Three Opening Days To Remember
City will head to the Hawthorns for their first Premier League fixture of 2020/21, and we have picked out three of the best opening day showdowns from across the last 25 years, including games from the title-winning season and the halcyon years under Martin O'Neill's stewardship.
Leicester City 4 Sunderland 2
8 August, 2015
King Power Stadium
Claudio Ranieri's first game in charge of Leicester proved to be a sign of things to come as the Foxes swept Sunderland aside at King Power Stadium on the opening day of the 2015/16 season.
Nigel Pearson, who had left the Club in the summer, guided City to Premier League survival in the previous campaign, despite sitting bottom of the pile at Christmas, by winning seven of the final nine games.
And under Ranieri, Leicester would continue that fine form into the new season, a campaign which became the greatest in the Club’s history, ending with the lifting of the Premier League title.
The players who had so brilliantly secured top flight status in 2014/15 were relied upon again, with only one summer signing, Japanese forward Shinji Okazaki, in Ranieri's first starting 11.
It all began when Jamie Vardy opened the scoring after just 11 minutes, heading in past Sunderland stopper Costal Pantilimon. That breakthrough was followed by a double from Riyad Mahrez inside the first 25 minutes. The Algerian winger also scored with his head before cooly converting a penalty after being taken down by Lee Cattermole.
In a thrilling game on Filbert Way, Jermain Defoe got one back for the Black Cats on the hour mark, but hope of a comeback was soon extinguished when Marc Albrighton, who had assisted the first two goals, made it 3-1 with a low, driven strike.
The away side did get a second via Steven Fletcher with 20 minutes remaining, but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation as City took all three points to kick off the most memorable of campaigns.
Leicester City 1 Aston Villa 0
9 August, 1997
Filbert Street
You have to go back all the way to the beginning of the 1997/98 season for City’s only other previous opening day victory in the Premier League.
Fresh from winning the League Cup against Middlesbrough near the end of the previous season, City went into the new campaign full of optimism, with Martin O’Neill still at the helm and having just signed a new long-term contract.
New signings Graham Fenton, Tony Cottee and Pegguy Arphexad did not feature, but Robbie Savage appeared for the first time as a late substitute, while in the Villa side was future Leicester forward Stan Collymore.
The visitors were an established top flight outfit who had finished fifth in 1996/97 and fourth in 1995/96. Collymore proved to be the danger man early on, setting up Mark Draper to strike the post, which proved an early warning sign for O’Neill's men.
At the other end, however, Emile Heskey was causing all sorts of problems for Villa’s defence and he started the move for the only goal of the game on 37 minutes. The striker fed winger Steve Guppy, who whipped in an inviting cross for Ian Marshall to rise and head home at the back post.
The scoreline could have been more flattering for City as Marshall twice missed from close range and failed to add to his tally, but the Foxes were more than happy with their afternoon’s work.
That victory helped propel O’Neill’s men to third in the table by the end of September, leading to the Northern Irishman winning the Manager of the Month award. In the end, City would finish in a very respectable 10th position, on 53 points.
Manchester United 2 Leicester City 2
15 August, 1998
Old Trafford
The following season included another memorable opening for the Blue Army, this time at Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side had lost the title by a single point to Arsenal in 1997/98 and were keen to start positively in their quest to wrestle the trophy back to Manchester this time around.
However, Leicester had other ideas and raced into a shock early lead when Muzzy Izzet’s superb skill and balance took him past several United defenders in the box before cutting the ball back for Heskey to slide in and finish from close range.
O’Neill had brought in several new faces to the squad, including defenders Frank Sinclair and Gerry Taggart. Both featured in this opening day encounter, the latter as a late replacement, which continued to go Leicester’s way in the second-half.
City were in dreamland as they went two goals to the good 15 minutes from time. Former United youngster Savage whipped in an inch-perfect cross from the right for Cottee, whose diving header found the bottom corner.
United’s powers of recovery shone through, though, and once substitute Teddy Sheringham got one back with 10 minutes to play, via David Beckham’s wicked delivery, Leicester faced an uphill task to hold on.
Beckham then stepped up once again to equalise in injury time, a trademark free-kick from 25 yards out landed in the bottom corner to cruelly rob City of a famous victory.
It would be United who won the title by a single point from the Gunners this time, while Leicester continued to impress and finished 10th once again under Martin O’Neill in 1998/99.