Can Arsenal still be champions? Only one other club has lost their first game and won the Premier League
If Arsenal are to win this season's Premier League they will become just the second club to do so after losing their first game of the season.
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The ballooning hype surrounding Arsenal's title credentials was suddenly burst yesterday after an impressive West Ham came away from the Emirates with a 2-0 win in Slaven Bilic's debut in the dugout.
With 37 games remaining, time is still on the Gunners' side in their pursuit of a first league triumph in 12 years, yet only Manchester United have ever managed to lift the Premier League trophy after losing their opening fixture.
United lost to Everton in the curtain raiser of their 2012/13 season, before Robin van Persie's goals fired Sir Alex Ferguson's side to the league title in the Scot's last season in charge.
United fell to a 1-0 loss at Everton on the opening weekend of the 2012/13 season…before winning the league by 11 points (Source: Getty)
Yet before that you have to go back two decades to 1995 when a young United side famously made Alan Hansen eat his words after a 3-1 loss to Aston Villa in the season opener prompted the pundit to say: "You can't win anything with kids."
The only other occasion when a team turned around an opening game defeat in the Premier League era was again United who lost to Sheffield United in the first match of the 1992/93 season.
Chelsea, who drew 2-2 with Swansea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, will be encouraged by the fact that three teams have won the league after drawing their opener (United, Arsenal and Blackburn) on six occasions.
Although Arsenal's most recent loss was all too reminiscent of an opening day loss to Aston Villa in 2013 for their supporters, the north Londoners actually have a remarkably consistent opening day, having won 10 and drawn three of their other 13 first day fixtures.
Nevertheless, while Arsenal may have been the fashionable tip for the title ahead of this year's Premier League, their latest result suggested familiar failings haven't yet gone away.