Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Ten of the Best Memorable Opening BPL Matches


The 2015/16 Barclays Premier League fixture list is due to be released at 9am on Wednesday 17 June, when supporters of the 20 clubs and beyond are eager who will be paired against each other when the season starts on Saturday 8 August.

Matchweek 1 has thrown up some classic encounters in Barclays Premier League years gone by. Premierleague.com looks at 10 memorable opening-day fixtures over the past 23 seasons of the Barclays Premier League.

15 August 1992 - Arsenal 2-4 Norwich City
Norwich City return to the Barclays Premier League in 2015/16 after securing promotion from the Sky Bet Championship at the first attempt, and Canaries fans will fondly remember the first time they graced the competition in its inaugural season in 1992/93.

After Steve Bould and Kevin Campbell put Arsenal 2-0 up in the first half, new Norwich signing Mark Robins, on as a substitute, scored twice to spark a stunning comeback for the visitors, which was sealed with late efforts from David Phillips and Ruel Fox.

Robins spearheaded the East Anglian club's strike-force that season, netting 14 goals as they secured a club-record third-place finish in the BPL.

17 August 1996 - Wimbledon 0-3 Manchester United
David Beckham stole the show with a stunning strike from the halfway line as defending Barclays Premier League champions Manchester United beat Wimbledon at Selhurst Park.

Eric Cantona opened the scoring with a sublime strike from the edge of the penalty area before Denis Irwin doubled United's advantage. Beckham announced himself in the 90th minute as he caught Neil Sullivan off his line, with a goal that won the 10 Seasons award for the Premier League.

18 August 2001 - Leicester City 0-5 Bolton Wanderers
Braces from Kevin Nolan and Per Frandsen helped Bolton Wanderers mark their return to the Barclays Premier League with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Leicester City.

The newly promoted club went 4-0 up before half-time at Filbert Street with two goals from Nolan, one each from Michael Ricketts and Frandsen. The Dane completed the rout for the Trotters after the break.

19 August 2001 - Manchester United 3-2 Fulham
Fulham nearly shocked Manchester United at Old Trafford in their first Barclays Premier League match, but the newly promoted side succumbed to a trademark comeback from the league champions.

French striker Louis Saha twice gave Fulham the lead as they were 2-1 up after 48 minutes, but Ruud van Nistelrooy scored a quick double to seal the victory for the hosts.

17 August 2008 - Aston Villa 4-2 Manchester City
A seven-minute hat-trick from Gabriel Agbonlahor earned Aston Villa a stunning opening day win against Manchester City. The hosts initially took the lead through John Carew but Elano levelled the match from the spot on 64 minutes.


Five minutes later, Agbonlahor scored the first of three goals to turn the match on its head with Vedran Corluka's late goal a mere consolation for City.

15 August 2009 - Everton 1-6 Arsenal
Arsenal produced a magnificent opening-day display to rout Everton at Goodison Park. Arsene Wenger's team went ahead through a curling effort from Denilson before debutant Thomas Vermaelen headed a second. A double from Cesc Fabregas and a William Gallas goal made it 5-0 before Eduardo da Silva marked his return from a long-term injury with the sixth.

Everton got a late consolation through Louis Saha. This was Arsenal's third opening day win over the Toffees in the Barclays Premier League.

14 August 2010 - Wigan Athletic 0-4 Blackpool
Blackpool announced themselves on the Barclays Premier League stage in style as they earned a convincing 4-0 victory over Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium.

The newly promoted Seasiders sent the visiting Tangerine fans into raptures with a Gary Taylor-Fletcher strike on 16 minutes, before Marlon Harewood scored twice before the break to make it 3-0. Alex Baptiste's cross went straight in on 75 minutes as Ian Holloway's side wrapped up a memorable win.

14 August 2010 - Chelsea 6-0 West Bromwich Albion
A Didier Drogba hat-trick inspired Chelsea to the biggest opening-day victory in the Barclays Premier League as newly promoted West Bromwich Albion were beaten heavily.

Florent Malouda scored twice and Frank Lampard also got on the scoresheet for the defending champions Chelsea. West Brom bounced back from the defeat to finish 11th in the table.

19 August 2012 - Man City 3-2 Southampton
Manchester City survived a scare from newly promoted side Southampton as they started their Barclays Premier League title defence with a thrilling victory at the Etihad Stadium.

After Carlos Tevez had given the hosts a first-half lead, Saints capitalised on a missed David Silva penalty as goals from Rickie Lambert and Steven Davis put them into a shock 2-1 lead. But with 18 minutes left, Edin Dzeko equalised before Samir Nasri won it from close range.

16 August 2014 - Manchester United 1-2 Swansea City
Louis van Gaal's first Barclays Premier League match as Manchester United manager ended in defeat as Swansea City stunned the Red Devils at Old Trafford.


Ki Sung-yeung fired in the opener for Garry Monk's side from 20 yards just before the half-hour, but Wayne Rooney put United on level terms with an overhead kick. Gylfi Sigurdsson, who returned to Swansea that summer after an impressive loan spell in 2011/12, finished well from a counter-attack to clinch the Welsh club's first league victory at Old Trafford.

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