What you missed on Premier League Saturday, gameweek 1

The 2024/25 Premier League season kicked off on Friday as Manchester United narrowly secured a 1-0 win against Fulham after debutant Joshua Zirkzee’s late winner.

There were plenty of talking points from the season’s first round of Saturday fixtures. Liverpool featured in the early kick-off while Arsenal, Newcastle, and Aston Villa spearheaded our first roundup of the season.

Ipswich Town 0-2 Liverpool

Mo Salah’s brilliance in the early Saturday kick-off earned Liverpool and new manager Arne Slot their first win in the post-Klopp era. The Egyptian has recorded nine goals in the first game week, more than any other player has scored.

However, it was a lackluster first half for Slot’s side against the newly-promoted side. Kieran McKenna’s side had a good first half at Portman Road, Ipswich’s personal fortress for much of last season. Liam Delap, who joined from Manchester City in the summer, posed as a nuisance through the middle of the pitch.

As a result, Slot took off Jarrell Quansah at the halfway mark for Ibrahima Konaté. The Liverpool manager pinpointed the young center-back’s aerial duel losses after the match but coincidentally was also the turning point of Liverpool’s fortunes.

A delicious inside through ball by Trent Alexander-Arnold to Mo Salah broke the Ipswich defense at the hour mark. Diogo Jota coolly finished to break the deadlock.

A tease of ’Slot Ball’ soon followed as a one-two with Dominik Szoboszlai led to Salah’s record-breaking goal and took the game out of the newly promoted side’s sight.

Premier League highlight: Arsenal 2-0 Wolves

The Gunners were the package feature of the show in the collective round of matches. Mikel Arteta’s side eased to a comfortable victory as they took a 1-0 lead before half-time. Kai Havertz’s head met the pinpoint cross of Bukayo Saka. Havertz, who opened the season’s account for the North London outfit.

Wolves came out in the second half with an intent to control as much as 65% possession of the ball but ultimately failed to create any meaningful chances for themselves all afternoon. New striker Jorgen Strand Larsen had a first-half header saved by David Raya.

It was not long before Havertz and Saka linked up again. This time it was the Englishman on the scoresheet. Havertz laid a scenery for Saka to cut into the box and score a wonderfully curled shot into the right corner.

The win ensured three points for last season’s Premier League runners-up before they travel to face Aston Villa next Saturday.

Everton 0-3 Brighton & Hove Albion

It was a sticky start to the Toffees season at home as they fell to a blistering 3-0 defeat to Brighton’s new manager Fabian Hurzeler.

The former St Pauli boss is the Premier League’s youngest manager in history, and all first impressions pointed towards a revitalization following last season’s late slump.

Brighton scored the opener in the 25th minute through. Kaoru Mitoma. A quick counter attack and some fine work by new signing Yankuba Minteh helped the Japanese score his first goal in 11 months.

In the second half, Everton will have felt hard done by an overturned VAR decision that denied them a penalty after Lewis Dunk’s foul on Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Further punishment followed as the Toffees were caught on the counterattack after Idrisa Gueye’s mistake allowed Danny Welbeck to stretch the Seagull’s lead.

It went from bad to worse as Ashley Young got a red card in the 66th minute after mishandling a ball that led to Mitoma running through on goal. Simon Adingra, another starlet who had not scored for months, slotted in a third for the Seagulls in a convincing win.

Newcastle United 1-0 Southampton

Joelinton’s goal before half-time was enough to secure a narrow home win for Eddie Howe’s side.

The game was an ill-tempered one; the two sides combined for 31 fouls throughout the match.. Fabian Schar was sent off for a mildly looking headbutt on Ben Brereton Diaz in the 28th minute. The Magpies held on for the majority of this game for a victory against the newly promoted Saints.

Nottingham Forest 1-1 AFC Bournemouth

In a game marred by a lengthy stoppage and an injury for Forest midfield Danilo, Forest and Bournemouth shared the spoils at City Ground.

The Brazilian clashed with Antoine Semenyo in the first half, which led to 12 minutes of stoppage time. Forest manager Nuno Espirito confirmed the worst after the game that Danilo suffered a broken ankle.

His replacement Ryan Yates’s shot needed an impressive save from Neto. But, Neto couldn’t get a firm grasp on the ball. The deflection landed in the path of Chris Wood, who opened the scoring.

Bournemouth was missing their new record signing Evanilson, but it was Semenyo who stepped up and capitalized on Forest defender Harry Toffolo’s misconstrued clearance to gift The Cherries a late 86th-minute equalizer.

West Ham United 1-2 Aston Villa

Wantaway striker Jhon Duran was the unlikely hero for Aston Villa in a thrilling encounter that rounded off Saturday’s Premier League fixtures.

Everton broke the deadlock just 3 minutes into the game. An inswinging corner by Youri Tielemans met the firing head of new signing Amadou Onana. It could have been more as the home team struggled to get to grips with the pace of the game.

However, the Hammers got a controversial penalty after Matty Cash fouled Tomas Soucek. The Polish defender got tangled up and wrapped his leg around Soucek despite getting a touch on the ball. VAR also supported the referee’s decision.

Lucas Paqueta equalised but West Ham left dramatics for the second half. Jhon Duran, who was publicly hopeful of a transfer to West Ham just a few weeks ago, combined as part of the super-sub trio with Ian Maatsen and Jacob Ramsey to pass through the West Ham defense and beat goalkeeper Areola for all three points.

PHOTOS: IMAGO