Luton put eight past Yeovil as new EFL season starts with a bang

Following a weekend of goals, cards and outrageous scorelines, it’s fair to say the EFL is back with a bang.

Luton Town hit eight at Kenilworth Road, Blackburn Rovers were humbled at Southend United and John Terry made his first appearance for a club other than Chelsea since the year 2000.

Here we take a look at five of the major talking points from the opening round of fixtures…

John Terry adapting to life in the Championship

Aston Villa may not have taken all three points against Hull City at the weekend, but one positive to come out of the match was the performance of new signing John Terry.

The former England captain produced an assured display at the back in his first game away from Stamford Bridge in 17 years.

The 36-year-old put to bed any doubts over his quality and was unlucky not to have finished the game on the winning side.

With Terry at the back we like the chances of our pre-season promotion tip making a return to the Premier League.

Before that though, it’s Colchester United away on Wednesday night for the Champions League-winning defender.

Wolves edge battle of big spenders

In the age of the super-club, two of the Championship’s own went head-to-head on the opening day at Molineux.

Middlesbrough may have spent £42m in the transfer window, but none of that money could account for a sloppy backpass from Daniel Ayala that gifted Wolverhampton Wanderers the only goal of the game.

Even at this stage of the season, three points for the hosts against a likely title rival could prove crucial in nine months’ time.

How good is Bristol City’s Famara Diedhiou?

Bristol City’s record signing is already paying back his hefty £5.3m transfer fee.

The Senegalese international ran the show against Barnsley at Ashton Gate this weekend and looks to be worth every penny the Robins paid for him.

A goal on debut topped an accomplished performance from the 24-year-old powerhouse, who looks to be an ideal replacement for last season’s top scorer Tammy Abraham.

Blackburn adjust to life in League One

Itseems like a long time ago now that Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League.

Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Southend United in Rovers’ first game in the third tier for 37 years will make that 1995 achievement seem even further away.

The League One title favourites were humbled at Roots Hall as former Burnley man Michael Kightly produced a star turn to guide the Shrimpers to victory.

The defeat shouldn’t prove too damaging for manager Tony Mowbray’s side though, and we still fancy them to make an immediate return to the Championship.

Goals galore at Kenilworth Road

We learned one of two things from Kenilworth Road this weekend.

Either Luton Town are really good or Yeovil Town are horrendously bad.

Whatever the case, we’ve not seen a score like 8-2 on the opening day for quite some time.

It’s been eight years since a side scored seven on day one of a new season and an incredible 57 years since a team hit eight on the opening weekend (Wolverhampton Wanderers 8-1 Manchester City).

Usually it’s fairly trivial to read too much into a game on the first weekend of the season, but on this evidence Luton are the team to beat.

Yeovil, on the other hand, have a lot of work to do.

But don’t worry Glovers fans, there’s only 45 more games to go.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing