The Premier League is back — and the opening weekend did not disappoint

First things first, this isn't the official Premier League table. It's a performance one that will be updated weekly, which means you can go from top to bottom, and vice versa, in the space of seven days. There's a clean slate at the start of each gameweek — which will be good news for some clubs, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at this rate.

Results matter, but when deciding where to rank teams from one to 20, we'll be looking primarily at how well they played last time out. If nothing else, it will provide a snapshot of how each team performed in the 2026-27 Premier League, week by week.

1. Hull City (Hull City 2-0 Man United)

This wasn't in the script — Manchester United comprehensively beaten by everyone's favourites to go down, with Oli McBurnie, Hull's bearded genius, running the show. Tactically, Hull head coach Sergej Jakirovic got it spot on, his use of a three-man defence and wing-backs exposing familiar United problems. The sight of Matt Crooks and Nobel Mendy teaming up on Bruno Fernandes just after the half-hour mark epitomised their hunger, by which point Hull had won almost twice as many duels as United. Regan Slater channelled his inner David Beckham with his set-pieces, Mohamed Belloumi ran around nutmegging people, and McBurnie dropped a lone-striker masterclass.

2. Brentford (Brentford 3-0 Tottenham)

Brentford under Keith Andrews are an excellent team with multiple threats, sending direct balls into Kevin Schade or Igor Thiago, who played like an old-school No 9, while their pressing was excellent. The star of the show, though, was club-record signing Mamadou Sangare — athletic, two assists and a left foot that opens up all sorts of passing angles. A song might be sung before long: sangare could be the signing of the season.

3. Brighton & Hove Albion (Brighton 4-0 Aston Villa)

Allowances were made here for the way Villa contributed to their downfall: an own goal, a first-half red card, and their maddening determination to play out against Brighton's high press. Pascal Gross and Yasin Ayari targeted Joao Gomes deep in his own half, Georginio Rutter's willingness to run in behind exposed Villa's unmobile defence, and two-goal Jack Hinshelwood showed why head coach Fabian Hurzeler thinks he's a No 10.

4. Chelsea (Fulham 2-3 Chelsea)

Operating alongside Morgan Rogers and behind Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer was exceptional, playing like a man desperate to make up for lost time after a frustrating season and missing out on England's World Cup squad. The front three scored a goal each and combined electrifyingly, even if keeper Robert Sanchez was at fault for goals and Levi Colwill needed to do better. The attack was the story.

5. Arsenal

This was football's equivalent of a zone 2 run — comfortable and conversational. Arsenal didn't break a sweat against promoted Coventry, thanks largely to livewire new signing Christos Tzolis, who forced mistakes and created goals. Sorry, Arsenal fans, you can't win the weekend for a leisurely kickabout.

6. Everton

Not quite as routine as the score suggests — Palace had their highest expected-goals total without scoring since 2018. But there were clear positives: Harrison Armstrong and Hayden Hackney had a hand in the goals, Tyrique George ran hard on the left, Iliman Ndiaste showed creative quality and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored a lovely opener.

7. Ipswich Town

Ipswich look more equipped to survive than after their previous promotion, having spent £136million this summer. Emersonn and Julio Enciso combined for the breakthrough, and Sunderland old boy Jack Clarke came off the bench to turn a draw into three points.

8. Leeds United (Nottingham Forest 0-1 Leeds)

A clean sheet and an away win opening day make for a pleasant start — even if Anton Stach's 88th-minute free-kick made it look like a smash-and-grab. The new faces impressed, with James Trafford making an excellent stop to deny Igor Jesus, and the sight of centre-back Joe Rodon overlapping drawing attention.

9. Newcastle United (Newcastle 2-2 Liverpool)

The last-gasp equaliser apart, this was fun. New coach Matthias Janssle's vertical football lifted the mood, and Yoane Wissa played like a man possessed — deployed as a No 10 and later a striker, leaving a trail of Liverpool players in his wake. Anthony Elanga put United ahead early on and looks set to benefit too.

10. Manchester City (City 2-1 Bournemouth)

Talk about making hard work of it. Erling Haaland was strangely out of sorts, Marc Guehi found himself in centre midfield, and there was defensive vulnerability. Substitute Rayan Bou running late — his second assist, to slip Josko Guerolling through on goal to win it, was superb.

The rest of the field

11. Bournemouth had the three points virtually theirs only for Guehi to score a free header and Josko spilled in stoppage time. 12. Liverpool rescued a point through Dominik Szoboszlai's late penalty but showed the same old problems at full-back and midfield — and questions remain over why Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz needed to prove their worth. 13. Fulham asked hard questions of the space between their centre-backs; Josh King impressed and Gonzalo Garcia added edge. 14. Nottingham ilmla weren't awful, but coach Olivier Glasner needs time. 15. Crystal Palace's good first half was undermined by Jean-Philippe Mateta profligacy and Jordan Pickford's reflexes, while Chadi Riad's knee injury marred the day. 16. Sunderland's errors were punished having given away two goals. 17. Coventry were always chasing against the champions. 18. Man United 'peaked' after three minutes then went downhill fast. 19. Tottenham were simply awful, losing 3-0 on an xG of just one. 20. Aston Villa conceded four, had a player sent off and scored an own goal before Society unfolding.

"There's no sugarcoating it: Tottenham were awful," one review concluded, with Brentford lifting 26 shots and routinely opening them up.

It's only week one, and a clean slate awaits next gameweek. But for Aston Villa, Spurs and Manchester United, the size of the mountain ahead is already beginning to loom.