Barclays Premier League Table: 2016 EPL Outlook After Saturday’s Opening Results

The 2016-17 English Premier League season officially kicked off Saturday, and it took only one match before the table was thrown into disarray. 

Leicester City shocked the world by winning the EPL title as a huge underdog last season, and their performance Saturday was perhaps nearly as surprising, as the defending champions fell to Hull City and instantly put themselves in a hole.

Along with that unexpected result, here is a rundown of Saturday’s scores and a look at the EPL standings after the first day of competition.

Saturday Scores

EPL Table

Recap

While there was no shortage of EPL action throughout the day Saturday, the most newsworthy result was also the first one with newly promoted Hull City upsetting Leicester City 2-1.

According to BBC’s Gary Lineker, the Foxes earned a dubious distinction in taking the loss:

Leicester become the first ever reigning @premierleague champions to lose their opening fixture of the following season. That’s pants!

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) August 13, 2016

Leicester fell behind during stoppage time of the first half when Adama Diomande put the Tigers on top, but the Foxes answered right back early in the second half when Riyad Mahrez scored on a penalty kick.

Just when it seemed as though Leicester City was back in control, Hull City regained the lead with a Robert Snodgrass goal in the 57th minute, and it never relinquished the advantage.

As seen in this graphic courtesy of Squawka Football, Snodgrass had a big game and was the main reason the Tigers managed to pull off the surprising win:

Robert Snodgrass’ game by numbers vs Leicester:100% tackles won2 chances created2 take-ons1 goalMatch-winner. pic.twitter.com/xyzwvY3M5O

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 13, 2016

Few gave Hull a chance to knock off Leicester entering play Saturday, but there was clearly belief within the club.

That was evident based on defender Curtis Davies’ comments following the match, per Hull City’s official Twitter account:

…

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com