August 25, 2026

Charm – Daily News

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The Premier League is back. Who won the opening weekend?

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First things first, this isn’t the official Premier League table. It’s a performance one that will be updated weekly, which means you can go from top to bottom, and vice versa, in the space of seven days.

There’s a clean slate at the start of each gameweek, which will be good news for some clubs — Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at this rate.

Results matter, but when deciding where to rank teams from one to 20, we’ll be looking primarily at how well they played last time out, which means dissecting (or, in the case of this weekend, watching) every Premier League game.

If nothing else, it will provide you with a snapshot of how each team performed in the 2026-27 Premier League, week by week. And, naturally, you’ll be in full agreement with every summary, given that it’s a totally subjective process.

Welcome to week one…

1. Hull City

Hull City 2 Manchester United 0

This wasn’t in the script — Manchester United comprehensively beaten by everyone’s favourites to go down and Oli McBurnie, Hull’s bearded genius, running the show.

Oli McBurnie, climbing above Manchester United’s defence (Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

Tactically, the Hull head coach Sergej Jakirovic got it spot on — his use of a three-man defence and wing-backs exposed familiar problems for United.

Hull were — with apologies — tigerish. The sight of Matt Crooks and Nobel Mendy teaming up on Bruno Fernandes just after the half-hour mark epitomised their hunger and desire. By that point, Hull had won almost twice as many duels as United and were also winning the game.

Regan Slater channelled his inner David Beckham with his set-piece deliveries, Mohamed Belloumi ran around nutmegging people, and McBurnie dropped a lone-striker masterclass.

It was that sort of day for Hull.

2. Brentford

Brentford 3 Tottenham Hotspur 0

This time last year, we would have been surprised. But not now. Brentford under Keith Andrews are an excellent team with multiple threats.

Although Brentford had a lot of success against Spurs on Saturday through their centre-backs going direct into either Kevin Schade or Igor Thiago, who played like an old-school No 9, they produced some lovely football too, often involving the ubiquitous Keane Lewis-Potter (left-back, really?). On top of that, their pressing was excellent.

The star of the show, though, was their £41million ($56m) club-record signing Mamadou Sangare — athletic, two assists and a left foot that opens up all sorts of passing angles when he drops into the right-side pocket.

You want to say it, but you can’t after the opening game. Ah, s*d it. Sangare could be the signing of the season.

3. Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton & Hove Albion 4 Aston Villa 0

I know you’re top of the ‘real’ league too, Brighton fans, and nobody disputes the fact that you’ve made a fantastic start, but allowances were made here for the way that Villa contributed to their own downfall: an own goal, a first-half red card, and their maddening determination to play out against your team’s excellent high press.

The clues were there early on in Sunday’s game, when Pascal Gross and Yasin Ayari targeted Joao Gomes deep inside his own half. Georginio Rutter’s willingness to run in behind exposed the lack of mobility in the centre of Villa’s defence for the second goal in the 18th minute.

And from that point on, Brighton were enjoying themselves in the seaside sunshine, with their new signing Luka Vuskovic spraying diagonals and two-goal Jack Hinshelwood showing why head coach Fabian Hurzeler thinks he’s a No 10.

4. Chelsea

Fulham 2 Chelsea 3

Welcome back, Cole Palmer.

Operating alongside Morgan Rogers and behind Joao Pedro, Palmer was exceptional against Fulham. He played like a man who was desperate to make up for lost time after a frustrating season and no spot in England’s World Cup squad.

Although Palmer was the star at Craven Cottage on Monday, that front three was electric together, scoring a goal each and combining in a way that makes you think Chelsea can win games this season even if they’re not perfect in other areas.

Last night at Craven Cottage offered an example — goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was at fault for the first goal and did not cover himself in glory on the second, when Levi Colwill also needed to do better.

Ultimately, though, Chelsea’s attack was the story of the game and provided a lot of entertainment value.

5. Arsenal

Arsenal 3 Coventry City 0

This was football’s equivalent of a zone 2 run. For those of you who aren’t familiar with zone 2 running, the idea is that you run fairly slowly, at no more than 60 to 70 per cent of your maximum heart rate. It’s comfortable and conversational, helping build endurance for tougher, more demanding events.

Arsenal, in game one of the 38 in this season’s Premier League, didn’t break a sweat against promoted Coventry. They were relaxed (though manager Mikel Arteta didn’t like that word) — well, apart from new signing Christos Tzolis, who seems to be in a hurry to make a good impression. Excellent against Manchester City in the Community Shield, Tzolis was a livewire again on Friday, forcing mistakes, creating goals and shooting at every opportunity.

How livewire Tzolis will have appeared to Coventry defenders at times on Friday (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Anyway, sorry Arsenal fans, you can’t win the weekend for a leisurely kickabout.

6. Everton

Everton 2 Crystal Palace 0

Not quite as routine as the scoreline suggests. Palace recorded their highest expected goals tally (2.04) in a Premier League game without scoring since 2018 — that’s not an invitation for the xG haters among you to get your knickers in a twist, just an illustration that Everton were fortunate not to concede.

At the same time, there were clear positives in this Everton performance.

The inexperienced midfield duo of Harrison Armstrong (dispossessing Daniel Munoz) and Hayden Hackney (a quickly taken free kick) had a hand in the goals, Tyrique George was full of positive running on the left, Iliman Ndiaye demonstrated his creative quality once again and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored a lovely opener.

Is Thierno Barry the long-term answer for them up front? Probably not. Is there a better smile than his in the Premier League? Definitely not.

(Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

7. Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town 2 Sunderland 1

Early days, but the first impressions are that Ipswich are much better-equipped to survive in the Premier League this season than after their previous promotion two years ago — and so they should be, after spending £136million this summer.

There’s been a major upgrade across the front four, and two of those players — Emersonn, a Brazilian striker signed from Toulouse, and Julio Enciso, bought from Strasbourg — combined for the breakthrough on Saturday. Full of running and capable of taking a player on, Enciso was excellent.

At the other end, left-back Leif Davis caught the eye with a couple of superbly timed challenges, as did 6ft 9in (201cm) goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen, who, casually — and it really was effortless — threw the ball into the opposition half for Emersonn to bring down.

The hero, though, was Sunderland old boy Jack Clarke, who came off the bench to turn one point (a draw would probably have been a fair result) into three.

(Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

8. Leeds United

Nottingham Forest 0 Leeds United 1

A clean sheet and an away victory on the opening day: what’s not to like?

The timing of Anton Stach’s 88th-minute free-kick goal (we need a wider conversation about the German and set pieces) makes this sound like a smash-and-grab, which wasn’t really the case.

Granted, Leeds weren’t exactly pushing for a winner at that point, but it was also hard to see Forest, despite their momentum for a period in the second half, scoring at the other end.

From Leeds’ point of view, Saturday was a disciplined defensive performance (that doesn’t mean we failed to pick out the sight of their centre-back Joe Rodon overlapping) in keeping with their form in the second half of last season, albeit with a few new faces now.

One of them, James Trafford, made an excellent stop to keep out an Igor Jesus header.

9. Newcastle United

Newcastle United 2 Liverpool 2

The kick-in-the-guts last-gasp equaliser apart, this was fun. Perhaps a lot more fun than Newcastle supporters imagined on the back of a summer when it felt as though the doom and gloom had returned to Tyneside.

New coach Matthias Jaissle’s brand of vertical football lifted the mood at Newcastle and caused Liverpool plenty of problems on a day when Yoane Wissa played like a man possessed.

Deployed as a No 10 and later as a striker, Wissa epitomised all that was good about Newcastle with his energy and drive, leaving a trail of Liverpool players in his wake in the lead-up to the second goal and generally inspiring those around him.

There were signs that Anthony Elanga, who put Newcastle ahead early on, will benefit from Jaissle’s style of play too.

Nick Woltemade’s reinvention… that will have to wait for another day.

10. Manchester City

Manchester City 2 Bournemouth 1

Talk about making hard work of it. Bournemouth are awkward opponents, as City need no reminding after their draw on the south coast at the end of last season finished their title challenge, but this was still a frustrating watch for long periods.

Erling Haaland was strangely out of sorts in front of goal, Marc Guehi found himself deployed in centre midfield, and there was a vulnerability about City defensively, highlighted by the goal they conceded. As for Phil Foden, is right wing really his best position?

Yes, City created (and squandered) chances before Guehi’s late equaliser, but they weren’t playing with any real fluency.

They badly needed a spark, and substitute Rayan Cherki provided it. His second assist, to slip Josko Gvardiol through on goal to win it, was reminiscent of that beautiful pass he played to Guehi away to Chelsea last season.

11. Bournemouth

Manchester City 2 Bournemouth 1

“Let’s have a look at what you could have won.”

For younger readers, that catchphrase was coined by the 1990s British television presenter Jim Bowen, who took great pride in showing contestants the luxury prize they’d missed out on in the darts-based game show Bullseye.

Well, Bournemouth, the three points were yours in Manchester on Sunday, with the clock running down. Then, for reasons that are hard to fathom, Guehi was given a second invitation of the afternoon to score from a free header, and this time he wasn’t so forgiving.

(Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)

Gvardiol’s stoppage-time winner compounded the visitors’ disappointment on a day when they looked a lot like Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth side, which is exactly what the club intended when they appointed Marco Rose to succeed him.

Just one nagging thought: could Bournemouth have been a bit more ambitious chasing a second goal on the counter?

12. Liverpool

Newcastle 2 Liverpool 2

New season, same problems: full-backs, midfield, front line.

Liverpool came away with a point at St James’ Park, courtesy of Dominik Szoboszlai’s nerveless stoppage-time penalty, but the performance served as a reminder that Iraola has an awful lot to fix before they can even start to think about being title contenders again.

This is a brief overview, not a full analysis, which is probably a blessing. But if Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong are the answer at full-back, what’s the question?

How can Liverpool’s midfield be so passive (the way that Wissa ran away from them for the second goal was alarming)?

And at what point is it reasonable to expect that Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz will demonstrate why Liverpool spent the best part of £250million on the pair of them last summer?

Isak was back at Newcastle but failed to shine (George Wood/Getty Images)

13. Fulham

Fulham 2 Chelsea 3

You get the feeling that people are waiting for Alvaro Arbeloa to fail at Fulham. The way the Spaniard set up his team defensively against Chelsea when playing out, with so much distance between the two centre-backs, raised questions, especially as the visitors profited inside the first minute.

Chelsea’s second and third goals weren’t too clever from a defensive perspective either, and unfortunately that undermined Fulham’s good work in other areas, including the way they controlled possession for periods, Josh King’s impressive contribution and the edge that newcomer Gonzalo Garcia, their other goalscorer, gave their attack. There’s a lot to like about the 22-year-old Spaniard.

Fulham’s new striker Gonzalo Garcia (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)

It will be interesting to see whether Arbeloa’s tactics in possession evolve. Either way, you can’t help but think that Fulham’s defence would benefit from a right-footed centre-back.

14. Nottingham Forest

Forest 0 Leeds 1

Forest weren’t bad — Nikola Milenkovic headed against the post, Igor Jesus was denied (Igor Jesus is always denied) and Chris Wood dragged a presentable chance wide.

(Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)

As for Leeds, you couldn’t really see them scoring until they did with two minutes of the 90 left — something that Matz Sels, Forest’s goalkeeper, will be more disappointed by than anyone.

But Forest need time to adapt to their latest head coach Oliver Glasner’s formation and style. Murillo looked as comfortable under new management as anyone, stepping out to create that opportunity for Wood, and it will be fascinating to see whether James McAtee can take his chance and be former Crystal Palace boss Glasner’s new Adam Wharton.

As for Igor Jesus, he was involved in the best passage of play and had two options: feed Wood through the middle in a race against three Leeds players or release Neco Williams breaking into space on the right.

Frustratingly, he went for the former.

15. Crystal Palace

Everton 2 Palace 0

As the former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson used to say: “First half, good. Second half, not so good.”

Palace could, and should, have taken the lead on Saturday. But a combination of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s profligacy and Jordan Pickford’s reflexes (what a pass from Wharton to Eddie Nketiah) meant that a promising start didn’t get the reward it deserved.

Where is their top goalscorer from last season, Ismaila Sarr, when you need him?

Conceding a poor second from a quickly taken free kick was a blow from which they never looked like recovering. On top of that, they lost defender Chadi Riad to a potentially serious injury midway through the second half.

At least new signing Anan Khalaili’s right wing-back cameo was encouraging, and Yeremy Pino produced a lovely piece of skill to sit Merlin Rohl on his backside. A shame about the shot afterwards.

16. Sunderland

Ipswich 2 Sunderland 1

If Ipswich had committed the same mistakes Sunderland did on Saturday, it would have been an easy line for a commentator to trot out: “That’s the difference between the Championship and the Premier League — you get punished at this level.”

Sunderland, however, know what the Premier League is all about by now, and that will have made the manner of this defeat all the more annoying for them.

Luke O’Nien, playing as the left-sided centre-back, gave the ball away in the lead-up to the first goal. Omar Alderete, O’Nien’s second-half replacement, carelessly did the same thing for the late winner.

In between those moments, Nilson Angulo scored a wonderful free-kick goal and Brian Brobbey threatened, but Sunderland never really played with the conviction to go on and win the game.

17. Coventry City

Arsenal 3 Coventry 0

Probably the hardest performance of the opening round to gauge, bearing in mind that Coventry, back in the top flight for the first time in 25 years, were playing the Premier League champions in their backyard on the season’s opening night. In truth, it wasn’t much of a contest.

Unfortunately for Coventry, they didn’t help themselves. Milan van Ewijk, their right-back, was caught on the ball for the first goal, allowing Tzolis to pick his pocket, and Carl Rushworth pushed another cross from the Greek winger into the path of Bukayo Saka for the second midway through the first half.

One feature of Coventry’s play that stood out was their willingness to go from back to front quickly — they played twice as many long balls as Arsenal — and that should suit new signing Taiwo Awoniyi, who gave their front line some presence when he came on for the final 20 minutes.

18. Manchester United

Hull 2 Manchester United 0

When Michael Carrick said that his United team “didn’t quite click” in Saturday’s early kick-off, it was difficult to understand the use of the word “quite”.

United peaked after three minutes, when Ayden Heaven, Patrick Dorgu, Bruno Fernandes, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans combined neatly on the left. Seconds later, Fernandes was ‘quite’ close to being through on goal.

Then it went downhill. Fast.

Carrick didn’t like it when the former Norway striker Jan Aage Fjortoft, covering the match for the Swedish broadcaster Viaplay, questioned whether his team lacked passion in the first half. United lacked intensity, that’s for sure. Hull snapped into tackles and regularly came out on top.

Matheus Cunha as a false nine simply didn’t work. Dorgu ran into players, and Fernandes, throwing his arms around in exasperation at Tielemans’ failure to control the ball, looked a picture of frustration.

(George Wood/Getty Images)

19. Tottenham Hotspur

Brentford 3 Spurs 0

There’s no sugarcoating it, Tottenham were awful.

Brentford registered 26 shots and routinely opened Spurs up in all manner of ways, exposing just how bad Roberto De Zerbi’s side were in and out of possession.

In fact, Spurs got off lightly in losing 3-0. Brentford’s xG was 3.96 — their highest in a Premier League game since they played relegation-bound Southampton in January last year.

(Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

The second goal felt symptomatic of Spurs’ performance.

Richarlison, who never looks comfortable playing with his back to goal, was unable to retain the ball deep inside his own half. Lucas Bergvall, who had been given the runaround by Sangare on the first goal, then carelessly lost possession trying to go past Mathias Jensen. As for Jensen’s shot, Antonin Kinsky parried it into the path of Vitaly Janelt.

Error after error after error.

20. Aston Villa

Brighton 4 Villa 0

Where to start? With a game of opening-game bingo, I guess.

Villa became only the second team in Premier League history to concede four times, have a player sent off and score an own goal in the first half of a match.

Even allowing for the fact that it’s been a turbulent summer for them, this was a calamitous Villa performance and self-inflicted in many respects, not least the way that Unai Emery’s side continued to play into the hands of an aggressive Brighton press.

Pau Torres, an elegant passer, had a day to forget. For new signing Joao Gomes, his Villa league debut was even worse. The midfielder was booked for waving an imaginary yellow card, shown a straight red for violent conduct and also gave away a goal.

(Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

The positives? Villa drew the second half 0-0.



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