Gareth Bale s return to English football coincided with a Tottenham implosion against West Ham, as David Moyes team earned a place in Premier League history.
From 3-0 behind after 81 minutes, West Ham incredibly scrambled a 3-3 draw from their trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
No team in the Premier League had ever previously come from so far back, so late in a game, to avoid defeat.
Burnley are now the only team without a point in the Premier League after Sheffield United and Fulham both got off the mark in a 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane, while Brighton and Hove Albion had 20 times as many shots as Crystal Palace in their Selhurst Park battle but also finished in stalemate.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, have joined early leaders Everton in sending a reminder to the big six that they too were once giants of the English game, who might just be waking from years of slumber.
Tottenham 3-3 West Ham: Hammer blow to Spurs
Was it the Premier League s greatest three-goal comeback, or simply the latest? Either way, the recovery from David Moyes team was one they will not forget in a long time, while Tottenham and head coach Jose Mourinho may find it haunts them.
87 Tottenham Hotspur had won each of their previous 87 Premier League matches when leading by at least three goals, last dropping points from this position in a 3-5 defeat against Man Utd in September 2001. Despair.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Until the late twist there was a lot to enjoy for Tottenham and their supporters.
Going 3-0 up in 16 minutes was the earliest they had held a three-goal lead in a Premier League game since facing Derby County in August 2007. They led 3-0 after 14 minutes and beat the Rams 4-0 that day, so surely three points were beckoning again here. In the most recent 87 Premier League matches where they had led by at least three goals, going back 19 years, Tottenham had won every time.
Harry Kane s early double and assist for Son Heung-min took him to 23 direct goal involvements in his past 12 competitive games for Spurs, consisting of 15 goals and eight assists.
The England captain has five goals and seven assists for his club this season, with those 12 involvements the most ever by a player in their opening five matches of a Premier League campaign.
Had Tottenham convinced themselves the game was won by the time Bale came on in the 72nd minute, for his first Spurs appearance since May 2013? The chasm of seven years and 152 days since he last pulled on the shirt was the longest gap between appearances for the club by any player in the Premier League.
After the game, Tottenham boss Mourinho said Moyes had found his new Fellaini in Tomas Soucek alluding to Moyes strong allegiance towards Marouane Fellaini, who he had at Everton and took to Manchester United.
Fellaini was a nuisance in the air, particularly at set-pieces, and Soucek clearly has some of that in his armoury. The tall Czech has had the most goal attempts in the Premier League this season of players who have not scored. He has been luckless so far after 14 efforts at the target, six of which have been headers.
Leicester City 0-1 Aston Villa: Red-hot Ross
Can anyone stop Villa? Ross Barkley s late strike gave the midfielder two goals in two games since joining from Chelsea.
Aston Villa have recorded
