Sports
By Owen Gorsuch, Guest Writer
The first three matchdays of the 2025-26 Premier League season are in the books and have already produced entertaining results.
On the first weekend, newly promoted Sunderland beat West Ham 3-0 in front of a rambunctious Stadium of Light, the Black Cats’ first Premier League match since 2017.
Everton kicked off their first match in their new stadium with a goal from Iliman Ndiaye.
The second matchday saw Everton win their first match at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium, with a 2-0 win over Brighton. The player that scored the first goal at the stadium, Senegalese midfielder Iliman Ndiaye, is also the player that scored the last goal at Goodison Park for the men’s team.
Everton’s crosstown rival, Liverpool, also had a noteworthy second game. The Reds were tied 2-2 with Newcastle United in stoppage time, when 16 year old Rio Ngumoha scored in the 100th minute of the match, becoming Liverpool’s youngest ever goalscorer and scoring the latest game-winning-goal by the club in its history.
“It was kinda funny seeing Rio get the win for Liverpool,” Xavier alumnus and Brighton supporter, Andruw Sanders said. “All the talent they brought in this summer and it was one of their own that delivered when the game needed it most. Really fun story to watch, Arne Slot’s got a very good squad on his hands this year, it’ll be an exciting title race for sure.”
This past week saw Bournemouth shock Tottenham 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Evanilson scoring in the fifth minute. Manchester United scored a 97th minute penalty from Bruno Fernandes to defeat Burnley 3-2, while Dominik Szoboszlai’s skillful free kick saw Liverpool defeat Arsenal 1-0 in a crucial early match between two title favorites.
The biggest shock of this weekend was Brighton defeating Manchester City 2-1 with goals from Brajan Grouda and James Milner.
“Watching the Albion beat City will never get old, and it came at the perfect time too. Gruda getting the game winning goal felt like a storybook ending,” Sanders said. “Watching Milner take the penalty and dedicate it to his former teammate Diogo Jota, who he now wears the number 20 in honor of, was incredibly touching. It was a much needed momentum swing headed into the break.” Jota tragically passed away in a car accident in June.
Interestingly, when Brajan Grouda was born in 2004, Milner, who is now the Premier League’s second oldest goal-scorer, was already in his second season in the Premier League.
The Premier League has a two week break before resuming on Sept. 13.
