English Premier Round-Up

It’s back! 97 days after Manchester United picked up the English Premier title, Saturday Arsenal and West Brom played the first game in the 2008-2009 season and it took debutant Samir Nasri just four minutes to score the first goal. The goal was enough to give a 1-0 win in front of over 60,000 fans.

Team of the Day has to be Premier newcomers Hull City, who were playing their first game in the top level of English football, behind 1-0 to Fulham a stunning goal from Geovanni levelled it up before Caleb Folan gained his place in Hull City folklore by scoring the winner and sending the crowd home ecstatic.

Liverpool struggled to find form, before the Spanish duo of Alonso and Torres combined and the Spanish striker shot home from 20 yards to give the Merseysiders a 1-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Blackburn Rovers made it a great start for manager Paul Ince, managing his first game in the top division, by beating Everton 3-2. Blackburn’s winner looked like it started from an offside position.

Elsewhere Stoke’s start to their Premier campaign saw them lose 3-1 at Bolton, Dean Ashton scored twice as West Ham beat Wigan and Middlesbrough beat Tottenham 2-1 with former Tottenham striker scoring the winner, Berbatov started on the bench for Tottenham and his future is still uncertain.

On Sunday Luiz-Felipe Scolari saw his Chelsea reign get off to a wonderful start with a 4-0 victory over Portsmouth that included a blistering 25-yard strike from new boy Deco. The midfielder’s late effort sent Blues fans home happy but it was first-half goals from Joe Cole, Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard that really won the points and set out Chelsea’s title credentials in real style.

At Villa Park. Gabriel Agbonlahor scored the second fastest hat-trick in Premier League history when he netted three times in eight minutes in the 4-2 win against Manchester City. Robbie Fowler is the only player to have scored a quicker hat-trick in the Premier League era. He scored three goals in four minutes and 33 seconds in August 1994.

Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov faces six months on the sidelines after snapping his Achilles tendon before Sunday’s defeat by Aston Villa. The 22-year-old Bulgarian forward had been set to make his first league start since injuring his knee ligaments a year ago but was injured in the warm-up.

Manchester United were held to a draw at home as the started the defence of their title looking to equal Liverpool’s record of 18 championships. Newcastle took the lead through Martins on 22 minutes but Fletcher struck back just two minutes later.