Premier League: Leicester lose as Pep Guardiola's Man City win on opening day
Last updated on .From the section Football
The new Premier League season began with a shock defeat for champions Leicester before new Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola made a winning start in the English top flight.
There were wins for West Brom and Swansea, while the three other opening-day games all ended in 1-1 draws.
Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool start their campaigns on Sunday, with Chelsea playing on Monday.
In Scotland, Rangers earned their first Premiership win of the new season.
Surprise results, new faces and rule changes
Ninety days after the curtain came down on a season full of surprises and drama, the English top flight returned.
Led by the arrival of former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach Guardiola, there are new faces in the dugout, on the pitch and some new rules to grasp.
The Spaniard, 45, watched his City side nick a late win 2-1 against Sunderland as just 14 goals were scored in seven matches on the opening day.
Other than City's £47.5m defender John Stones, none of the biggest-money signings were in action.
Arsenal's £35m enforcer Granit Xhaka and Liverpool's £34m forward Sadio Mane could make their debuts on Sunday. Meanwhile Manchester United's record £89m midfielder Paul Pogba will not feature because he is suspended.
The most significant rule change sees red cards being issued to players who confront match officials. It was noticeable that none of the Hull City's players surrounded referee Mike Dean when Leicester were awarded a contentious penalty in the opening game.
When are the rest back in action?
United, crowned English champions on a record 20 occasions, go to Bournemouth as new manager Jose Mourinho looks to guide them to a first title since 2013.
Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, who finished as runners-up behind Leicester last season, host Liverpool at Emirates Stadium.
Chelsea also have a new manager in the shape of former Italy coach Antonio Conte as they aim to improve on a disappointing 10th-place finish last term.
The four-time Premier League champions host London rivals West Ham on Monday.
What happened away from the Premier League?
Rangers, who have won a record 54 Scottish titles, are back in the top flight after a four-year absence following financial trouble.
After drawing 1-1 in their opener, first-half goals from Harry Forrester and Kenny Miller earned their first league win of the season at Dundee.
In the English Championship, relegated Newcastle United, managed by former Real Madrid, Liverpool and Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez, continued their losing start with a second successive league defeat, while Aston Villa clinched their first win in more than six months in their first season outside the top flight since 1987.
Benitez watched his Newcastle side lose 2-1 against Huddersfield Town in front of 52,079 supporters at St James' Park.
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Just to present some facts as you seem to think your OPINION qualifies ?
Last 40 years European / CL Finalists
Spain 15 - won 9
Germany 13 - won 4
Italy 18 - won 8
England 17 - won 11 !!!
I guess if you avoid hard facts that would make your OPINION true ???
The best leagues in the world
Obvious to anyone intelligent (why would you exclude yourself ?)
La Liga - only 2 or 3 good teams
Serie A - good in 80's
Bundesliga - 1 team league
Premier League - by far the WORLD's best / favourite league as decreed by 2 BILLION viewers
OR
we can believe YOU ???
It keeps the league interesting, hope it can continue
Just a thought to the constant snipers who winge when a HYS comes up about Man U attracting 1,000s of comments.
The Beeb have a duty to provide broadcasts and subject matter that people are actually interested in, not niche non entities.
What the Hull is going on ?
And Hull will be relegated. As a city Hull excel at one thing and that's a self pittying, snivelling form of self deprecation. We will see that thoroughbred loser mentality mirrored on the pitch soon enough.
Their business plan is built on sand, the only problem for the rest of us is whats underneath the sand - about a billion barrels of crude per day!
So, what price a Prem league title, about £700m, unless you're Leicesetr that is in which case it's about £38m
Jog on.....
"leicester awful team"
Still better than the rest last season........
..........Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Incidentally, you're not a Glasgow Rankgers follower, are you?
Even Hull have worked Leicester out. Everybody behind the ball and give them no room. That and the europeans midweek will drain their will away.
Leicester - hahahahahaha! Hull City, lol! Champions League, you're having a laugh!
In terms of quality we lack top players which is why so many teams can win the title, Bayern, Real, Barca etc would walk our league.
The EPL hasn't had a single player near the world 11 since Ronaldo left.
Poignant may change that however and turn the tide, time will tell.
2) Pep Guardiola-DEFINITELY prove to be FLOP compared to his predecessor - he lives in cloud cuckooland
3) More-in-yo - to continue in his same old way - bullying/intimidating officials (& his players are taught to do same).
4) Arsenal-bark loud but no bite - a wussy manager who does not instil guts in players.
5) --Run out of space---