Who doesn’t love the opening day of a new Premier League season?
New signings are on show, optimism is in the air, and we buckle ourselves up for the roller coaster of emotion that doesn’t slow down for the next 9 months.
Ipswich host Liverpool in their first game back in the Premier League since 2002, ohh and it’s the early kick-off on Saturday. Banana skin anyone?
Here at Family F.C., we love nothing more than a stunning result in the first game of the season.
It can be a momentum starter or if you’re on the receiving end, it stunts you before you’re even out of the traps. Either way, we love it!
So, what opening games have wowed us over the years?
Before Arsene Wenger, there was George Graham’s Arsenal. A team that regularly competed for and won major trophies.
That didn’t stop them from suffering an early season nosebleed against an unfancied Norwich in the first game of the 92/93 season. Norwich finished 14th the season before, while Arsenal finished 4th and had won the title in 90/91, losing only one match in the process.
The Canaries found themselves 2-0 down at half-time, and normal service looked to be in order before a swift turnaround in the second half. Norwich scored four times in 15 minutes to stun the hosts and set themselves on the path of an unlikely title charge, finishing third in the end.
Arsenal never fully recovered in the league and finished tenth, but they did pick up two cups to ease their pain.
Spurs had been splashing the cash in the transfer market before this game, and £16.5 million record buy Darren Bent (god inflation has really gone through the roof hasn’t it?) was supposed to be the man to bring goals to this exciting Tottenham team.
A certain Roy Keane had a different idea in the opening game of the 07/08 season when his Sunderland side produced a smash-and-grab through a Michael Chopra header. When asked about the goal at the end of the game, Roy simply said “That’s his job” and walked off.
Tottenham never really got going in the league and finished a miserable 11th, 4 places above Sunderland who retained their Premier League status after being promoted.
Spurs did win their only trophy in the past 16 years that season though, beating Chelsea in the Carling Cup final.
If we’re totally honest, and if Liverpool fans are honest, the Reds were going through what can only be considered a slump during this period.
Considering their history of success, they had not challenged for the title for some time and their transfer business was hit and miss, to say the least. That was why they prized a young Brendan Rodgers away from Swansea, to bring in a brand of football that would see them return to the top table of English football.
Unfortunately, his reign did not get off to the perfect start, as they were thumped 3-0 by a West Brom side who were finally finding some stability in the Premier League.
The Baggies scored just before half-time through Zolton Gera (the streets will never forget), before goals from Peter Odemwingie and a youthful Lukaku wrapped up the three points in the second half.
A miserable result for Rodgers was confounded when his old team Swansea won 5-0 in their opening game. Brendan would go on to have relative success as Liverpool's manager however, taking them to the brink of the title in his next season in charge.
Aston Villa was firmly in their sleeping giant era here, and when we say sleeping we mean borderline comatose under the ownership of Randy Lerner.
That didn’t stop them from turning over an Arsenal side who had to play in what can only be described as a toxic environment, with fans disgruntled at the lack of activity in the transfer market.
Goals from eventual Villa top scorer Christian Benteke and Antonio Luna saw them run out comfortable winners in this opening game shock.
Despite a lack of transfers, Arsenal did bring in Ozil right at the end of the window and would go on to have quite a strong season. They spent a number of months at the top of the table after this game but couldn’t quite get over the line (that’s not like them).
Aston Villa would cling on to their Premier League status, finishing 15th, before they went on to be relegated two years later.
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