Premier League week one review

Fabregas and Costa celebrate on Monday Night

Everyone has played once and last years top four all have three points in the bag. Alex Johnson reviews week one from the Premier League

The Premier League is officially back and the first weekend showed how unpredictable the season is going to be.

There were enough talking points in Week One to show that fans are going to be in for an exciting campaign, and pundits are going to have a lot to debate over the coming nine months.

Chelsea stand head and shoulders above the title challengers after the first round of games. Jose Mourinho's side had to wait the longest to get their season underway, but they quickly found their stride to beat Burnley 3-1.

There looked a whiff of an upset after Scott Arfield gave the Premier League new boys a shock lead, but Chelsea quickly turned it around. It was a fantastic night for their big summer signings as Diego Costa scored on his debut and Cesc Fabregas stole the show with two assists. Things really couldn't have gone much better for Mourinho as there were no first night nerves and they looked full of creativity and goals - something that couldn't be said of them last season.

There wasn't such plain sailing for Chelsea's main title rivals. Manchester City had to work hard as goals from David Silva and Sergio Aguero secured a 2-0 win over Newcastle.

It was a routine victory in the end as Newcastle battled and harried City, but never really caused that many moments of panic for the City defenders.

Newcastle fans will have liked what they saw from Remy Cabella and Emmanuel Riviere, so can be optimistic for the season. City will get better and find their groove, while bringing players the calibre of Aguero off the bench to wrap things up is a luxury that few can afford.

Arsenal can count themselves lucky to get off to a winning start and needed an injury time strike from Aaron Ramsey to beat Crystal Palace 2-1. They left it late after being forced to come from behind as poor defending allowed Brede Hangeland to nod the Eagles in front.

Arsenal controlled the ball for most of the game but struggled to find a cutting edge and, apart from the two goals, only tested Julian Speroni on one other occasion. Just when it looked like Palace were going to hold on, Jason Puncheon was sent off and Ramsey was on hand to prod in the winning goal. Arsenal were missing their German World Cup winners, but fans would have expected an easier ride against a Palace side who lost Tony Pulis only 48 hours earlier.

Liverpool's new SAS of Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge got them off to a winning start in their first game post-Luis Suarez. However, it was not convincing as Liverpool were hanging on before Sturridge got the winner.

Early on they had looked comfortable but Southampton, in their first game under Ronald Koeman, fought hard and looked the most dangerous team for long periods in the second half. They could even have got a point when Morgan Schneiderlin hit the bar late on. The positives for Liverpool will be that they got three points, Dejan Lovren looked solid alongside Martin Skrtel and their main attacking duo got goals.

The first game of the new Premier League season ended with Manchester United fans left scratching their heads. Louis van Gaal is now in the hot-seat, but the performance in losing at Old Trafford to Swansea showcased the same problems United faced last season.

Any optimism fans had about the new era will have sunk away within the first 90 minutes of the season. They lacked creativity, were a shambles at the back and frankly didn't deserve a victory. Van Gaal started with the 3-5-2 formation he used with Holland and that didn't work.

He switched to 4-4-2 at half-time, and that was no better. United fans surprised with the inclusion of Tyler Blackett and Jesse Lindgaard on the team sheet will have had kittens seeing Ashley Young at left-back in the second half. For all United's failings, Swansea need to be praised for a fantastic performance. But all the headlines were taken up by United and how they need rapid improvement in several areas before the transfer window closes.

There was mixed opening weekends for two of the promoted sides. Leicester took time to settle but showed they have the ability to mix it at Premier League level as they drew with Everton.

Foxes fans will have enjoyed seeing record signing Leonardo Ulloa score on his debut and impressed by the spirit they showed to come back from 2-1 down.

It will not be such a happy feeling around Loftus Road as QPR went down 1-0 to Hull City.

Rangers created enough chances to get a point they deserved and were be left to rue Charlie Austin's missed penalty. It was a harsh lesson on life back in the Premier League as Hull took one of their handful of chances to head north with all three points.

Many fans and pundits alike expect Aston Villa to really struggle this season, so it was a shock to see them come away from Stoke with a one-goal win. The Britannia Stadium is always a tough place to go and this was Villa's first away victory since New Year's Day.

Stoke didn't really perform but fans were impressed by Bojan, on whom many of their hopes are pinned. The Potters lacked creativity in the final third and the former Barcelona starlet is expected to add that guile to Mark Hughes' squad. Whether this is a sign of better things for Villa remains to be seen. Paul Lambert has brought in experience and also has Roy Keane in the dugout. This was the perfect start for them as they look to avoid a third success relegation scrap.

The Hawthorns witnessed the battle of two teams expected to struggle as West Brom and Sunderland cancelled each other out with a 2-2 draw.

A brace for Saido Berahino was not enough in Alan Irvine's first game in charge as Lee Cattermole and Sebastian Larsson scored for Sunderland. Both teams will be happy not to have lost, but West Brom will feel they should have got all three points.

Possibly the most unexpected sight of opening weekend was Spurs' new defender Eric Dier rounding the keeper in stoppage time to give Mauricio Pochettino a winning start.

It was an incident-packed game at Upton Park as Kyle Naughton was harshly sent off for handling in the box only for Mark Noble to miss the penalty. James Collins was also dismissed for the Hammers and Sam Allardyce was forced to see his side miss chance after chance.

Big Sam has been desperately searching for a new striker and it looks like they need one quickly. They created a hatful of chances, but struggled to hit the target. The sight of Dier sprinting through to slot home in the dying moments will have been a bitter pill for West Ham fans to swallow.