Premier League: Promoted Hull City stun sorry Manchester United 2-0
What's the story
Hull City's return to top flight-football started off with a victory. Hosts Hull took down Michael Carrick's Manchester United 2-0 at the MKM Stadium in Matchweek 1 of Premier League 2026-27 season. Semi Ajayi scored the opener in the 17th minute after a corner. In the 38th minute, Nobel Mendy added a second from a set-piece. United offered nothing across the pitch and suffered.
Twitter Post
Sealed!
Returns to the Premier League don't come much better than that 🧡 🖤@HullCity 2-0 Man Utd pic.twitter.com/m3A9U6040M
— Premier League (@premierleague) August 22, 2026
Information
Here are the match stats
United had 71.6% ball possession and an XG of 1.81. Hull's xG was 1.26. From 21 attempts, United had five shots on target. Hull clocked 8 attempts and 4 of them were on target. United created 2 big chances and had 40 touches in the opposition box.
Records
Unwanted records for the Red Devils
As per Opta, United have lost on the opening day of a league season to a newly promoted side for the first time in their history. Before this, they had won 10 of the first 13 instances (D3).
United have also lost their opening league game in consecutive seasons for the first time ever in the Premier League (also 0-1 versus Arsenal last season).
Summary
Summary of the contest
Ajayi scored the opener, taking advantage of United's defensive frailties.
As United looked for a response, it was Mendy, who doubled Hull's lead with a powerful header in the 38th minute from a free-kick.
Despite Carrick bringing on Marcus Rashford for his first competitive appearance for United in 618 days, the substitution failed to change the game's outcome.
Bryan Mbeumo had United's best chance in the second half but was denied.
Words
It was never going to be perfect, says Carrick
Carrick reflected on the contest and told TNT Sport: "Some of it was okay, there's bits to improve on. It was never going to be perfect, but going behind and giving ourselves a lot to do makes it more difficult.
"It was a typical one of those games, with a newly-promoted team at home. You can't give them much, they've got a lot to hold on to," he added.