Premier League stats: West Ham, Liverpool, Wolves, Zaha, Pereyra
- From the section Premier League
The beginning of a new season.
One Premier League side extended their own losing record, Wolves rolled out their contingent of Portuguese players, while Wilfried Zaha highlighted his importance to Crystal Palace.
BBC Sport takes a look at the key stats from the opening round of games in the Premier League - and we've even identified a bit of a gem for your fantasy team.
Hammered on the opening day
| Most opening-day Premier League defeats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Wins | Draws | Loses | |
| West Ham | 23 | 10 | 1 | 12 |
| Newcastle | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 |
| Tottenham | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 |
| Southampton | 20 | 2 | 10 | 8 |
| Everton | 26 | 7 | 11 | 8 |
| Aston Villa | 24 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
All that planning, training sessions in pre-season and bringing in new recruits before the first game of the new campaign.
But despite the hard work, West Ham's horrendous opening-game run continued in Sunday's 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool, and they have now won at Anfield just once in 46 top-flight visits.
The result means the Hammers have suffered defeat in their first match of the season 12 times in the Premier League era, more than any other side to compete in the division - Newcastle fare slightly better with 10 losses, followed by Tottenham's nine and Southampton's eight.
Maybe the supporters should have seen the result coming as new manager Manuel Pellegrini has been beaten more times against Liverpool (five) than any other side.
Swindon, Barnsley, Cardiff, Brighton, QPR and Oldham have never managed to record an opening-day win in the Premier League, although some of those teams have had more chances to do so than others.
At the other end of the spectrum, Blackpool are the only side to hold a 100% winning record, albeit from just one game when they thumped Wigan 4-0 on the opening day of the 2010-11 season.
Of the sides currently in the Premier League, Manchester United have won the most with 18, followed by Chelsea with 17, while Liverpool have 15 and Arsenal 14.
Wolves' Portuguese flavour
There was great excitement about Wolves' return to the top flight after they cruised through the Championship last season with 99 points.
They spent big in the summer, notably £18m on winger Adama Traore from Middlesbrough, but the Spaniard did not feature in the 2-2 draw against Everton.
Portuguese manager Nuno Espirito Santo selected five countrymen - goalkeeper Rui Patricio, midfielders Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves, as well as forwards Diogo Jota and Helder Costa - in his starting line-up, the most for a Premier League club from the European country.
Neves impressed by scoring and setting up the other goal, becoming the first Portuguese player to do so since Nani for Manchester United in April 2012.
The largest number of foreign players from a single country picked by a top-flight team is the seven Frenchmen selected by Fulham against Middlesbrough in 2003 and Newcastle versus Liverpool in 2013.
Remember Cottagers defender Jerome Bonnissel? No, us neither.
The importance of Zaha
To say Wilfried Zaha is pivotal to Crystal Palace is an understatement.
Last season, the Ivory Coast international missed nine league games and without him in the side, they failed to claim a single point. His nine goals in 29 games were key to an 11th-placed finish.
Zaha stayed at Selhurst Park having been linked with a move away in the summer and he started this season by netting in the 2-0 win over promoted Fulham.
The move to Manchester United, where he struggled to break into the first team, has been put behind him and you may be surprised to know he is now Palace's joint-leading scorer in the top flight since 1992-93, level with former striker Chris Armstrong on 23 goals.
Zaha's 18 sprints were the most of any player on the pitch against Fulham and he clocked an impressive high speed of 34.43 km/h in the match. Rapid.
Searching for fantasy football points?
A new season brings the excitement of choosing new fantasy football teams.
Many people will have selected Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah or Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, but it is those hidden gems you need to look out for to gain the edge.
Take Watford midfielder Roberto Pereyra, for example. In one version of the game - Fantasy Premier League - the Argentine was picked by just 0.9% of players at the beginning of gameweek one, but scored twice in the 2-0 victory over Brighton on Saturday and would have earned you 16 points.
The former Juventus player is a consistent performer for the Hornets, scoring five goals in his past five games at Vicarage Road, and he has also has had a hand in Watford's past six Premier League strikes.
He only costs £6m - you might want to get him in.
