Liverpool slumped to a heavy defeat by West Brom, Arsenal were held by Sunderland, while Swansea and Fulham went mad.
In the evening kick-off, Newcastle condemned Andre Villas-Boas to a losing start as Tottenham boss while earlier in the day West Ham marked their return to the top flight with a 1-0 win over Paul Lambert’s Aston Villa.
Reading left it late to secure a point in the first game back in the Premier League after a 1-1 draw with Stoke.
Brendan Rodgers saw his Liverpool reign get off to the worst possible start in the Premier League as they slumped to a 3-0 defeat at West Brom with Daniel Agger seeing red for the visitors.
West Brom broke the deadlock two minutes before the break with a stunning effort from Zoltan Gera.
Gera, who missed most of last season through injury, picked the ball up on the edge of the box after Liverpool had cleared a corner and smashed in an unstoppable shot past Pepe Reina.
Liverpool conceded a penalty and were reduced to ten men on 58 minutes when Agger brought down Long as he raced clear on goal.
Long dusted himself down and took the spot-kick only to see his weak penalty comfortably saved by Reina.
Liverpool gifted West Brom a second penalty less than five minutes later when Martin Skrtel was guilty of dallying on the ball, allowing Long to rob him of possession and then clipping the Republic of Ireland man’s leg inside the box.
Peter Odemwingie took over penalty duties and he made no mistake firing his effort past Reina.
West Brom ended any hope of a Liverpool comeback 13 minutes from time when Liam Ridgewell hung a cross up to the far post and substitute Romelu Lukaku was on hand to head home on his Baggies debut as Steve Clarke got the better of his former employers.
Arsenal began life without Robin van Persie with a disappointing goalless draw at home to Sunderland.
The Gunners dominated for long periods of the game but could not find a way past Martin O’Neill’s side and had to settle for a point in the end.
Michael Laudrup got off to a dream start as Swansea boss as his side thumped Queens Park Rangers 5-0 to secure their first ever win at Loftus Road.
Swansea midfielder Michu scored the first goal of the new season when he found the net after just eight minutes albeit with a little help from Robert Green.
The Spaniard saw his left-footed shot trickle past Green when the England goalkeeper really should have done better.
Michu ensured it was a debut to remember when he doubled Swansea’s lead on 53 minutes with his second goal of the game.
The Spaniard picked up a pass from Wayne Routledge and curled a superb shot beyond Green to send the away fans into raptures.
Things got worse for QPR when Nathan Dyer made it 3-0 on 63 minutes after a fine flowing move from the visitors opened the QPR defence up.
Dyer was not to be outdone by Michu and he grabbed his second of the game eight minutes later to pile the misery on the home fans.
Michu turned creator for Swansea’s fifth goal nine minutes from time when he played in Scott Sinclair in acres of space to fire home past Green and complete a dream day.
Fulham matched Swansea in hitting five goals as they strolled past Norwich 5-0 at Craven Cottage as Martin Jol got the better of his former assistant Chris Hughton.
Fulham broke the deadlock after 26 minutes when Duff broke the offside trap to latch onto John Arne Riise’s superb crossfield pass to stab the ball past John Ruddy.
Mladen Petric marked his debut for Fulham with a second goal five minutes before the break with a headed effort.
Fulham added a third on 54 minutes when Petric’s shot from the edge of the box deflected in off Michael Turner to wrongfoot Ruddy.
Alex Kacaniklic got in on the act on 64 minutes with a fine finish after some neat approach play from Moussa Dembele and Petric.
Substitute Steve Sidwell completed Norwich’s misery when he scored from the penalty spot three minutes from time after Turner brought down Hugo Rodallega.
Villas-Boas suffered defeat in his first Premier League game in charge of Tottenham as Newcastle picked up a 2-1 win.
A super Demba Ba goal and a Hatem Ben Arfa penalty, both aided by defensive mistakes, sandwiched Jermain Defoe’s equaliser as all the goals came in the second half at St James’ Park.
Villas-Boas will be left a little confused as to how his team lost after his tactics of a three-man central midfield allowed Spurs to dominate for the majority of the encounter.
But Newcastle boss Alan Pardew, who was sent to the stands in the second half for pushing a referee’s assistant, got the winning start he wanted to build on last season’s fifth-placed finish.
Adam Le Fondre’s late goal earned new boys Reading a 1-1 draw with Stoke at the Madejski Stadium.
Stoke looked set to spoil Reading’s big day when Michael Kightly fired them in front in the first half when his shot somehow squirmed through the arms of Adam Federici.
However, Reading grabbed an equaliser in the final minute when Le Fondre scored from the penalty spot after Dean Whitehead was sent off for a second bookable offence for bringing down Garath McCleary.
West Ham made a winning return to the Premier League with Kevin Nolan’s controversial effort enough to give them a 1-0 win over Aston Villa at Upton Park.
Villa defenders appealed for offside when Nolan netted from Ricardo Vaz Te’s pass, but after consulting his officials referee Mike Reid awarded the goal for the home side.
Source:Sky Sport