Following the return of Monday Night Football and Chelsea's routine victory over Burnley, here is a round-up of the rest of the action from the opening day of the new 2014/15 Premier League season.
Costa Bravo
Burnley 1 Chelsea 3
Diego Costa proved his worth with a debut goal as Chelsea moved top of the table with a comfortable victory at Turf Moor.
It was the Premier League new-boys who opened the scoring after 14 minutes when Scott Arfield controlled the ball expertly and unleashed a stunning strike beyond Thibaut Courtois. Costa, who joined the Blues for over £30million over the summer, had been in fine form during pre-season and added to his tally with his first competitive goal as he tapped in from close range just three minutes later. Fellow new signing Cesc Fabregas produced a sublime first-time pass to set up Andre Schurrle as the visitors took the lead soon after. Title favourites Chelsea ensured there would be no comeback from their opponents when they added a third through Branislav Ivanovic’s close-range effort.
Sterling Effort
Southampton 1 Liverpool 2
Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge ensured Liverpool began life without star striker Luis Suarez in victorious fashion.
Suarez made a big-money switch to Barcelona over the summer but his former side were able to include two new acquisitions from their opponents in their squad. Dejan Lovren started in defence and Rickie Lambert made an appearance from the bench.
Southampton had been expected to struggle following key name departures but the players seemed to do new boss Ronald Koeman proud despite the result.
Liverpool opened the scoring when a sublime through ball from Jordan Henderson found Sterling, who slotted the ball beyond debutant Fraser Forster after 23 minutes. Koeman’s men stunned the visitors by levelling the scores within 11 minutes of the restart. Nathaniel Clyne played a neat one-two with Dusan Tadic before latching onto the Serbian’s back-heel to fire home.
Sterling turned provider to set up Sturridge to tap home after 79 minutes, although the Saints really should have taken a share of the spoils. Morgan Scheiderlin saw his late effort superbly tipped onto the bar by Simon Mignolet and new-boy Shane Long looked odds on to score, only to head the rebound wide.
Ki victory for Swans
Manchester United 1 Swansea 2
Koeman’s fellow Dutchman Louis Van Gaal also had an unsuccessful Premier League debut. The majority of the pre-match talk focused on Van Gaal, but it was his Swansea counterpart Garry Monk who had the last laugh.
David Moyes replaced the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson in the dug-out last season and things looked promising after an opening-day 4-1 victory at Swansea but his nightmare tenure ended after just 10 months. Van Gaal also started his reign against Swansea , who claimed their first league win at Old Trafford.
Swansea's win was even more impressive when you consider the departures of key players Michu, Chico Flores and Ben Davies over the summer.
Ki Sung-Yueng finished off a well-worked 29-pass move as he was left free by some questionable defending to slot home Nathan Dyer's pass after 28 minutes. The hosts hit back after 53 minutes when Wayne Rooney scored his first goal since being named Manchester United's new captain with an over-head kick. Gylfi Sigurdsson, in his second spell with the Swans following a summer move from Tottenham, had the final say as he latched onto Wayne Routledge's mis-hit volley to score from close range.
Precious Silva shines for City
Newcastle 0 Manchester City 2
David Silva was among the goal-scorers as Manchester City began their defence of the Premier League title with a routine victory.
Manchester City looked out of sorts in the Community Shield defeat by Arsenal, but it was business as usual as they beat the Magpies on the opening day for the second successive season.
City opened the scoring after 38 minutes when Yaya Toure’s long ball found Edin Dzeko, who’s back-heel set up Silva to calmly stroke the ball beyond Tim Krul. Newcastle almost levelled through debutant Ayoze Perez, but the substitute’s effort took a crucial deflection off Feranando, who had a superb debut for the visitors, to take it agonisingly wide of a post.
Sergio Aguero had only been on the field for seven minutes when he beat Krul at the second time of asking. The substitute’s initial effort was parried by Krul but the Dutch shot-stopper could do nothing about the rebound as Aguero calmly hit the last-gasp winner.
Wood outfoxes Toffees
Leicester 2 Everton 2
Chris Wood came off the bench to score a late goal to give Premier League new boys Leicester a share of the spoils at the King Power Stadium.
Aiden McGeady scored one of the goals of the day with a sublime curling effort to give Everton the lead after 20 minutes. New signing Leonardo Ulloa scored from close range just two minutes later as he started to justify his £8million price tag. Everton regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar combined to set up Steven Naismith and the Scots lofted finish went in off the crossbar. But Leicester secured a point when Riyad Mahrez's effort deflected into the path of Wood who calmly slotted home.
Hammers pay the penalty
West Ham 0 Tottenham 1
Mark Noble missed a penalty as West Ham were undone by a last-gasp strike from Eric Dier in a dramatic clash at Upton Park.
The usually reliable Noble had scored his last 10 Premier League penalties so Hammers' fans must have felt confident when the hosts were awarded a spot-kick following Kyle Naughton's handball. The Spurs defender was sent off but the visitors were given a let off when Noble sent his penalty wide. It went from bad to worse for the Hammers when James Collins was sent off for a second bookable offence. The Hammers had created 18 chances but their failure to convert proved costly as Dier delivered the knock-out blow in stoppage time. The defender, who joined from Sporting Lisbon this summer, took the ball beyond goalkeeper Adrian before scoring the winning goal.
Chester pounces for Tigers
QPR 0 Hull 1
James Chester scored the only goal of the game as Hull overcame their FA Cup heartache to win 1-0 at Loftus Road.
The Tigers lost a two-goal lead before losing to Arsenal in the FA Cup Final back in May but they started the new season with a hard-fought win. Rio Ferdinand and Steven Caulker looked the better defensive partnership on paper, but it was Chester grabbing all the headlines. The former Manchester United man put in a fine defensive display and capped it with the winning goal as he got the better of Ferdinand to head the ball beyond Robert Green. Chester almost went from hero to villain when he was adjudged to have handled in the box, although the ball appeared to hit him in the chest in the closing stages of the match. A penalty was awarded but luckily for Hull, Allan McGregor was on hand to keep out Charlie Austin's effort.
Super Saido
West Brom 2 Sunderland 2
Saido Berahino struck twice as West Brom claimed a share of the spoils in Alan Irvine's first competitive game in charge at The Hawthorns.
The visitors took the lead when Lee Cattermole's wonder-strike found the top corner of the net after only five minutes, but the Baggies levelled matters three minutes before the break. Valentin Roberge was adjudged to have pulled down Victor Anichebe in the box, although the award of the penalty did seem harsh. Berahino made no mistake from the spot before grabbing his second 16 minutes from time.
Both sides had a goal disallowed before former Sunderland midfielder Craig Gardner crossed for Berahino to volley home. But there was still time for Sebastian Larsson to level the scores after he latched onto Patrick Van Aanholt's cutback to score from close range.
Villa Victorious
Stoke 0 Aston Villa 1
Andreas Weimann scored the only goal of the game as Aston Villa won on the opening day for the second successive season.
Ron Vlaar and Philippe Senderos impressed at the back to deservedly keep a clean sheet, while Weimann tried to prove he can fill the void until Christian Benteke returns from injury by scoring the winning goal. Weimann's initial touch took the ball away from him, but it fell back kindly to the Austrian who made no mistake to score from a tight angle after 50 minutes.
The first round of fixtures is not yet finished in the Premier League and it is already great to see its return. Here's hoping for another exciting season and maybe, just maybe, Arsenal can get even closer to the title.
Roll on the next round of matches
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