Premier League GW1 Team of the Week: Erling Haaland, Hugo Ekitike, David Raya

With new rules and the same drama, the 2025-26 Premier League season commenced on Friday night, where defending champions Liverpool survived a monumental scare against Bournemouth to triumph 4-2 in the opening game of the campaign.

Expected title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal also got off the mark, as the Citizens assumed their place at the summit of the Premier League table with a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, before the Gunners nervously edged out Manchester United by a goal to nil.

Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur were bigger winners on the opening weekend, slaying Burnley 3-0, the same scoreline that newly-promoted Sunderland managed to thrash West Ham United by.

Nottingham Forest also put a trio of goals past Brentford in a 3-1 home success, while Leeds United rounded off the gameweek one victories on Monday night, benefitting from a controversial handball decision to eke out a 1-0 win over Everton.

Meanwhile, six teams shook hands on a share of the spoils, as a 10-man Aston Villa held an Alexander Isak-less Newcastle United to a goalless draw, and there were also no strikes to be had in Chelsea vs. Crystal Palace, but Fulham left it very late indeed to salvage a point from a 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion.

Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League Team of the Week for the first gameweek of the 2025-26 season.

Goalkeeper: David Raya (Arsenal)

Where would Arsenal be without him? Where Mikel Arteta's attackers failed, his number one prevailed, as David Raya produced a marvellous seven saves and two high claims to keep an increasingly desperate Manchester United at bay.

Centre-back: Daniel Ballard (Sunderland)

From current Arsenal to former Arsenal, Daniel Ballard lit up the Stadium of Light against West Ham with vital contributions at both ends of the pitch; a brilliant header into the bottom corner and an equally magnificent goal-saving clearance from El Hadji Malick Diouf's effort.

Centre-back: Jan Paul van Hecke (Brighton)

Brighton may have been left crestfallen at the sound of the final whistle against Fulham, but take nothing away from the monstrous display of Jan Paul van Hecke, who won all four of his aerial and ground duels combined and registered an astonishing long pass accuracy rate, misplacing just one of his 13 such balls to his teammates.

Centre-back: Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal)

Debate raged over whether Arsenal's winner at Old Trafford fairly stood, but Riccardo Calafiori could hardly care less after positioning himself at the back stick to settle the contest, while also winning both of his aerial duels and contributing to the last-ditch defensive effort.

Right midfield: Mohammed Kudus (Tottenham)

Seamlessly slotting into Thomas Frank's Spurs system, £55m signing Mohammed Kudus provided two wonderful assists for another member of this Team of the Week to be named later, while creating a total of five chances as he ran Burnley ragged all afternoon.

Central midfield: Tijjani Reijnders (Man City)

One goal, one assist, one pre-assist; Tijjani Reijnders's Premier League debut for Man City was the stuff of dreams. The Dutchman is now just the second Sky Blues player to score and set up a teammate on his first Premier League appearance, following in the footsteps of none other than Sergio Aguero.

Central midfield: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)

Just one gameweek into the new Premier League season, and we already have a goal of the season and assist of the season contender.

More on the former later, but Elliot Anderson played the most exquisite of passes through to Chris Wood to score his second against Brentford, while also having three shots, winning two fouls and making two tackles in a relentless performance.

Left midfield: Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth)

The Antoine Semenyo headlines from Friday's six-goal thriller unsurprisingly centred around the sickening alleged racist abuse directed at the Bournemouth attacker, but the Ghanaian nevertheless did what he does best on the pitch - decimate defences.

After showcasing tremendous pace to get ahead of Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk for the Cherries' first, Semenyo ran a staggering 52.4m with the ball before notching the visitors' equaliser - one of the longest runs preceding a goal in Premier League history.

Second striker: Hugo Ekitike (Liverpool)

The smile was wiped off of Semenyo's face at full time as Liverpool turned the tide late on, prior to which new signing Hugo Ekitike quickly showcased his talents in front of the Kop with a calm finish and an assist for Cody Gakpo, thus becoming the first-ever Frenchman to score and set up a teammate on his Premier League debut.

Second striker: Richarlison (Tottenham)

From an ostensibly guaranteed exit to a potential Premier League goal of the season prize, Richarlison managed to better his first goal against Burnley with an astonishing overhead kick, before also playing a key part in Spurs' third by holding the ball up in a deep area and laying off Pape Sarr.

Centre-forward: Erling Haaland (Man City)

Death, taxes, and Erling Haaland scoring on the opening day of the Premier League season. Notching a simple tap-in and a venomous first-time strike in the destruction of Wolves, the Norwegian has now scored on each of his four MD1 appearances in England's top flight, the second-longest run in Premier League history after Mohamed Salah's six in a row from 2017-18 to 2022-23.

SPORTS MOLE'S PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK