What a tremendous opening day of the Premier League so far.
Earlier this morning Liverpool beat Stoke City 1-0, following Simon Mignolet’s last-minute penalty save on his debut at Anfield. Brendan Rodgers’ men took a first half lead through Daniel Sturridge as they pressed for a second during the rest of the game. But Stoke almost stole a point… but Mignolet was the hero.
After the 7:45am ET kick off came the main event, as there were five games starting at 10am then Manchester United faced Swansea at 12:30pm ET.
We covered them all at ProSoccerTalk, so here are the recaps with plenty more reaction to come.
Arsenal had a disastrous start to the season, as they lost 3-1 at home to Aston Villa. The Gunners took an early lead through Olivier Giroud but then Christian Benteke scored an equalizer as he tapped in after his penalty kick had been saved. The Belgian international striker then scored from the penalty spot in the second half to put Villa 2-1 up and then Antonio Luna added a third goal. Arsenal’s bad start got even worse when defender Laurent Koscielny was sent off in the second half.
What a great game at Carrow Road as both sides shared the points. Norwich City took the lead through Steven Whittaker but Everton struck twice in quick succession to turn things around. Ross Barkley smashed home a beauty from outside the box, while Seamus Coleman scored a tap in to put the Toffees 2-1 up. Yet Norwich had the last laugh when new signing Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored a stunning header to seal a 2-2 draw. Marvelous stuff.
Paolo Di Canio’s Sunderland side suffered a defeat at home on the opening day of the season. Fulham made the long-trip from Craven Cottage count, as the Londoners grabbed all three points thanks to a Pajtim Kasami header. His second half strike was enough for the win but the Black Cats did try to level things but couldn’t break Fulham down.
Swansea City 1 – Manchester United 4
Two goals each from Danny Welbeck and Robin van Persie sealed an opening day win for Manchester United at Swansea. David Moyes’ men were in cruise control by half time as each striker hit a goal to calm their nerves. New Swansea striker Wilfried Bony pulled a goal back from the bench to make it 3-1. But United scored superb second half goals from RVP and Welbeck, to win at a canter.
The Hammers gave Cardiff City are rude awakening to life in the Premier League. Joe Cole scored early at Upton Park and West Ham controlled the match for large swathes. The Bluebirds did look solid but offered very little going forward as United added a second in the 75th minute when captain Kevin Nolan curled home a sublime effort.
West Bromwich Albion 0 – Southampton 1
What a tremendous week for Rickie Lambert. After scoring his first-goal for England on Wednesday on his debut and celebrating the birth of his third child, the Southampton striker scored a 90th minute winner to give Saints a deserved victory. West Brom struggled to get hold of the ball and Saints dominated the first half and much of the second. Although Artur Boruc came up with a great save late on.
