By Gus "Walk-Off" Fields
Twenty-five years and 94 days. That's how long Coventry City waited to play a Premier League match again, and on opening night the wait ended with a 3-0 defeat away to the defending champions, Arsenal, according to BBC Sport. It was, by any measure, a baptism of fire.
Coventry's return is a genuine story in itself — a club that spent a quarter-century rebuilding from the second and third tiers of English football, finally back among the game's giants. But the opponent made sure there was no gentle welcome. Arsenal, fresh off a title-winning season, didn't play like a team easing into the new campaign. They played, in BBC Sport's words, with a swagger — a team looking to attack the league rather than simply defend what they'd won.
For Coventry, the lessons from the night are the kind every promoted side has to learn fast: the pace is different, the margins are smaller, and the teams at the top don't take their foot off after they've already made their point. Twenty-five years is a long time to wait for a return; ninety minutes was all it took for Arsenal to show just how much the division has moved on.
It's one result, one night, in a season that will have 37 more league matches to write its real story. But for a club and a fan base that has waited this long, the scoreline stings a little more than most.
Final score's the last thing that mattered here.
— Compiled from reporting by BBC Sport.
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