Manchester City's Jack Grealish shoots at goal. Reuters

Defending champions Manchester City got their title defence off to a losing start against a depleted Tottenham Spurs, who were playing without star striker Harry Kane.

Spurs spoiled the debut of Jack Grealish, who joined City from Aston Villa for a club-record fee of over 100 million pounds. Kane, who is heavily linked to City, did not play in the opener with the Spurs.

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City have already boosted their attack with the signing of Grealish and another swoop is around the corner if their pursuit of Kane materializes into a deal.

Spurs gave coach Nuno Espirito Santo a dream start as a manager with a victory in his first match that too against the defending champions.

South Korean Son Heung-min's was on the target as Spurs eked out a narrow 1-0 win against City. They have won three of the last four English Premier League titles.

Pep Guardiola's men slipped to a straight fourth defeat in as many visits to the Spurs, who have managed to keep their slate clean in all the games.

Spurs were buoyed by the return of fans to the full capacity of 62,000. They rooted for their team with songs and chants to keep them motivated against the defending champions.

Meanwhile, West Ham rallied twice to beat Newcastle 4-2 in a six-goal thriller on Sunday.

Callum Wilson had put Newcastle ahead within five minutes of the kick-off. Aaron Cresswell restored the parity for the visitors.

Newcastle took the lead in the 40th minute as Jacob Murphy slotted home another. Said Benrahma scored the equalizer in the 48th minute again with a pass from Michail Antonio.

Soucek converted the rebound in the 63rd to put West Ham ahead and Antonio netted the fourth to cap the victory.