Never before has the opening weekend of the English Premier League thrown up so many surprises than this past weekend.


There were the usual suspects, Arsenal cruising to a 3-0 win over Frank Lampard's newly promoted Coventry City while Manchester City had an early scare but overcame Bournemouth 2-1.


But the shocks came thick and fast. Spurs had spent mega during the opening transfer window, spending £410m on a squad rebuild, but Roberto de Zerbi's men were thrashed by Brentford 3-0 while Ipswich Town overcame Europe-bound Sunderland 2-1.


https://youtu.be/3B8img2AC00


Despite having finished 4th last term, Aston Villa have lost some key players during the summer with Morgan Rogers heading to Chelsea, Ezri Konsa to Arsenal, Youri Tielemans to Manchester United, Jhon Duran to Al Nassar and Lucas Digne to PSG.


They also look set to lose their key striker in Olly Watkins, which just compounds their disastrous result against Brighton - a 4-0 drubbing. Despite losing Joao Gomes to a red card after 40 minutes, the Clarets were already 4-0 after goals from Maxim de Cuyper, a brace from Jack Hinshelwood and an own goal from Victor Lindelof.


*View highlights of Brighton's demotion of Aston Villa here:

https://youtu.be/H2Q7mKG0sOE


But the biggest surprise came at the MKM Stadium in Kingston upon Hull, where the Tigers mauled Michael Carrick's United 2-0. United were toothless upfront, having 20 shots at goal to Hull's 8. United dominated possession, passes, pass accuracy and corners, but the front three of Brian Mbeumo, Matheus Cuhna and Patrick Dorgu were unable to penetrate Hull's defense.


Even when Marcus Rashford and Benjamin Sesko came on, these changes did little to alter the pattern. Captain Bruno Fernandes was a lost soul in midfield as United struggled to get him on the ball in decent areas.


https://youtu.be/xHYYKDFBPl4


In other results, Leeds picked up valuable 3 points away to Nottingham Forest with a 1-0 win while Everton looked comfortable in their 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace.


On Sunday, a depleted Newcastle United - without Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and their former captain, Bruno Guimaraes - surprised many when they twice took the lead against Liverpool with goals from Anthony Elanga and Joe Willock but disappointment came in the shape of Dominik Szoboszlai who scored 9 minutes into added time to steal the points off newly appointed manager, Matthias Jaissle, who had to settle for a 2-2 draw.


https://youtu.be/1UCwnQ35las


Everyone has been talking about Chelsea with Xabi Alonso at the helm. Chelsea have splashed the cash this season, having brought in Rogers (£117m), Maxence Lacroix from Palace (£51m), Geovany Quenda from Sportling (£40m), Marco Palestra from Atalanta (£43m), Valetin Barco (£34m) and Emmanuel Emegha from Strasbourg (£22m) amongst others while also securing the services of veterans Jordan Henderson on a free and Danny Welbeck for £5m.


However, Chelsea did not have it all their own way on the banks of the Thames river, securing a 3-2 win over Fulham with goals from Joao Pedro, Rogers and Cole Palmer. The scoreline might have favoured Chelsea, but Fulham dominated possession, passes and accuracy while Alonso's men shaded shots by just 2.


Looking ahead to the next round of fixtures, it's the battle of the new boys with Coventry hosting high-flying Hull City while Newcastle will look to overcome their disappointment against Liverpool when they travel to Spurs. Chelsea host Brighton on Sunday while United hope to avoid a second defeat to the former Championship sides when they host Ipswich Town.


The second game week ends off with the champions Arsenal travelling to Birmingham to take on Aston Villa and it will be interesting to see whether their former defender Konsa will be on the bench for Mikel Arteta's side.


It is still way too early to see how the cards are going to fall come the end of the season, but Arsenal do have a swagger about them while City still have the grit to win games post-Pep. Chelsea still seem to have the wobbles while Liverpool have yet to find the right mix under former Bournemouth manager, Andoni Iraola.