LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur kicked off the Thomas Frank era in style with a 3-0 win over Burnley, powered by a dazzling double from Richarlison, on the first Saturday of the Premier League season.

Sunderland celebrated their return to England’s top flight with a 3-0 victory over West Ham United, while Aston Villa survived defender Ezri Konsa’s dismissal to salvage a 0-0 draw against Newcastle United with the visitors missing want-away striker Alexander Isak.

On the south coast, Rodrigo Muniz’s last-gasp goal gave Fulham a 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion.

Frank was seconds away from launching his era in charge with a trophy until a late Paris St Germain revival won the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday.

The former Brentford boss replaced Ange Postecoglou despite the Australian ending Spurs’ 17-year trophy drought by lifting the Europa League.

However, Postecoglou was undone by a miserable return of six home league wins last season as Tottenham finished just above the relegation zone in 17th.

Richarlison made the most of the faith shown in him by Frank as the Brazilian turned in Mohammed Kudus’ cross to open the scoring.

The pair combined again on the hour in more spectacular fashion as Richarlison’s bicycle kick crashed in the Ghanaian’s delivery from the right.

Brennan Johnson was Tottenham’s hero of the Europa League final with the only goal against Manchester United and he began the new season by racing clear to slot in the third.

The victory was notable for a Premier League first as Burnley keeper Martin Dubravka conceded the first corner kick of the season under new rules after holding the ball for more than eight seconds.

Burnley racked up 100 points in their Championship promotion campaign last season but did little to suggest they will buck the trend of sides being relegated straight back to the second tier.

For the past two seasons, all three promoted teams have gone down.

However, big-spending Sunderland enjoyed a dream return to the top-flight after eight years with a second-half demolition of West Ham.

Former Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka is among pool of new signings attracted to the Stadium of Light.

But it was three players key to their promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since 2017 who scored.

Eliezer Mayenda’s looping header gave the Black Cats lift off on the hour mark Sunderland kept up the momentum and Daniel Ballard scored 12 minutes later, while Wilson Isidor had the home fans in a frenzy with another goal in injury time.

At Villa Park, the home side were thrown into disarray in the 66th minute when Konsa was shown a straight red card for pulling down Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon while he was in hot pursuit of a through ball from Anthony Elanga.

Newcastle continued to fire crosses into the box but without a recognised centre-forward such as Isak, who wants to leave amid interest from champions Liverpool, they could not convert them and the game ended in stalemate.

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said he wants an end to the saga one way or another.

”From my perspective, you want a resolution quickly. It’s taking away the focus of the players and the supporters,” said Howe. “We want to be united together. We’d like a resolution, but we’re not in control of that.”

Villa boss Unai Emery said he and his team should never accept dropping two points at home.

“With the circumstances we had with the red card and how we were the last 30 minutes more or less, with added time, we have to accept it,” said the Spaniard.

Brighton appeared to be heading for a victory after Matt O’Riley’s goal from the penalty spot early in the second half, but Fulham salvaged a draw from a corner in the 96th minute when substitute Muniz lashed in from close range.

“For sure it feels painful,” Brighton manager Fabian Huerzeler told the BBC. “We should score the second goal and I think the game would be over. That’s football.”

LIVERPOOL’S LATE SHOW

Defending champions Liverpool began their title defence with a dramatic 4-2 win over Bournemouth on Friday thanks to late goals from Mohamed Salah and Federico Chiesa with manager Arne Slot bowled over by the atmosphere on an emotional Anfield evening.

“Do you have half an hour?” the Dutchman said laughing when asked to sum up a night that started with a tribute to their Portugal forward Diogo Jota, who died in a car crash last month.

Hugo Ekitike bagged a goal on his league debut to put the hosts ahead after 37 minutes and Cody Gakpo doubled the lead in the 49th.

But Antoine Semenyo, who was the target of racist abuse in the first half that led to a pause in the game, pulled one back for the visitors in the 64th minute and completed a double 12 minutes later to rock Liverpool and shock the home fans.

However, Chiesa came off the bench and sent the Anfield faithful away happy with an 88th-minute strike after goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic swatted away a ball into the box by Salah, who scored himself deep into added time to wrap up the three points.

“Unbelievable atmosphere in the final minutes,” Slot said. “I thought that winning the league here [last season] will always be more special than winning a home game against Bournemouth, but the last six or seven minutes — wow, wow, wow, wow. How impressive that was.

“It was a great game to watch. In the end, we won it. So that helps for my emotions.”

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2025