🔬 The Debrief on Sunday's Premier League action | OneFootball

Sunday saw four more Premier League teams make their 2024/25 debuts as they looked to get off to a winning start.

Let's take a look at what went on.

What happened?

The first game of Enzo Maresca's Chelsea reign ended in defeat as goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovačić were enough to see Manchester City pick up all three points 2-0.

Earlier, a Brentford side without talisman Ivan Toney beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in an end-to-end affair, with Yoanne Wissa scoring the winner for the Bees.

Player of the day

The news that Rodri would miss the opening day of the season was not what Manchester City fans wanted to hear, with the Cityzens having lost all four of their games without the Spaniard last season.

But against Chelsea, former blue Kovačić stepped into the void seamlessly. The Croatian completed all but one of his passes, won seven duels and four tackles. He even popped up with a goal from outside the area that Rodri would have been proud of.

Stat of the day

An inadvertent touch from Bernardo Silva in the build up to Haaland's opening goal for Manchester City saw him move closer to Nani as the Portuguese player with the most assists in the Premier League.

You'd certainly back him to go past the ex-Manchester United man this season.

What this means

In the very early Premier League table, Manchester City move into the top four while Brentford sit sixth. On the other side, Chelsea's two goal defeat has left them 17th, while Crystal Palace are four places ahead in 13th.

Perhaps more importantly, it means that Arsenal and Manchester City, the top two from last season, are level after the first game.

What they said

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner was happy to forgive referee Sam Barratt after he admitted to making a mistake in disallowing Eberechi Eze's opening goal.

'It shows he has a good character and is a good guy. We can always find excuses. Part of the game to make mistakes. Shows he’s a great man to say, yes I made a mistake,' the Eagles boss told the media.

Meanwhile, Thomas Frank revealed that Ivan Toney was not close to leaving Brentford, but when asked if it was a matter of when not if he leaves, he added "Yes, I guess that is fair."

Manchester City goalscorer Haaland was left in awe of his teammates as he completed just three passes all game.

"Fantastic to be back. Three points, we go again. Last year we didn't win here so it's a great start. it's never easy to come to Stamford Bridge. I'm really happy. It's incredible how relaxed the defenders, Ederson and the midfielders are with the ball. I don't understand how they do it, all praise to them."

And even in defeat, Enzo Maresca was happy with the performance of his Chelsea side.

"I think we competed very well for much of the game. We were similar if not better. The performance was there but we didn't take the chances. Probably the big difference was inside the box. I'm quite happy in terms of performance.

What comes next?

Tottenham round off the first set of Premier League fixtures when they take on Leicester City on Monday night, before Brighton vs Manchester United next Saturday kicks off the second round of games.