Premier League Round-Up: The Opening Round Read in Ten Results

Manchester United lost 2-0 at Hull City on the opening Saturday, and it was the first time in 13 opening-day meetings with a promoted side that they had been beaten by one. That was the round's loudest result, but not the only one that left a manager staring at the floor. Aston Villa, Europa League winners last season, conceded four inside 31 minutes at Brighton and finished with ten men. Tottenham spent around £237m over the summer and did not register an attempt on target before half-time at Brentford. Eleven clubs sent out a manager taking charge of them in the Premier League for the first time, more than on any opening matchday since the competition's first season, and by Monday night the table already looked like an argument.

The shape of the round

Brighton & Hove Albion sit top of the first table of the season and Aston Villa sit bottom of it, which is what a single 4-0 does when nobody else has played twice. Arsenal are second and Brentford third on the same goal difference, with Everton, Hull City, Chelsea, Ipswich Town, Manchester City and Leeds United completing a set of nine opening winners. Newcastle United and Liverpool took a point each from the round's only draw. Below them, in the places that will mean nothing in May and everything in the group chats this week, sit Manchester United in 17th, Coventry City 18th, Tottenham Hotspur 19th and Villa 20th.

The other number worth holding onto is the turnover in the dugouts. Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso, who once played 46 league games alongside each other for Liverpool, became the 10th and 11th managers to take charge of a particular Premier League club for the first time on this opening weekend. That is the most on an opening matchday of any campaign bar the competition's first in 1992-93, beating the nine managed in 2012-13 and again in 2016-17. Enzo Maresca began life at the Etihad without Pep Guardiola. Andoni Iraola swapped Bournemouth for Anfield and came away from St James' Park with a point. Matthias Jaissle took over from Eddie Howe on Tyneside, and Pierre Sage became the 15th man to lose his first Premier League game in charge of Crystal Palace. Four of the eleven won. Continuity, on this evidence, is worth something.

Hull City 2-0 Manchester United: nine years away, one afternoon to remember

Hull's first Premier League game since a 7-1 home defeat by Tottenham in May 2017 ended with two defenders on the scoresheet and Michael Carrick trying to explain how a side that finished third last season had been outplayed at the MKM Stadium. Semi Ajayi lashed in the opener in the 17th minute after Oli McBurnie's effort was tipped onto the post by Senne Lammens. Nobel Mendy, the club-record signing from Rayo Vallecano at more than £20m, headed in Regan Slater's free-kick seven minutes before the break, on his debut.

The two goals told the story of how Hull have been assembled. Slater arrived on loan from Sheffield United when the club were in League One and cost £50,000 when the move was made permanent. Ajayi was released by West Bromwich Albion last summer after refusing to take a pay cut, and his goal was Hull's first in the Premier League since Sam Clucas scored in that Spurs humiliation. Between them they cost less than a substitute's bootlaces, and between them they gave the club a first top-flight win over United and a first league win over them in any division since 1974, in the old Second Division.

United had 72% of the ball, attempted more passes than in any Premier League game last season and got 21 attempts away, which is the modern way of saying they lost. Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans were both hooked midway through the second half. Marcus Rashford came on at half-time, back from his loan at Barcelona and playing for his boyhood club for the first time since December 2024, and made no difference at all. Konstantinos Tzolakis made five saves in the Hull goal. It was, in the end, comfortable.

Brighton 4-0 Aston Villa: the Europa League winners come apart in 31 minutes

Unai Emery was asked about Ollie Watkins' absence before kick-off and answered with a single word: "Silence." What followed at the Amex was not. Pau Torres played a blind pass into his own box, Maxim De Cuyper hit the post and the ball went in off Victor Lindelof after eight minutes, and by the half-hour Villa had conceded four.

De Cuyper got the second himself, turning in Georginio Rutter's cutback from six yards in the 18th minute. Jack Hinshelwood then scored twice in as many minutes, tapping in Diego Gomez's knock-back on the half-hour and punishing Yasin Ayari's robbery of Joao Gomes in the box a minute later. Gomes, a £38m summer signing from Wolves already booked for waving an imaginary card at the referee, then kicked out at Rutter and was sent off after a video assistant referee review on 40 minutes. A debut that bad takes commitment.

Villa held the score at 4-0 through the second half, which is the only consolation available to them. The wider problem is that they have lost Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa this summer, that Watkins is linked with Al-Hilal, and that Emi Martinez's future is unsettled after a failed move to Juventus and the arrival of Zion Suzuki. Fourth place and a European trophy last season bought Emery credit. This was the first withdrawal.

Fulham 2-3 Chelsea: Palmer picks up where he stopped

Cole Palmer set up Joao Pedro after 31 seconds and scored what proved the winner through Bernd Leno's legs four minutes into the second half, and by full time the Sky Sports studio was busy deciding whether missing out on Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad had been the making of him. Gary Neville's verdict: "That tonight was the old Cole Palmer. It was unbelievable to watch." At 24, with his previous campaign wrecked by fatigue and injury, Palmer had the run of Craven Cottage.

Xabi Alonso's first Premier League game as Chelsea manager was not comfortable, though. Josh King is 19 and an England Under-21 international, and in the 23rd minute he beat Robert Sanchez at his near post with a shot the goalkeeper should have kept out. Morgan Rogers, Chelsea's record summer signing, put them back in front four minutes before the break from Maxence Lacroix's cutback, and Palmer made it 3-1. Then Fulham found a debutant of their own. Gonzalo Garcia, signed from Real Madrid, nodded in on 54 minutes and became the club's first scorer on a Premier League debut since Chris David in May 2014.

Sanchez had already made two elementary distribution errors before King's goal, and Jamie Carragher used the aftermath to repeat a three-year-old point: "Chelsea will never win the league with Sanchez in goal." Alonso preferred to talk about foundations, saying his team needs "stability, have control, quality and sharpness" behind a front three that scored three times without ever looking settled. It was Chelsea's first win in an opening league fixture since 2022-23, and the fourth time Fulham have started a Premier League season with a London derby, all four of which they have lost. Fulham's Alvaro Arbeloa, in a Premier League dugout for the first time, will take the performance and leave the result.

Manchester City 2-1 Bournemouth: Maresca survives the Guardiola hangover

City went 1-0 down at home on the opening day of a Premier League campaign for the first time since 1995-96, a season that ended in relegation, and for 84 minutes Enzo Maresca's first Premier League game in charge was heading for a second straight defeat after the 3-0 Community Shield loss to Arsenal. Marcus Tavernier had been left in acres of space to slam in Evanilson's low ball across the box in the 26th minute. Erling Haaland, a serial August scorer for as long as he has been in England, missed five chances.

Maresca's team sheet confused a lot of people, with six players who have spent most of their City careers in defence starting, including Marc Guehi in defensive midfield for only the third time in his career. Guehi headed in Rayan Cherki's corner with six minutes left. Josko Gvardiol, another defender, then guided Cherki's pass into the bottom corner in the first minute of stoppage time, flagged offside and awarded after a video assistant referee review.

Bournemouth had not lost in any competition since January, a club-record 18-game run, and their new manager Marco Rose can point to a first game at the Etihad that his side led from the 26th minute until the 84th. Only Antonio Silva, the Portuguese defender brought in to replace Marcos Senesi, started as a new signing. Sixth place and a first European qualification in the club's history last season set a bar that Iraola cleared and then walked away from, and Rose has not started badly. He has just started with nothing to show for it.

Newcastle 2-2 Liverpool: nine minutes of stoppage time, and the last kick of it

St James' Park spent the build-up remembering Kevin Keegan, who died last month at the age of 75. A tifo reading "King Kev" filled one stand, a mosaic made from the shirts left outside the ground after the news covered the centre circle, and the crowd of 52,630 applauded for a minute before kick-off. Then Anthony Elanga scored his first goal for Newcastle after five minutes, sent away by William Osula and finishing into the far corner, and Matthias Jaissle's first league game as head coach began to look like a statement.

Cody Gakpo levelled with a precise strike from distance past Lukas Hornicek in the 55th minute. Two minutes later, substitute Joe Willock restored the lead from Wissa's pass. Wissa should have finished it himself late on when he broke clear, and shot straight at Alisson. In the ninth minute of stoppage time, Lewis Hall brought down Victor Munoz in the box and Dominik Szoboszlai hammered the penalty into the roof of the net.

Jaissle inherited a squad missing its spine. Bruno Guimaraes has gone to Arsenal, Sandro Tonali to Tottenham, and Eddie Howe's long spell in charge is over. The high press he is known for troubled Liverpool early, and Elanga looked like a different player from the one who struggled in front of goal last season. For Iraola, 60% possession and 27 attempts produced a point and a list. Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez were poor at full-back, and Alexander Isak was anonymous on his first visit back to the club he left last September for £125m.

Arsenal 3-0 Coventry City: the champions barely change gear

Friday night at the Emirates was a formality dressed as a fixture. Kai Havertz, picked ahead of Viktor Gyokeres, turned in Riccardo Calafiori's low cross in the 15th minute. Bukayo Saka made it two eight minutes later when Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth could only palm Christos Tzolis' delivery into his path. Martin Odegaard added a scuffed third four minutes into the second half from Ben White's pass, and Arsenal's title defence was under way in front of 60,098.

Tzolis was the story. The Greek winger, a summer arrival, pressed relentlessly, had a hand in both first-half goals and lacked only a goal of his own on his Premier League debut. Arsenal did it without Bruno Guimaraes and William Saliba, both injured, and with new signing Ezri Konsa presented to the crowd before kick-off. Mikel Arteta, who ended the club's 22-year wait for the league title last season, told Match of the Day: "We were so dominant, we had incredible connections, we were really accurate with the ball." Odegaard needed fewer words: "Last year is finished now, we want to do it again."

Coventry, in the top flight for the first time in 25 years, managed one shot on target. Frank Lampard started five summer arrivals including club-record signing Caleb Yirenkyi at £23m from an outlay of around £130m, and afterwards called it "a good learning curve for our players". His captain Matt Grimes was blunter about the gap: "You can feel it, they're so well drilled and they have players everywhere." Seven of the past nine promoted sides have gone straight back down, and that, rather than Arsenal, is the number Coventry are actually playing against.

Brentford 3-0 Tottenham: £237m and nothing on target before half-time

Spurs broke their transfer record twice this summer, spending around £237m to bury back-to-back 17th-placed finishes, and started Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and the £100m Sandro Tonali at the Gtech. They were 2-0 down inside 33 minutes and had not managed an attempt on target by the interval.

Keane Lewis-Potter was left unmarked to open the scoring in the 12th minute from Mamadou Sangare's pass, and Vitaly Janelt tapped in the second on 33 after Antonin Kinsky had kept out Mathias Jensen. Roberto de Zerbi sent on Mateus Fernandes, an £85m signing, and Rodrigo Bentancur at the break for Conor Gallagher and Lucas Bergvall, and Michael Kayode made it three four minutes into the second half when Sangare's shot was parried into his path. Igor Thiago then hit the post with a penalty after Bentancur fouled Kevin Schade, which counts as Tottenham's best moment of the afternoon.

Sangare, the Mali midfielder signed from Lens as Brentford's club-record recruit, ran the game. Keith Andrews' side finished ninth last season and missed Europe on goal difference, and they looked entirely untroubled by whatever pressure that is supposed to create. With Micky van de Ven injured, 20-year-old Archie Gray became the youngest player to captain Tottenham before being replaced late and handing the armband to James Maddison. By then the away end had thinned out, and the home support were singing "You're going down with the Fulham" at the ones who had stayed.

The rest of the round

Everton 2-0 Crystal Palace

Everton won their opening Premier League game for the first time in five years, their earliest victory in a campaign since Rafa Benitez beat Southampton 3-1 in August 2021. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall arrowed in the opener three minutes before the break from Armstrong's pass, and Thierno Barry headed in Iliman Ndiaye's cross eight minutes into the second half. It was David Moyes' first win in eight Premier League matches after a seven-game winless run closed last season. Palace, without last season's top scorer Ismaila Sarr as a move to Galatasaray hovers, hit the woodwork twice through Eddie Nketiah and Jean-Philippe Mateta. Their afternoon then turned properly bad: defender Chadi Riad was carried off on a stretcher with what looked a serious knee injury. Moyes had spent the build-up describing Everton's first year at the Hill Dickinson Stadium as a room with only the wallpaper up. In front of 51,820, it started to look furnished.

Ipswich Town 2-1 Sunderland

Gary O'Neil's first competitive game in charge of Ipswich was decided in the 90th minute by a substitute scoring against the club that sold him. Julio Enciso, one of seven new signings in the starting side, intercepted Luke O'Nien's pass, beat Dan Ballard and squared for Emersonn to open the scoring in the 24th minute. Nilson Angulo curled a free-kick in off the crossbar six minutes before the break. Then Jack Clarke, signed from Sunderland two years ago in a deal worth £20m and introduced for Enciso on 71 minutes, curled into the far bottom corner after Omar Alderete's pass was cut out. O'Neil called it a "welcome back to the Premier League" moment and added: "You can see how hard it is to win a Premier League game." Regis Le Bris, whose side finished seventh last season and start this one in the Europa League, was more clipped: "this is the Premier League, it is ruthless."

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Leeds United

Oliver Glasner became Forest's fifth manager in less than a year and lost his first game to a free-kick two minutes from time. Anton Stach won the foul off Nikola Milenkovic and beat Matz Sels at his near post in the 88th minute. Before that the City Ground had watched Harry Wilson have a goal disallowed for offside, Jair Cunha head against the post, and Trafford, signed for a record fee for a British goalkeeper as part of an £80m summer investment, deny Igor Jesus with a diving save after 17 minutes. Evangelos Marinakis called Glasner "a winner" when he appointed him to succeed the sacked Vitor Pereira, who followed Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche out of the door during a 16th-placed season. Daniel Farke's Leeds, eight points clear of the bottom three last time, banked three points and go back to the same ground on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup.

What round two asks next

Crystal Palace host Manchester City on Friday night, which pairs a manager who has already lost his first Premier League game in charge with one who nearly did. Coventry take on Hull on Saturday afternoon, two promoted clubs meeting in the kind of fixture that decides a season rather than the kind that merely embarrasses it. Tottenham get Newcastle at home on Saturday evening, a week after the worst possible advertisement for a £237m summer. Manchester United welcome Ipswich to Old Trafford on Sunday needing the result rather more than the fixture list suggests. And on Monday night Aston Villa host Arsenal, which is either the chance Unai Emery needs or the last thing he wanted. One round in, the only safe prediction is that this table will look nothing like itself by October.

Sources: BBC Sport.