7 Ups & 5 Downs From Premier League 2019/20 Opening Weekend

The Premier League is back!

by Andrew Pollard
Daniel James Premier League
Premier League

The Premier League is back! And boy have we missed it.

Sure, there may have been the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Copa America, the Africa Cup of Nations, and the Under-20 World Cup, but there’s just something special about the Premier League and its frenetic style of football.

Already we have familiar faces at the top of the table, with Manchester City at the peak after a dominant 5-0 victory away at West Ham, closely followed by Man Utd and Liverpool. The flip side of City's big win is that the Hammers find themselves occupying the league table’s bottom spot.

Of course, it goes without saying that there’s still a whole lot to play for – 37 games worth, to be precise – and there are sure to be plentiful twists and turns along the way in what is hopefully another fantastic season of top flight football.

Even in this first weekend, we have seen several major surprises and attention-grabbing antics – not least due to the fact that the VAR system has been fully implemented into all Premier League games for the 2019/20 season.

Reflecting back on this opening weekend of action, here are the Ups and Downs of the Premier League’s hotly anticipated return.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.