Fulham 0–3 Arsenal
The Gunners traveled to the Craven Cottage Stadium to kick off the first match of the season. In the 7th minute, Fulham had its first good chance on goal. Ivan Cavaleiro passed the ball up the field for a sprinting Denis Odoi to catch up with. With Arsenal’s defenders marking him, Odoi went for a shot but found the arms of the keeper. A minute later, Arsenal responded with a goal by Alexandre Lacazette after confusion in the penalty box led the Gunner to tap the ball in.
Arsenal’s second goal came in the opening minutes of the second half after Willian took a corner kick and found the head of Gabriel Magalães and put the ball through the keeper’s legs. Their third and final goal came in the 57th minute from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Willian switched the field and passed to Aubameyang who waited long enough to have a Fulham defender press him and curved the ball into the upper right corner.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Southampton
Palace hosted the Saints in a match that could’ve gone either side’s way. Southampton saw two good chances in the opening few minutes of the match: the first in the third minute after a corner kick from James Ward-Prowse found the head of Jack Stephens but couldn’t put enough power on it. The second came a minute later after the Saints were on the attack. Ryan Bertrand passed the ball from out wide toward the top of the penalty area to find Ché Adams. Adams made a short pass to Danny Ings, but a collision with Cheikhou Kouyaté prevented the Saints from getting an early lead.
Palace found its momentum and scored the lone goal in the 13th minute, after a passed ball to Andros Townsend allowed him to move up the field with plenty of space to move around. Pressing into the penalty area, Townsend found Wilfred Zaha wide open and crossed the ball, leading to a clinical finish from the forward.
The Eagles almost had a second goal given to them after a lobbed ball from James McArthur found Zaha with no one around him. The forward scored again, but a controversial VAR call said otherwise and he was called offside.
Liverpool 4-3 Leeds United
This was the most interesting match of the week. The reigning champions of England versus a team that hasn’t been in the Premier League in 16 years; and what a match it was. In the opening minutes, Liverpool was given a penalty after a handball on Robin Koch. Mohammed Salah took the penalty and scored. Leeds responded almost 10 minutes later after a crossed ball to Jack Harrison found himself dancing around Liverpool’s defense and shot the ball towards the bottom left side of the goal. The Reds regained momentum and in the 20th minute, Virgil van Dijk scored a header off a corner kick.
After a constant “see-saw” of goals in the match, Liverpool would seal its victory after being given a penalty in the 87th minute in which Salah would score again.
West Ham 0 -2 Newcastle
While the first half saw really good chances from both teams, Newcastle started to take control in the second half. In the 56th minute, Javier Manquillo crossed the ball from out wide toward the near post. Jeffrey Hendrick then headed the ball backwards where Callum Wilson was and scored. The Magpies secured its victory after a cross from Miguel Almirón — who was almost pushed off the ball — found Hendrick wide open. The midfielder took his chance and shot into the top left corner.
West Brom 0-3 Leicester
There was not a lot of action in the first half of this one, but it’s the second half that saw the Foxes take three points out of the Hawthorns Stadium. Leicester’s first goal came in the 56th minute from Tim Castagne. After trying to figure out what to do on the attack, Leicester moved the ball towards the left side where Dennit Praet made himself available. Praet reacted at the last second to keep the ball in, and crossed to the right back for a header. Leicester’s second and third goals came from club icon Jamie Vardy after scoring penalty kicks in the 74th and 84th minutes respectively.
Tottenham 0-1 Everton
The Toffees could’ve (should’ve) scored its first goal in the 16th minute after a pass back to Tottenham’s defense saw the ball in empty space and Richarlison sprinting for the ball. Unfortunately for Everton, Richarlison would dribble the ball past the Tottenham keeper but somehow miss. Spurs had a chance of their own in the 32nd minute after Heung-Min Son ran on the counter-attack and passed to Dele Alli, but Alli’s shot was saved by Everton’s Jordan Pickford.
The lone goal came in the 56th minute after Everton was awarded a free kick. Lucas Digne crossed the ball into the penalty area where Dominic Calvert-Lewin provided a strong header into the top left corner. Richarlison saw another opportunity to put the Toffees up by two but couldn’t get the right bend on the ball.
Sheffield Untied 0-2 Wolves
Wolves traveled to Bramall Lane to secure a quick and easy win against the Pirates, with Wolves’ Raul Jimenez scoring in the opening minutes of the match (3rd minute). Daniel Podence went on the counter-attack with plenty of space around him and crossed to a wide open Jimenez who scored. Wolves would score again three minutes later off a Pedro Neto corner kick, where Romain Saiss took a header from distance and scored.
Brighton 1-3 Chelsea
Lastly, the Blues took the early lead in the 23rd minute after it was given a penalty and Jorginho took the shot. In the 54th minutes, the Seagulls found themselves with the equalizer. Tariq Lampety tried to bring the ball towards the keeper but ended up passing back to Leandro Trossard. Making a bold move, Trossard went for the distance shot outside the penalty box and managed to find back of the net. However, Frank Lampard’s Chelsea would respond a couple of minutes later, this time a long shot from Reece James, and would seal its first three points in the 66th minute off a James free kick that Kurt Zouma volleyed towards the net. Brighton were not ready for Zouma’s touch as Adam Webster deflected the ball into his own net.