2024/25 Premier League Week 1 Review

The first weekend of top flight action was enthralling, and here we take a look back at all the action.

Whilst there remains one game to be played on matchday one of the 2024/25 Premier League season to be played, with Spurs facing newly promoted Leicester City at the King Power Stadium in an 8pm kick-off on Monday night, all of the other games for the opening weekend have been played. Here, we are going to take a look back at the enthralling action from the weekend just gone.

In the nine games that took place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday last week, there were some blockbuster fixtures, such as Chelsea against reigning Champions Manchester City, Ipswich’s Premier League return at Portman Road against Liverpool, whilst Arsenal began their latest top flight title challenge with a game against Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.

There were a plethora of goals for fans to enjoy too, with no less than 19 goals being scored in total over the course of the weekend with hopefully more to come when Leicester and Spurs meet at the King Power Stadium on Monday night.

We will be starting this review of the opening weekend’s action with the Friday night football, which saw Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United take on Marco Silva’s Fulham at Old Trafford.

Manchester United 1 – 0 Fulham

The first match of the 2024/25 Premier League season’s opening weekend saw 2 new signings make their competitive debuts for Manchester United from the start of this game, one for each club. Moroccan right back Noussair Mazraoui began the game at right back after signing from German Giants Bayern Munich only a few days earlier, whilst Emile Smith-Rowe was handed his first Fulham start after signing from Arsenal.

Matthijs de Ligt also made his debut from the bench, as did their new Dutch striker Joshua Zirkzee, who turned out to have an immediate impact. The former Bayern Munich and Bologna player scored the winning goal with just a few minutes of the game remaining when his delicate touch saw the ball find the bottom left corner to hand his new team a very welcome three points (87’), as they look to secure a return to the UEFA Champions League this season.

It was almost, and maybe should have been, 2 – 0 to the Red Devils late on in second half stoppage time, only for Alejandro Garnacho to miss a golden opportunity after receiving a ball into his feet from fellow forward Marcus Rashford (90+4’).

In the end it was a deserved 1 – 0 victory for Ten Hag’s United side at the Theatre Of Dreams.

Ipswich Town 0 – 2 Liverpool

The next game that we will be taking a look back at here is Liverpool’s trip to Portman Road to face newly promoted Ipswich Town, who were making their top flight return after an absence of more than 20 years.

For the Tractor Boys, they had 3 new signings begin the game in the starting eleven; central defender Jacob Greaves, midfielder Omari Hutchinson, and forward Liam Delap. Hutchinson was on loan with the club in the Championship last season, with his stay at the club being made permanent from Chelsea this summer. Meanwhile, it was a very familiar starting eleven for Liverpool in their first competitive game under the stewardship of their new Head Coach Arne Slot.

In the end, despite the best efforts of hosts Ipswich Town, Liverpool managed to overwhelm their opponents with a show of world-class quality in the second half in a 2 – 0 victory.

Diogo Jota opened the scoring from very close range after a pass into his feet from Mohamed Salah (60’). Salah then found the back of Christian Walton’s net to make it two nil after finding the net after receiving the ball via a world-class through ball from Trent Alexander-Arnold just a couple of moments following the opening goal (65’).

Arsenal 2 – 0 Wolves

Next up is Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who began their latest challenge for the Premier League title with a game against Gary O’Neil’s Wolves at the Emirates Stadium in North London on Saturday afternoon.

Just one new signing made their debut from the start for Arsenal, with Spanish stopper David Raya making his first start for the club after making his move from fellow London club Brentford following his loan spell with the Gunners for the duration of last season. Meanwhile, two new signings started for Wolves in the form of midfielder Rodrigo Gomes and Norwegian forward Jorgen Stand Larsen. Gomes joined from SC Braga in his native Portugal, whilst Larsen has signed on an initial loan deal from Celta Vigo, with the deal becoming permanent if certain clauses are triggered this season.

In the end, it turned out to be a deserved and quite comfortable 2 – 0 victory for Arteta’s Arsenal on the day, with their goals coming via a Kai Havertz header early on in the first half (25’), before Bukayo Saka then put the game to bed with a powerful, curled effort into the bottom right corner from just inside of the penalty area with less than twenty minutes to go in the contest. (74’).

Everton 0 – 3 Brighton

Moving on to the game at Goodison Park, which saw Sean Dyche’s Everton begin their final ever season at their historic home against a Brighton side led by their new German Head Coach Fabian Hürzeler. Hürzeler is the first manager to be born after the foundation of the Premier League in 1992.

Also, he was only 9 years old when current Brighton midfielder James Milner made his Premier League debut for Leeds United back in 2002.

For Everton, Tim Iroegbunam made his competitive debut from the start, whilst fellow new signing Iliman Ndiaye made his debut for the Toffees from the bench in the second half. As for the Seagulls, new signings Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer were both handed debuts from the start.

In the end, it was an emphatic 3 – 0 victory for Brighton against the Toffees, with Everton also going down to ten men when Ashley Young was sent off with a straight red in the second half (66’). Kaoru Mitoma (25’), Danny Welbeck (56’), and Simon Adingra (87’), all scored for them that day.

Newcastle United 1 – 0 Southampton

The game between Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United and Russell Martin’s Southampton at St. James’s Park on Saturday afternoon was a bit feisty, and it did see Magpies central defender Fabian Schär get sent off with a straight red card almost half an hour into the first half (28’).

No new signings made their debuts from the start for Newcastle, whilst new recruit Lloyd Kelly did make his competitive bow for the club off the bench in the second half. New signings Flynn Downes, Yukinari Sugawara, Ben Brereton Diaz, and Cameron Archer all made their Saints debuts either from the start or from the substitute’s bench. Downes had made his stay on the South Coast permanent following a loan spell at St. Mary’s from West Ham United in the EFL Championship last season.

It was Newcastle United who ended up with the win in the end, beating the Saints 1 – 0 thanks to a winning goal from Joelinton on the stroke of half time from a move that developed following a mistake from Southampton Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (45’).

Nottingham Forest 1 – 1 AFC Bournemouth

We now come to the only draw to have taken place on the opening weekend of the 2024/25 Premier League season. Nuno Espirito Santo’s Nottingham Forest and Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth played out a 1 – 1 draw at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon.

Chris Wood opened the scoring for Forest with barely more than twenty minutes having elapsed in the first half (23’), only for his side to be denied all three points late in this highly competitive contest when ex-Bristol City forward Antoine Semenyo found the back of the net with just a few minutes remaining (86’).

Just one new signing made their competitive debut for Forest in this game and this was Scotland international Elliot Anderson in the second half. As for the Cherries, Dean Huijsen made his debut from the start, whilst Daniel Jebbison and Julian Araujo both made their competitive bows for the South Coast club in the second half.

West Ham United 1 – 2 Aston Villa

Next up is a Premier League contest which was played between two European contenders this season – Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham United and Unai Emery’s Aston Villa – who met at the London Stadium in what was the sixth and last match to take place Saturday afternoon.

Max Kilman, Guido Rodriguez, Jean-Clair Todibo, Crysencio Summerville, and Niclas Füllkrug all made their Hammers debuts on the day. Meanwhile, the likes of Amadou Onana, Kosta Nedeljkovic, and Ian Maatsen made their competitive debuts for the Villans in this match, whilst Jaden Philogene also made his first Premier League appearance for the West Midlands club after re-joining from EFL Championship club Hull City earlier on this summer.

Villa won 2 – 1, with new signing Amadou Onana finding himself on the scoresheet thanks to a powerful header within the first five minutes of this contest (4’), whilst Jhon Duran scored the winning goal late on in the second half (79’), after Lopetegui’s Hammers had found an equaliser from the penalty spot in the latter stages of the first half through Lucas Paqueta (37’).

Brentford 2 – 1 Crystal Palace

The first game to take place in the Premier League on Sunday was between Brentford and Crystal Palace at the Gtech Community Stadium. It was, in the end, a narrow 2 – 1 victory for Thomas Frank’s Bees against an Eagles outfit led by their Austrian Head Coach Oliver Glasner.

Bryan Mbeumo gave the hosts the lead (29’) after an incredible set-piece goal from Ebere Eze was disallowed for a foul in the build-up. An own goal from central defender Ethan Pinnock restored parity in the match (57’), before Yoane Wissa scored the winning goal from very close range in the latter stages of the second half (76’).

Fabio Carvalho made his debut as a late substitute after recently signing for Brentford from Liverpool, whilst Daichi Kamada and Ismaila Sarr both made their debuts for the visitors from the start and the bench respectively.

Chelsea 0 – 2 Manchester City

The first blockbuster fixture of the 2024/25 Premier League season then took place at Stamford Bridge, when Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea took on reigning Champions Manchester City, led by Pep Guardiola, who are going for an incredible 5th top flight title in a row.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Renato Veiga, Pedro Neto, and Marc Guiu all made their competitive debuts from the bench for the Blues on the day. Meanwhile, there was a debut for Brazilian forward Savinho for the Cityzens.

In the end, it was a convincing 2 – 0 victory in a competitive contest in West London for Manchester City. Erling Haaland gave the visiting Champions the lead with almost twenty minutes gone in the first half (18’), whilst Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic scored against his old club to double his current side’s advantage in the late stages of the second half (84’).

Extraordinarily, Haaland has now scored 91 goals in 100 appearances in all competitions for Manchester City to date – this also includes no less than 9 hat tricks, as well as 15 assists so far.

Following an incredible and thrilling weekend of Premier League action, all eyes will be on the second weekend of action to come, starting on Saturday 24th August 2024. Manchester City will be looking to make it 2 wins from 2 against Ipswich at the Etihad Stadium, whilst Aston Villa will welcome title challenging Arsenal to Villa Park on Saturday evening.

Liverpool will be looking to be part of the title race this season as well, and they will be looking to make it 6 points from a possible 6 under Arne Slot with victory against Thomas Frank’s Brentford at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.

There is no better way to watch world-class football than with an Eventmasters VIP Hospitality Package. Book now to avoid disappointment!