season and they also looked second-best for the opening half hour on Saturday.

However, when Florent Malouda tapped in the rebound after keeper Chris Kirkland blocked a 34th-minute Frank Lampard shot, everything changed.

Two goals in five minutes early in the second half made sure of the points as Anelka ran on to a John Obi Mikel pass to shoot low past Kirkland and the Frenchman headed in a Didier Drogba cross.

Drogba was the provider again for the next two as Kalou scored after 78 and 90 minutes while new signing Yossi Benayoun rounded things off in stoppage time.
 

In Berlin, Hoffenheim destroyed Werder Bremen 4-1 on Saturday in a potent start to the Bundesliga season on the opening weekend while Bayern Munich proved they will again be the team to beat.

An injury-time goal by Bastian Schweinsteiger sealed Bayern's 2-1 win over Wolfsburg on Friday night as the defending champions opened the season, but Hoffenheim's three goals in six first-half minutes saw off Bremen on Saturday.

"We were extremely bitter about conceding the early penalty and it could have led to gloomy thoughts," said Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick.

"The team was totally unfazed by the penalty and to lead 4-1 at half-time is just fantastic, in the second-half we went off the boil, but the game was won."   Fresh from their 3-1 win over Sampdoria on Thursday in the Champions League qualifier, Bremen were humbled as the home side blitzed their hosts in the first 45 minutes.

"We are obviously very disappointed. We played a bad game," said Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf.

"We started well with the early penalty, but we lost control of the game and we have to question how that happened."   Bremen took the lead when captain Torsten Frings slotted home an early penalty after a Hoffenheim handball, but it was then all downhill for Werder.

Hoffenheim drew level when Senegal striker Demba Ba netted in the 20th minute, but things got surreal when Hoffenheim netted three goals in six minutes.

The rout started when teenager Peniel Mlapa slotted coolly past Bremen's Germany goalkeeper Tim Wiese on 37 minutes.

Striker Vedad Ibisevic then made it 3-1 when Frings was robbed of possesion by Brazilian midfielder Luiz Gustavo, sprinted downfield and put in a superb pass for his Bosnian team-mate to convert on 41 minutes.

Bremen's misery was compounded just two minutes later when Sejad Salihovic curled in a free-kick which left the Werder goalkeeper stranded as it finished 4-1 at the break and stayed that way.

A late goal by ex-Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was enough to give Hamburg three points and seal a 2-1 win over Schalke 04 on Saturday night.

The Dutch striker scored either side of half-time, including a late winner after Schalke's Jefferson Farfan had equalized with a dream flick of the foot on 80 minutes.

Earlier, Bundesliga history was made in Cologne as Lebanon defender Youssef Mohamad earned the fastest ever red card when he was sent off just 92 seconds into the new season in the 3-1 defeat against newly-promoted Kaiserslautern.

After Austrian striker Erwin Hoffer got around the back of the Cologne defense, Mohamad was the last defender and when he brought down Hoffer, referee Doctor Felix Brych showed him a straight red card.

In the other results, Moenchengladbach drew 1-1 at home to Nuremberg as Cameroon striker Mohamadou Idrissou equalized for the hosts.

Hanover beat Frankfurt 2-1 while newly-promoted St Pauli scored three goals in the last eight minutes to seal a 3-1 win at Freiburg.