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The 5 biggest opening day upsets in Premier League history

The 5 biggest opening day upsets in Premier League history

But with the 2022/23 season off the mark at Selhurst Park this evening, can game week one dish out any surprises?

Let’s take a look at five of the biggest opening day upsets in Premier League history.

The 2016/17 campaign saw Chelsea blow everyone away en-route to winning the title.

But the 2017/2018 season didn’t start on a bright note for the Blues following an opening day defeat at home to Burnley.

A blistering first-half performance saw the Clarets take a 3-0 lead thanks to a brace from Sam Vokes and a goal from Stephen Ward. Chelsea also played with nine men after Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas were sent off.

Chelsea did score two late goals courtesy of Alvaro Morata and David Luiz but they were just consolation goals as Burnley pulled off a shock win at Stamford Bridge.

With a new manager in Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, the Reds went to the Hawthorns to receive a shock hammering from their hosts.

It was a nightmare start for Rodgers Liverpool, who only managed just two attempts on goal against Baggies.

Zoltan Gera, Nigeria’s Peter Odemwingie and Romelu Lukaku were the scorers on the day for West Brom while Liverpool’s horror day was compounded with a Dan Agger red card.

The Gunners started well in this encounter and took the lead inside the opening six minutes thanks to Olivier Giroud.

But things didn’t take long to turn around in favour of the Villians after Christian Benteke equalised.

The Belgian scored again after the hour mark to give Villa the lead before things became worst for the Gunners as Laurent Koscielny was sent off.

Villa added the third goal to make it 3-0 at the death with Antonio Luna the scorer on a miserable day for Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal side.

This was the game that led to the famous line from pundit Alan Hanson who told Sir Alex Ferguson ‘you can’t win anything with kids.

United had David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and his brother Phil, Nicky Butt and Lee Sharpe on the pitch.

The scorers on the day for Villa were Ian Taylor, Mark Draper and a player who went go to become a Reds legend, Dwight Yorke.

Beckham scored the consolation for United. Ferguson and United were crowned champions at the end of that season.

One of the biggest upsets in the Premier League and the sign of what would end up as a dreamy season for Norwich City as they finished third in the league.

In the first season of the Premier League, the Gunners took a two-goal lead against the Canaries at Highbury. Steve Bould and Kevin Campbell netted the goals for the Gunners.

But the second half proved to be a shocker for Arsenal as Norwich turned on the style to score four goals. Mark Robins scored a brace, with two more goals from David Phillips and Ruel Fox.

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