Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick as Manchester City got their title defence off to a winning start with a 5-0 victory over West Ham on Sunday (NZ time).
England international Sterling found the back of the net three times, while Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero also scored as City picked up where they left off last season.
City started slowly at West Ham but three goals in the last 15 minutes sealed a convincing start to their title defence.
"Overall for the first game it is an incredible result," City manager Pep Guardiola said.
"The first half was not good. We didn't control second balls and lost a lot of balls. Second half was much better. More calm, but still we have many things to improve."
West Ham had a couple of half-chances before Jesus scored the opener on 25 minutes and Sterling made it 2-0 just after halftime.
Sterling then had a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR) for offside, but the England striker made amends with his second goal on 75 minutes.
VAR was then used again when Aguero saw his penalty saved by Lukasz Fabianski but the kick had to be retaken because Declan Rice had encroached in the penalty area and made the resultant clearance.
Aguero made no mistake second time round, and Sterling rounded off things with the fifth as City scored three late on.
Elsewhere, Tottenham came from behind to beat Aston Villa while Sheffield United picked up a point on their return to the top-flight.
John McGinn opened the scoring for Aston Villa in the first-half, but record signing Tanguy Ndombele equalised on 73 minutes.
Harry Kane then scored twice, in the 86th and 90th minutes to seal an ultimately convincing win.
Billy Sharp scored an 88th-minute equaliser to give Sheffield United a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth as they returned to the Premier League for the first time since 2007.
Chris Mepham had put Bournemouth in front just after an hour before Sharp pounced to score the equaliser two minutes from time.
Ashley Barnes scored twice, and Johann Gudmundsson got the other as Burnley beat
Southampton 3-0 in conditions that home manager Sean Dyche described simply as "awful".
Brighton won 3-0 at Watford thanks to an own goal from Abdoulaye Doucoure and strikes from Florin Andone and Neal Maupay.
Morgan Schneiderlin was sent off 12 minutes from time, but Everton held on with 10 men for a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace.
Liverpool beat Norwich 4-1 Friday in the season-opener. Arsenal visits Newcastle United, Leicester welcome Wolves and Manchester United host Chelsea on Monday (NZ time).
Reuters
