City, Spurs, Liverpool win to kick off Premier League season

Erling Haaland bagged a double to fire Manchester City to a perfect start in a 4-0 rout of Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Tottenham Hotspur kicked off the Thomas Frank era with a 3-0 win over Burnley 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.

Pep Guardiola's revamped City got the season off to a flying start, with Haaland -- who has scored in the opening game in all his four seasons in the league -- striking in each half, and newcomers Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki scoring debut goals in what City will hope was the first step toward erasing last season's third-place disappointment.

"(Reijnders) is an incredible, big signing for us," Guardiola said. "His work ethic, a holding midfielder occupies a lot of spaces and then after the control with the ball and his movements, and then he is trying to get in behind and score -- really pleased."

Wolves supporters paid heartfelt tribute to former striker Diogo Jota throughout their first league outing since he and his brother Andre Silva died in a car crash in July.

At Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs gave Frank a comprehensive victory in his first home match in charge thanks to a dazzling double from Richarlison, while it was a harsh welcome back to the league for Burnley.

Richarlison slotted home Mohammed Kudus's cross in the 10th minute, and the Brazilian linked up with Kudus again on the hour mark when he dived to fire home Kudus's cross with a stunning acrobatic volley.

"Fantastic finish and the way it was set up, and Mohammed Kudus brilliant too," Frank told the BBC.

Brennan Johnson added a third goal on the counter-attack six minutes later.

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.

RED CARD FOR KONSA

Sunderland had a dream start to their return to the top flight after eight years at a jubilant Stadium of Light.

The opening half saw the hosts still finding their rhythm against a disjointed Hammers side but they grew into the game, and Eliezer Mayenda broke the deadlock in the 61st minute.

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.

"Happy, happy for the club, the organisation, the players and our fans," Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris told Sky. "To come back into the Premier League with this connection with our fans is impressive.

"Every point is important. Today (it) was possible to beat West Ham and we did. Next week we have to reset and have another story."

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.

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 LEAVE IT LATE

Liverpool talisman Mo Salah and substitute Federico Chiesa struck late goals as the Premier League champions began the defence of their title by beating Bournemouth 4-2 in a thriller on the opening night of the season at Anfield on Friday.

On a bittersweet evening charged with emotion after the July death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, newcomer 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.

"Fantastic," Liverpool boss Arne Slot said of Italian forward Chiesa's goal. "He came in in the end because we needed a goal. For him then to score in such a moment is special.

"It's even more special because the fans have supported him. It's nice he gives them something in return with a great goal."

With Liverpool ahead again, Salah chased the ball past the defence before cutting inside and firing into the bottom corner with a 94th-minute goal that put the Egyptian joint-fourth with Andy Cole on the all-time Premier League scorers' list with 187.

An emotional Salah pointed to the heavens and flapped two hands to mimic Jota's shark goal celebration.

He headed for The Kop stand after the final whistle, and wiped away tears while applauding the fans who were singing their Jota song to the tune of "Bad Moon Rising."

MINUTE'S SILENCE

The night started with an emotional minute's silence for Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who died in a car crash. Fans fought back tears as they sang "You'll Never Walk Alone."

Ekitike, who has joined from Eintracht Frankfurt, was the most impressive of Slot's close-season signings in a spending spree topping 300 million pounds ($406.53 million).

"Obviously I think it was a good performance, I could do better," said the French forward -- who held up two fingers in one hand, and made a zero with the other in a tribute to Liverpool's Jota, who wore number 20 -- after his goal.

"But the most important thing was winning, the mentality we showed. Obviously we wanted to win tonight for the people who came and for Diogo," added the 23-year-old forward.

The game was halted for several minutes after Bournemouth's Ghana international Semenyo reported the racist abuse.

"It's totally unacceptable," Bournemouth captain Adam Smith said. "Kind of in shock to be honest that it happened. In this day and age it shouldn't be happening.

"I don't know how Ant's played on to be honest and come up with those goals ... Something has to be done. We'll support him in there and hopefully he'll be ok."