The English Premier League, undoubtedly the most followed domestic football league in the world opened at the weekend with a flurry of shocks, but the big boys still lived up to expectations.

   While defending champions, Chelsea suddenly discovered themselves being pummelled at home and taking a 0-3 dip at half time, elsewhere, the likes of Wayne Rooney at Everton and Alexandre Lacazette with Arsenal proved their worth at the summer transfer market.

Alexandre Lacazette on the opening day on Friday needed just two minutes to fire Arsenal ahead in an eventual 4-3 defeat of Leicester City. So also Rooney fired in the only goal that enabled Everton overcome Stoke City.

What is more, his goal on Saturday was the 300^th Premier League goal in which he was involved.

He is thus just 24 goals behind record holder, Alan Shearer. But as both Rooney and Lacazette made individual marks, Chelsea have everything to worry about in their title defence which opened with a 2-3 loss at home to lowly rated Burnley.

They became the first defending champion to concede three goals in an opening match. They eventually finished their league opener with two man deficit.

Had it not been for Chelsea’s debacle/Burnley’s triumph, Liverpool’s draw at the hands of Watford would be the story of the day.

Miguel Britos scored a controversial goal in extra time to hand Watford a 3-3 draw with the boys from the Merseyside.

Watford are considered lightweights by Premier League standards, the match had the feeling of a heavyweight bout, as the two clubs traded blows all afternoon, with Watford landing the final punch that secured the draw.

But the hornets also landed the opening punch, with a goal from Nigerian decent, Stefano Okaka in the eighth minute.

With uncertainty over the future of Philippe Coutinho, the mantle of best player at Liverpool will fall to either Sadio Mane or Roberto Firmino, both of whom scored on Saturday.

Mane sped around the Watford box and curled home a give-and-go with a couple of his teammates to the far-post in the 29th.

That lead didn’t last long, however, as Abdoulaye Doucouré brought Watford back ahead three minutes later. On the other side of the half, Firmino scored from the penalty spot following a foul on new boy Mohamed Salah to bring the score level again at 2-2.

It was Salah, a player with a bright future at Anfield, who scored two minutes after Firmino to give Liverpool its first lead of the match.

On the counter, Firmino chipped the keeper, but the shot was on trajectory to land well short of the goal line. But Salah charged onto the ball as if it were a pass and put a boot on it to score on the open net.

With two goals in quick succession, Liverpool seemed to have weathered the storm and were set to take three points from the match at Vicarage Road.

But Britos headed the match-tying goal in off the line after the Reds failed to clear a corner that ricocheted around the box and to the Watford man.

There were calls for offside, but the referee swallowed his whistle and the goal stood.

Liverpool has the right to feel aggrieved in this draw, considering both the controversy on the last goal, as well as an offside Watford player in the build-up to the Doucouré goal.

But plenty of this draw was created by their own faults. The main criticism of the Reds last season was that, while they could score with the best of them, their defence was broken down far too easily far too often, especially on set pieces.

That doesn’t seem to have changed in the offseason, as Jurgen Klopp never bought another defender to reinforce his back line.

If he doesn’t change something soon, this trend of excellent attacking and atrocious defending could continue for the next nine months.

Although it wasn’t on the same scale as Chelsea-Burnley, Huddersfield Town also secured an upset in the club’s first ever match in the Premier League, and they did it by a large margin.

The Terriers defeated Crystal Palace to open the season. A Joel Ward own goal and two from new signing Steve Mounie gave Huddersfield a 3-0 win away from home at Selhurst Park. It’s a dream start for one of the club’s favoured for relegation this season.

With three goals and a +3 goal differential, Huddersfield Town is top of the league. The beginning of the Premier League season is weird, man.

Other Premier League results

• Brighton 0-2 Manchester City
• West Brom 1-0 Bournemouth
• Southampton 0-0 Swansea City