The Premier League season is finally upon us. We all have our own ideas about how the opening day will go. Even though we haven’t seen anyone kick a competitive ball since May we still feel that we have a pretty good idea of who will be winning and who will be losing on the opening weekend.
But history tells us that it isn’t always so certain. These are just a few of the opening day shocks that have graced the Premier League in its storied history.
-Sheffield United 2 – 1 Manchester United (1992)
Manchester United and the Premier League go hand in hand. Even though they went on to win the inaugural competition they got off to a surprisingly poor start. Sheffield United went on to finish in a very respectable 14th place, but United’s first place finish (by a massive 10 points) makes this result even more of a shocker.
A game that saw Brian Deane score the first ever Premier League goal and an early indication of what surprises the opening day of the Premier League had in store over the years.
-Aston Villa 3 – 1 Manchester United (1995)
“You don’t win anything with kids” famously proclaimed pundit Alan Hansen later regarding this result. United had seen established stars like Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes leave during the summer, replaced with a number of graduates from their system. But despite this apparently weakened United side, Villa’s emphatic triumph raised quite a few eyebrows.
Of course we now know that United’s new young stars (the Neville’s, Butt, Scholes, Beckham et al) weren’t that bad after all and United went onto win the league once again that season. But this just highlights even more the shock that Aston Villa provided us on the opening day of the 1995/96 season.
-Charlton Athletic 4 – 0 Manchester City (2000)
After promotion to the Premier League in 1998, relegation in 1999 and promotion again in 2000, Charlton Athletic had a point to prove during the 2000/01 season. Not wanting to be labelled as a ‘yoyo club’ Charlton set about their business impressively with an emphatic opening day win against Manchester City.
Admittedly, Man City themselves were only just returning to the Premier League but they were seen as a club taking their rightful place in England’s top flight while Charlton still had it all to prove. Goals on the day from Andy Hunt, John Robinson, Mark Kinsella and Graham Stuart ensured the fans at The Valley went home happy, confident that their team would go on to upset the apple cart further over the coming season.
They did, finishing 9TH.
-Wigan Athletic 0 – 1 Chelsea (2005)
Ultimately, the result that people were expecting, but the manner of Chelsea’s victory would have been hard to predict before kick-off. Getting a football club the size of Wigan to the Premier League was a huge achievement. The Rugby dominated town had never hosted Premier League football before but were now set to welcome José Mourinho’s Chelsea to what, at the time, was known as the JJB Stadium.
The cash-rich Premier League Champions were showcasing a number of expensive signings but, just like everybody else, were caught by surprise by this resilient Wigan side. As Wigan missed a 90th minute chance, fans and neutrals alike were left disappointed that Wigan’s performance had seemingly only earned them a point. But disappointment turned to despair when Hernan Crespo scored for Chelsea with the last kick of the game.
-Reading 3 – 2 Middlesbrough (2006)
When Middlesbrough took a two goal lead at the Madejski Stadium everything seemed to be going according the script. Newly promoted Reading knew they’d have their work cut out for them in the Prem and it seemed like they were being given an early introduction to what the league had to offer.
However goals from Dave Kitson, Steve Sidwell and Leroy Lita capped a remarkable turnaround and the Royals were handed an unlikely opening day win. Setting them up nicely for an impressive 8th place finish.
-Wigan Athletic 0 – 4 Blackpool (2010)
Even though they were unable to avoid relegation, Blackpool’s only ever season in the Premier League (so far, anyway) saw them win a lot of admiration across the country. The perennial underdogs were expected to be relegated long before the final ball of the season was kicked, so certainly nothing was expected from them as they travelled away to Wigan for their first taste of Premier League action.
Alex Baptiste, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Marlon Harewood (2) happened to get the goals on the day but there were heroes throughout the Blackpool team. In their next Premier League fixture they were given a harsh dose of reality, losing 6-0 away to Arsenal, and were eventually relegated after losing away at Manchester United on the final day of the season. But this exciting yet unexpected introduction to life at the top was just one of many highlights in their debut season.
So yes, it’s finally here. No more waiting, no more Saturday afternoon trips to B&Q, no more quiet afternoons watching an old Bond movie. The Premier League is back! Could a few surprises be on? Well, if we knew that then they wouldn’t be surprises would they?
We don’t expect newly promoted Southampton to get anything at champions Manchester City on Sunday for example.
But, you never know...