Top ten Premier League opening weekend upsets and goalfests

It’s 32 years since Brian Deane scored the first ever Premier League goal as part of a brace that would earn Sheffield United a shock 2-1 home win against Manchester United.

At the same time, Arsenal were to see their 2-0 half-time advantage overturned by Norwich City in a thrilling 4-2 win for the Canaries at Highbury.

Despite that inauspicious opening, United would go on to end 26 barren years without a title by lifting the inaugural Premier League trophy, while Norwich would go on to finish third, their best-ever top-flight finish.

Three years later, United suffered another shock opening day defeat, this time 3-1 at Aston Villa, a result that prompted Alan Hansen’s immortal and regrettable comment “You can’t win anything with kids” after Alex Ferguson had blooded several of his up-and-coming youngsters at the same time.

The rest, as we know, is history, with Fergie enjoying the last laugh as United went on to reel in runaway leaders Newcastle to win their first ever Premier League and FA Cup double.

Fast forward a couple of decades and the opening weekend continues to throw up some surprising results, and with the first day of the 2024/25 season just round the corner, we’ve shortlisted some of the more memorable curtain raisers over the past dozen years or so.

 

West Bromwich Albion 3 Liverpool 0 (2012/13)

This must have been the sweetest of victories for newly-appointed West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke, who had been ousted from his assistant post at Anfield following the much-heralded arrival of Brendan Rodgers.

Messers Gerrard, Carragher, Suarez et al would surely have expected to give their new boss a flying start at the Hawthorns, only for the perennial yoyo boing-boing Baggies to spoil the party with a comfortable 3-0 win that even included the luxury of a missed penalty.

West Brom went on to enjoy one of their most comfortable top-flight campaigns, finishing eighth, just one one spot below the underachieving Reds, albeit by a 12-point margin.

 

Arsenal 1 Aston Villa 3 (2013/14)

Considering the number of times Arsenal appear on this list, maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised by their first-day woes at the hands of Aston Villa eleven years ago.

The fact that the Gunners recovered to earn a top-four spot in the end, while Villa languished in 15th, illustrates the surprise factor in this outcome.

On the day Arsenal’s defence had no answer to Christian Benteke, who helped himself to a rare brace, plus Antonio Luna’s debut goal that promised much but proved to be his first and last in a short-lived 17-game Villa career.  

 

Manchester Utd 1 Swansea City 2 (2014/15)

After David Moyes’ much-maligned attempt to replace the irreplaceable Alex Ferguson, Louis Van Gaal arrived at Old Trafford to a fanfare of optimism following his impressive tenure as Netherlands coach.

The new boss could hardly have hoped for a more comfortable Premier League baptism.

But Swansea clearly hadn’t read the script, taking a 1-0 lead into the break, and then refusing to fold after Wayne Rooney’s equaliser, with Gylfi Sigurdsson’s late winner securing a classic backs-to-the-wall smash and grab.

 

Arsenal 0 West Ham Utd 2 (2015/16)

Having replaced the largely unpopular Sam Allardyce, new West Ham boss Slaven Bilic had something of a free hit for his first match in charge, and he happily watched his team take full advantage with a fully deserved 2-0 win that ensured another miserable opening day for the Arsenal faithful.

Arsene Wenger’s side did eventually finish runners-up, but it was results like this from the Gunners and the other stuttering big six clubs that contributed towards 5000/1 outsiders Leicester City cruising their way to the Premier League title by an almost unbelievable 10-point margin.

 

Hull City 2 Leicester City 1 (2016/17)

Just three months later, and in a bizarre combination of disbelief and inevitability, surprise champions Leicester City became the first Premier League winners to begin their title defence with a defeat.

If it had happened at Old Trafford, the Etihad or Anfield it might have been more palatable, but no, this was at lowly Hull, led by interim manager Mike Phelan, who had inherited a skeleton squad from the recently departed Steve Bruce. 

Sadly, this proved to be a false dawn for the Tigers, who were eventually relegated that season, while Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri fared little better, unceremoniously sacked less than a season after winning the title as the Foxes were slipping to a disappointing bottom-half finish.

 

Chelsea 2 Burnley 3 (2017/18)

Having eased to the Premier League title under Antonio Conte, Chelsea became the second defending champions to lose the opening game of their defence just 12 months after Leicester had set the ball rolling.

While Arsenal were beating Leicester 4-3 and Watford were holding Liverpool 3-3 in other opening day thrillers, this 3-2 scoreline flattered Chelsea more than Burnley, who were good value for their 3-0 half-time lead, and a couple of second-half goals only papered over the cracks of a disappointing debut as reigning champions.

That said, the Clarets finished the season a best-ever seventh in the table, two places behind the Blues, so hindsight suggests this wasn’t quite the upset it initially appeared.

 

Manchester Utd 4 Chelsea 0 (2019/20)

While an opening day home win for Manchester United should not really register as a tremor on the Premier League Richter scale, it was the manner of their dismantling of Frank Lampard’s Blues that caught the headlines.

A brace from Marcus Rashford, plus one apiece from Anthony Martial and Daniel James, set the seal on United’s biggest home win over Chelsea since 1965. 

Sadly, United’s season pretty much peaked there and then, as they failed to win any of their next three outings against Crystal Palace, Wolves and Southampton and eventually meandered their way to sixth spot.

 

Liverpool 4 Leeds Utd 3 (2020/21)

This is another curtain-raiser where the surprise is not so much the actual outcome, but the way in which it was achieved, as Leeds made an entertaining entrance on their long-awaited return to the top flight.

With the season delayed following the extended Covid-interrupted 2019/20 season, the wait proved worthwhile as Liverpool took the lead three times in the first hour, only to see their advantage cancelled out on each occasion by Marcelo Bielsa’s enterprising Leeds side.

In the end, the scoring ended as it began, with a second Mo Salah penalty sparing Liverpool’s blushes, although Leeds were the moral winners of a thrilling contest.

 

Brentford 2 Arsenal 0 (2021/22)

When Brentford beat Swansea in the 2021 Championship play-off to claim top-flight status for the first time in 74 years, not many gave them much hope of surviving their first Premier League campaign.

Three seasons later and the Bees are still buzzing in the ear of their more illustrious rivals, and it all kicked off with the biggest shock of the 2021/22 opening weekend, when Brentford saw off London neighbours Arsenal with a fully deserved 2-0 win.

Manager Thomas Frank had instilled a belief in his inexperienced squad that manifested itself with a goal midway through each half that understandably sent the packed Community Stadium wild. 

 

Manchester Utd 1 Brighton 2 (2022/23)

Erik ten Hag’s arrival at Old Trafford was meant to herald a return to United’s glory days, but they perhaps should have feared the worst against Graham Potter’s rejuvenated Brighton side that had thrashed United 4-0 at the Amex Stadium just three months earlier.

Two Pascal Gross goals in the space of ten first-half minutes put the writing on the Stretford End wall, and for all United’s second-half endeavour, an Alexis Mac Allister own goal was their only reward.

As a footnote, Ten Hag’s problems multiplied the following week as he watched his team get blown apart 4-0 by a rampant Brentford side.

 

Newcastle Utd 5 Aston Villa 1 (2023/24)

While there were no underdog upsets to speak of among the curtain raisers to the 2023/24 season, not many saw Aston Villa’s 5-1 capitulation at St James’s Park coming.

A frantic opening salvo saw both teams get off the mark before an Alexander Isak strike gave the Magpies a half-time advantage, to which they added three more after the break to earn a statement 5-1 win.

The result seemed to inspire the losers more than the winners, with Villa recovering to enjoy their best top-flight season for years to secure a long overdue place at the Champions League table.

 

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What will the 2024/25 Premier League season bring?

All of which begs the question whether the first set of fixtures for the forthcoming 2024/25 will serve up any similar surprises. 

There’s certainly a few with plenty of potential, with the fixture list apparently not doing the promoted clubs any favours, while the betting market suggests that Wolves’ face the toughest test of the weekend when they visit the Emirates:

 

Ipswich Town vs Liverpool

Ipswich won plenty of friends on their way to automatic promotion from the Championship, eventually finishing just a point behind Leicester.

Their only league defeat at Portman Road came last August when they went down by the odd goal in seven to Leeds Utd, and they will be keen to hit the ground running and give new Liverpool boss, Arne Slot, a tough baptism for his first competitive game in charge.

• Latest odds: 13/2 Ipswich Town to beat Liverpool

 

 

Newcastle Utd vs Southampton

A 22-match unbeaten run (won 16, drew 6) provided the backbone of Southampton resurgence, and having won at promotion rivals Leeds on the last day of the regular season, they did so again three weeks later when they met at Wembley in the play-off final.

No Championship club’s games produced more goals than the Saints’ 150 last season, so we could be in for fireworks at St James’s Park, where Newcastle banged in 49 goals last season, a home record bettered only by Manchester City

• Latest odds: 5/1 Newcastle v Southampton to produce more than 5.5 goals

 

Arsenal vs Wolves

Once again, Arsenal had to play second fiddle to Manchester City last season, and Mikel Arteta will be keen for the Gunners to hit the ground running as they look to make it third time lucky.

They shouldn’t have too much trouble taming a Wolves team that won just five times on their travels last term, but their inclusion in three of the opening day upsets above (two of them home defeats), suggests that they can take little for granted.

• Latest odds: 11/1 Arsenal to lose their opening game at home to Wolves

 

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