The 2026-27 Premier League season kicked off with a bang with plenty of goals and upsets galore. Defending champions Arsenal picked up where they left off with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Coventry City,
Manchester United were left reeling after losing their PL opener to newly-promoted Hull City, while Manchester City needed two late goals to overcome Bournemouth. Liverpool required a late penalty to grab a point away to Newcastle United while Tottenham Hotspur's pre-season optimism came crashing down after a 0-3 loss to Brentford.
Aston Villa were soundly beaten 0-4 by Brighton & Hove Albion (who currently top the table), while Ipswich Town ensured it was a good return for the newly-promoted sides with a 2-1 win over Sunderland.
ESPN's By The Numbers brings you the best of stats from the Premier League weekend's football matches:
1
Hull City brought up their first league win against Manchester United since November 1974 (52 years ago) n the English second tier - making it the club's first PL win over United as well.
Hull's last win in all competitions against Man United was in the League Cup semifinal second leg in January 2017.
1
This was also Manchester United's first loss against a newly promoted team in their first game of the season in the English top-flight (9-3-0, W-D-L previously).
2
Nobel Mendy became the second Senegalese player to score on his Premier League debut after Papiss Cissé for Newcastle against Aston Villa in Feb. 2012.
1
Semi Ajayi scored Hull City's first goal in the Premier League since May 21, 2017 (Sam Clucas against Tottenham Hotspur). He also became the first player to score a Premier League goal for Hull City against Manchester United since Matty Fryatt in May 2014.
27y 1d
Manchester United named their oldest starting XI (27y 1d) for a Premier League season opener since 2016-17, which was also the last time they started a campaign away from Old Trafford (also 27y 1d vs Bournemouth).
10
City kept alive their 100% win rate against Bournemouth at home (10-0-0 W-D-L). It is the club's best record against any opponent at home.
4
Man City ended a run of four games without a win when trailing at any point of the match. This was their first comeback win since April 25 (vs Southampton).
17
Among all Premier League players since the start of last season, only Bruno Fernandes (22) has more assists across all competitions than Rayan Cherki (17).
4
This was Rayan Cherki's fourth match with two or more assists in the last two Premier League seasons - the most in the Premier League in that span. It was also the first time a player had 2+ assists as a sub in the Premier League since Brajan Gruda For Brighton in April 2025.
2
With Marc Guéhi and Joško Gvardiol both scoring, the last time two City defenders scored in the same PL match was April 12 vs Chelsea (Guéhi and O'Rellly)
5
Erling Haaland may not have scored against Bournemouth, but shorn of his long locks, he had more shots on goal (5) than his average over the last four seasons (3.6).
200
Haaland made his 200th appearance for City in all competitions and his 200th league appearance in Europe's Top 5 Leagues (67 for Borussia Dortmund, 133 for City).
98:06
At 98:06, Dominik Szoboszlai's penalty was the fifth-latest to secure a point in PL history. In fact, two of the latest five (Dirk Kuyt, 101:48 vs Arsenal in 2011) such penalties scored are by Liverpool players.
4:11
Anthony Elanga's goal at 4:11 was the earliest that Liverpool conceded in their opening game of a Premier League season.
14
Liverpool have remained unbeaten on MD1 in the Premier League in each of the last 14 seasons (since 2013-14), the longest active run in the competition.
31
Cody Gakpo's goal from 31 meters is Liverpool's longest goal in Premier League since Dominik Szoboszlai scored the game-winning goal vs Arsenal from 31.8 meters on August 31, 2025.
61
Joe Willock ended a run of 61 Premier League games without a goal. He had last scored on Feb 24, 2024.
24y 90d
With an average age of 24 years and 90 days, Newcastle named their second-youngest ever MD1 Premier League starting XI, older only than 2002-03 vs West Ham (24y 70d).
17
Rio Ngumoha became only the second 17-year-old ever to start on MD1 of a league season for Liverpool, after Michael Owen vs Wimbledon in 1997-98.
3
Arsenal scored 3+ goals in the opening game of a Premier League season for the first time since Sep. 2020, against newly-promoted Fulham (3-0 win).
150/246
Mikel Arteta brought up his 150th PL victory of his career - the fifth fastest to do so (249 games). Pep Guardiola needed 204 games, followed by José Mourinho (231), Jürgen Klopp (237), Sir Alex Ferguson (247).
2
Martin Odegaard scored in consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time since Nov-Dec 2023.
62
Bukayo Saka made his 62nd goal contribution in the Premier League at home for Arsenal (35 goals, 27 assists), surpassing Cesc Fàbregas for the seventh-most in team history.
46
Arsenal are now unbeaten in 46 consecutive Premier League home games against promoted sides, the longest such run by any team in the competition's history (41-5-0 W-D-L).
4
Kai Havertz has scored in four consecutive starts for the first time in English football (vs Burnley, PSG, Manchester City and Coventry City).
1
Aston Villa equalled their red card tally from last season (1). Only three teams had fewer red cards last year in the PL (City, Arsenal and BHA with 0 each).
1
João Gomes became the first player to receive a first half red card on his Premier League debut for a club since Queens Park Rangers' Samba Diakité against Fulham in February 2012. Gomes also became the second Aston Villa player to be sent off on their Premier League debut for the club after Lee Hendrie against Queens Park Rangers in December 1995.
2
Aston Villa became the second team in Premier League history to concede 4 goals, receive a red card and score an own goal in the first half of a match after Southampton against Manchester United in February 2021 (lost 9-0).
31
Brighton & Hove Albion scored four goals vs Aston Villa after 31 minutes. That was the fastest a team have been 4-0 up in their opening game of a Premier League season since Manchester United in 2006-07 (19 mins vs Fulham).
0-3
The three-goal margin of defeat in the season opener was Tottenham Hotspur's joint-worst in PL history (also 0-3 vs Man United in opener of 2011-12 season).
8/10
Igor Thiago failed to score a penalty for only the second time in his PL career. His record now stands at eight scored from ten attempts.
5
Leeds midfielder Anton Stach has scored the most Premier League goals from outside the penalty area since the start of last season (5).
23
Courtesy of Jack Clarke's 90th minute winner, Ipswich began a Premier League campaign with a win for the first time since 1993-94 (3-0 v Oldham Athletic) - 23 years ago. This was also the first time since 2014-15 that there was a game-winning goal in a 90th minute or later in a Premier League season-opening match. Back then both Eric Dier (Spurs) and Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) did it on the same day Aug. 16, 2014.
Clarke's goal was also Ipswich's fourth injury-time winner in PL history.
1
Emersonn became the first player to score on his overall Premier League debut for Ipswich Town since Fabian Wilnis against Manchester United in August 2000.
1
Nilson Angulo became the first player to score their team's first goal of a Premier League season from a direct free-kick since Marcos Alonso for Chelsea against Crystal Palace in 2021-22. Angulo also became the first player to score a direct free kick goal for Sunderland in the Premier League since Patrick van Aanholt v Everton in May 2016.
Angulo also became the tenth Ecuadorian to score in the Premier League.
3
Last season, all three teams that lost their first match in the Premier League by a difference of 3+ goals were all relegated: Burnley (0-3 vs Spurs), West Ham (0-3 vs Sunderland), Wolves (0-4 vs Man City). This season, Coventry (0-3 vs Arsenal), Spurs (0-3 vs Brentford) and Villa (0-4 vs Brighton) have suffered such defeats.
Seven of the previous nine teams to lose their PL season opener by 3+ goals were relegated - only Aston Villa (2023-24) and Everton (2024-25) avoided relegation.
Information from ESPN's Global Sports Research contributed to this report.
