Richarlison scored twice on Saturday to give Tottenham manager Thomas Frank a dream home debut with a 3-0 win over Burnley, while Erling Haaland inspired new-look Manchester City’s 4-0 rout of Wolves on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
Frank was seconds away from launching his era in charge with a trophy until a late Paris Saint-Germain revival won the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday.
The former Brentford boss replaced Ange Postecoglou despite the Australian ending Tottenham’s 17-year trophy drought by lifting the Europa League last term. Postecoglou was undone by Tottenham’s worst domestic season since 1976-77 as they finished just above the relegation zone in 17th place.
Frank’s bid to revive Tottenham’s league fortunes got off to the perfect start in north London. Richarlison made the most of the faith shown in him by Frank as the Brazilian turned in Mohammed Kudus’ cross to open the scoring.
The pair combined again on the hour in more spectacular fashion as Richarlison’s bicycle kick converted the Ghanaian’s delivery.
Brennan Johnson was Tottenham’s Europa League final hero with the only goal against Manchester United and he began the new season by racing clear to slot in the third.
“Perfect start or dream start. A good performance against a difficult opponent. I will just enjoy it and I hope the players, the club and the fans enjoy it because that is important,” Frank said.
At Molineux, Pep Guardiola unveiled his City revamp as he bids to bounce back from last season’s third place finish.
City’s failure to defend the title after winning it for the previous four seasons has prompted a major overhaul from Guardiola.
Norway striker Haaland opened the scoring with a 34th minute tap-in from a Rico Lewis pass. Tijjani Reijnders, signed from AC Milan in the close-season, doubled City’s lead with a fine finish from an acute angle three minutes later.
Haaland blasted City’s third goal in the 61st minute before Rayan Cherki, lured from Lyon in the summer, marked his debut by drilling in from the edge of the area in the 81st minute.
For the past two seasons, all three promoted teams have gone down.
Hoping to buck the trend, Sunderland shocked West Ham 3-0 on their return to the Premier League.
Former Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka is among the pool of new signings attracted to the Stadium of Light. But it was three players key to their promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since 2017 who scored.
Eliezer Mayenda’s looping header gave the Black Cats lift off on the hour mark. Centre-back Dan Ballard headed in the second before Wilson Isidor rounded off a huge win in stoppage time.
Newcastle miss Isak
Newcastle missed the unsettled Alexander Isak as they failed to find the breakthrough against 10-man Aston Villa in a 0-0 draw at Villa Park.
The Magpies were the dominant side even before Ezri Konsa’s red card for bringing down Antony Gordon 24 minutes from time.
Isak had not been involved during Newcastle’s pre-season as he appears determined to force through a move to Liverpool, who reportedly saw a £110 million ($149 million) offer for the Swedish striker rejected.
The two clubs face off in their next league match at St. James’ Park on August 25.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said he wants an end to the saga one way or another.
“From my perspective, you want a resolution quickly. It’s taking away the focus of the players and the supporters,” said Howe “We want to be united together. We’d like a resolution, but we’re not in control of that.”
Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz struck in the 96th minute to salvage a 1-1 draw at Brighton after Matt O’Riley’s penalty put the Seagulls in front.
Arsenal, top-flight runners-up for the last three seasons, are in action on Sunday when they travel to Manchester United.
Champions Liverpool began their title defence with a 4-2 win against Bournemouth on Friday.
