The biggest upsets in the opening weekend of the Premier League

With the 2024/25 Premier League season now having kicked off, Ladbrokes looks at the biggest upsets in the opening weekend of the competition's history.

Man City are the favourites to win the Premier League this season, and the Blues ended up beating Chelsea on the opening day, a game that a portion of fans saw as a potential banana skin for the reigning champions.

Elsewhere, Liverpool beat Ipswich and Wolves travelled to London to play Arsenal, where they also lost. There was opportunity for some big underdog upsets, with 'weaker' sides hoping to show that no team is unbeatable in the Premier League, but that didn't happen.

So, join Ladbrokes as we look through some of the biggest upsets in the history of the opening day of the Premier League season.

The opening weekend of the 2017/18 season saw Liverpool travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford, with many expecting the Reds to end the first game week of the campaign with three points to their name.

The Reds had had a very solid transfer window, with Mohamed Salah joining from Roma to form what would go down as one of the best front threes in the league's history with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.

However, that isn't how things panned out though, as Liverpool were unable to beat Watford away from home, with the score being 3-3 at the end of the game.

Liverpool did manage to end the season in the top four and with a spot in the Champions League final, but their campaign didn't kickoff in the best fashion.

The Reds learned from their mistakes and didn't get outdone by another underdog this season, kicking off their campaign on 12:30pm on Saturday with a 2-0 win against newly promoted Ipswich at Portman Road.

In what was not only Brentford's first match of the 2021/22 campaign but also their first in the Premier League ever, the Bees ended up shocking Arsenal by beating the Gunners 2-0 at home.

Brentford shocked many fans that season with their performances. Thomas Frank's side were physical, direct and tactically versatile, which is how they managed to take points off the likes of Liverpool at home, as well as kicking things off with a win against Arsenal on the opening day.

While a loss to Wolves on the opening day this season wouldn't have been quite as shocking, Mikel Arteta was hoping that the 2024/25 season, which he's praying will see his side win the Premier League for the first time in two decades, kicked off with all three points., which it did.

The third entry on this list and it's the second time that Liverpool have been shocked on the opening day of a Premier League season, as this time we look at their 3-0 loss to West Brom in 2012.

The 2012/13 season was set to be an exciting one for the Reds, who had just welcomed ex-Swansea City boss Brendan Rodgers as their new manager.

However, things didn't start on the right note, as the season kicked off with a 3-0 loss to the Baggies, with Daniel Agger seeing red. The score was nearly 4-0 too, with Shane Long missing a penalty that would have made the day even more embarrassing for Liverpool had it gone in.

Chelsea face Man City in a tough encounter in their opening game of the 2024/25 season. On paper, the Blues would have been much happier with the draw for their opening game in 2017, where they face Burnley.

However, perhaps Chelsea got over confident, as they ended up losing 3-2 to Burnley in the opening game of the 2017/18 season, with Sean Dyche's side actually going into half time 3-0 up.

The game was embarrassing for Chelsea for a few reasons, not just because of the scoreline. Despite getting the score back to 3-2, the Blues ended the game with nine men after both Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas were sent off, capping off an afternoon to forget for the London outfit.

The first full season of the 21st century kicked off with Sunderland shocking Arsenal by beating the Gunners 1-0 at home, leaving Arsene Wenger seriously embarrassed.

As seems to be the case with big teams picking up losses on the opening day, Arsenal had to deal with a red card for star man Patrick Vieira, with Niall Quinn scoring the winner to send the Gunners home with nothing to show for their trip.

Speaking of Premier League shocks, despite also being the favourites to win the title, Man City are 10/1 to get relegated from the England's top-flight this season.

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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.