Premier League scores, Week 1: Huddersfield Town debuts with a bang

The Terriers posted an impressive 3-0 away win in their first ever EPL match. Plus all the stories and highlights from Saturday’s games.

Fans excited for the return of the Premier League will not be disappointed by what they saw from the first eight games. They produced a total of 25 goals, with 18 of them coming in games involving Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. None of those three sides looked convincing, and appear to have a ton of work left to do — in the transfer market and on the training pitch.

Unlike those three, Manchester City was composed and looked extremely prepared for the new season. However, against newcomers Brighton, a convincing performance was to be expected.

So the best story of Week 1 might be another newcomer to the league — Huddersfield Town. The high-octane, counter-pressing style of the Terriers overwhelmed Crystal Palace, and in South London no less. The Terriers look like a team it’s worth making time to watch going forward.

Friday’s game

Arsenal 4-3 Leicester City — Recap

Saturday’s scores

Watford FC 3-3 Liverpool — Recap
Chelsea 2-3 Burnley — Recap
Crystal Palace 0-3 Huddersfield Town
Everton 1-0 Stoke City — Recap
Southampton 0-0 Swansea City
West Bromwich Albion 1-0 AFC Bournemouth
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Manchester City

Welcome the Terriers

Did you pick Huddersfield to go down this season? That’s OK, most people did. The Terriers have made eight signings this summer, but their manager David Wagner used the fewest players of anyone in the Championship last season. They don’t have a lot of clear, obvious Premier League quality players.

And yet, they brushed Crystal Palace aside in their first ever Premier League match. Away from home, having to deal with one of the best crowds in England, Huddersfield dominated from start to finish.

Not too familiar with Wagner and Huddersfield? Get to know them.

Chelsea’s title defense is off to a terrible start

Gary Cahill was shown a straight red card just 14 minutes into the Blues’ match against Burnley and Chelsea never recovered from there. Crosses and set pieces were Chelsea’s undoing without Cahill on the pitch, with Sam Vokes scoring twice from close range and Stephen Ward scoring another following a set play. And to make matters worse, Cesc Fabregas got himself sent off in the dying minutes as well.

This prompted a question from We Ain’t Got No History — “Who will play midfield against Spurs? David Luiz?” Fabregas will be suspended, while Tiemoue Bakayoko is battling an injury. Luiz is likely to step up, which could leave Chelsea playing a central defense of Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta.

City the most convincing side so far

It took Manchester City 70 minutes to take the lead against Premier League newcomers Brighton, but Pep Guardiola’s men were always in control. Their eventual goal felt inevitable. And it was Sergio Aguero who scored it.

This is the kind of thing you can expect to see a lot of from City this season — pressure forces a turnover, then De Bruyne to Jesus to Aguero, goal. A precision attack. And as part of a game that City had complete control of. They entered this season as title favorites, and they looked the part of a top team unlike Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

It doesn’t get unluckier than Southampton

Swansea will be happy to get an away point at St. Mary’s, though they can hardly say they deserved it. Southampton generated 28 shots on Saturday and should have scored two or three times over.

The problem was that these shots didn’t challenge the keeper — only two of these 28 shots were on target. A rate like that is just plain bad luck, but Southampton fans are unlikely to be comforted by that. The Saints were disappointing last season, have had a disappointing summer, and owner Katharina Liebherr is reportedly in the process of selling the club. Their fans could really use something to cheer about.

Jordan Pickford is Everton’s biggest signing

Wayne Rooney scored the winning goal for Everton on his return to the club, but Jordan Pickford was the man of the match against Stoke. Check out this spectacular result-clinching save.

And Pickford didn’t just make great saves. He controlled his penalty area masterfully too.

Rooney, Davy Klaassen, Sandro Ramirez and Michael Keane are all going to make big contributions for the Toffees this season. But Everton goalkeepers have struggled over the last couple of seasons, and Pickford represents the summer’s biggest positional upgrade.

Liverpool haven’t fixed their biggest problem

Mohamed Salah scored for Liverpool on his debut and looks like he’s going to be an excellent signing. Unfortunately for Jürgen Klopp, that’s not a pickup that helps his team defend set pieces.

Despite giving up an opening goal on a corner, Liverpool fought back, and eventually took a 3-2 lead. But they gave up the late equalizer on — you guessed it — a corner.

“We forgot to close the game, to be honest,” Klopp said about his team’s mentality. “The situations, counterattacks, things like this. We defended them a little too deep.”

Now Klopp is tasked with making sure his team keeps their foot on the accelerator when up a goal, and also making sure they stay switched on during set pieces. Otherwise, Salah isn’t going to help them too much.

West Brom did a classic West Brom

It’s been a quiet summer for the Baggies, but they did sign 6’5 central defender Ahmed Hegazy. He used his size to score the winning goal against Bournemouth, on a set piece.

Would you expect anything else from Tony Pulis?

Sunday’s games

Newcastle hosts Tottenham at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by Manchester United vs. West Ham at 11 a.m. ET. Both games can be seen on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live in the United States.