Arsenal 4-3 Leicester City - Wenger in? Wenger out? Wenger in? Wenger out? Rinse, repeat.
Watford 3-3 Liverpool - Corners... Ever thought about defending them Liverpool?
Now... as a Liverpool fan, I can be accused of being biased towards the red men. But my god, I've never seen such a contrast on a football pitch in my life, let alone between an attack and defence from the side team. The first set piece of the season... let me say that again. THE FIRST SET PIECE OF THE SEASON... that Liverpool had to defend, and it lead to a goal. Stefano Okaka, a 6ft something striker, with a huge presence and a massive build, was given a free run into the 6 yard box, to head in from a corner with no challenge from anyone. The Watford striker's performance will have Dejan Lovren having nightmares until they meet again, the Croatian centre back looked like a child trying to keep him out. It's gotten to the point that a corner is as good as a penalty against Liverpool, in fact, Mignolet has a better rate of saving spot kicks then corners if you ask me. And then, just like that, we saw the other side of Liverpool. A lovely passing move, capped off by a perfectly weighted ball through by Emre Can and an even better finish by Sadio Mane, and the 5 time European champions were level. Now remember what I said about Arsenal after Lacazette scored? That everything looked brilliant for all of two minutes? Well... Another ball into the box was poorly dealt with, and Doucoure stabbed the ball into the net to give the home side the lead again heading into the break. Again the Liverpool defence was found wanting, and again they had gone behind to a Watford side that hadn't really posed a threat, making the two goals conceded even worse. Then for 40 minutes we were reminded just how good Liverpool could be. Mo Salah gave us the first real showing of his incredible pace, beating Gomes to a through ball which looked impossible to reach, going down under the challenge and winning a penalty. Firmino calmly slotted into the bottom left corner to equalise, before just three minutes later, the Brazilian lifted the ball over the advancing Watford keeper, for Mo Salah to latch onto and knock in his debut goal, giving his new side the lead for the first time on the day. What followed was 30 minutes of smooth sailing for the leaders, before... you guessed it... another poorly defended set piece. In the 94th minute another corner was whipped in, Liverpool failed to deal with it after a poor header from Wijnaldum, and eventually Miguel Britos bundled the ball over the line to snatch a point for the Hornets. I don't really know what to say about this game to be honest, it's all been said before, not just over the last 24 hours but over the last few years, Liverpool simply look poor at the back. You could take the review of Arsenal's opening day, replace the name Arsenal with Liverpool and you'd have a pretty accurate overview of the state of the club. Going forward last season, Liverpool looked brilliant, and this summer they've strengthened in that area. Bringing in Salah who scored on his league debut, and looked very impressive in doing so. But the priority for Liverpool coming into the summer was to strengthen their back line, their defence, it simply wasn't strong enough, and the new season has started with no change being made! It's almost laughable how poor the red's were defensively against Watford, which is an even bigger shame when you consider how good their front three performed. Salah, Mane and Firmino looked great going forward, and if they hold onto Coutinho, they'll have perhaps the most potent attack in the league. But all of this is wasted because defensively, Jurgen Klopp's side is shocking defensively. A Champions League attack, with a relegation standard defence. It doesn't quite add up.Chelsea 2-3 Burnley - 5 goals, 2 red cards, 8 yellow cards, 1 huge shock.
Chelsea became only the seconds defending champions to lose the first game of the following season. (For all you trivia lovers, Leicester City last season became the first) But the game wasn't all cut and dry, like the first two I have spoke about so far, it was an action packed 90 minutes. Chelsea's new full time captain Gary Cahill followed were John Terry left off, leaving games at Stanford Bridge early. A horrible tackle saw the Englishman given his marching orders just 14 minutes in, and the red card was the beginning of perhaps the worst half in Chelsea's Premier League history, and that isn't an over estimation. A Sam Vokes Brace, either side of a Stephen Ward goal, saw the champions going into half time, at home, with ten men, 3-0 down to a side highly tipped to be relegated! Changed were quickly made and record signing Alvaro Morata was given his debut and it didn't take the former Real Madrid striker long to continue the trend of debut goals this weekend. The ball was whipped in from Willian and Morata turned the ball in with a diving header to start the comeback. Mortata then went from hero to zero, turning a goal bound effort over the line from an offside position, ruling it out. Before Chelsea had the chance to add to their tally, Cesc Fabregas but in a late contender for worse tackle of the game, earning himself a red card and Chelsea we're reduced to 9! Despite this the final 10 minutes were all Chelsea, and David Luiz added a second for the champions, leading to a very nervy last few minutes. But Sean Dyche's side held on for a famous three points. So... what now? Antonio Conte has openly said he isn't happy with the lack of funds being made available to him in order to boost his squad, the Italian stated he simply doesn't not have enough players to fight on all front this season. And obviously, the early red card to Cahill didn't help things, as a senior figure of the side, the centre back should know better. But that doesn't change the fact that, for the first 45 minutes, Chelsea were second best against Burnley, a side set to battle relegation. All over the park they looked a yard off the pace, it took Mortata coming on in the second half for the champions to have any attacking threat. With Hazard out, Pedro out, and Morata still not deemed fit enough to start, Chelsea's attack looks very thin and it showed on the opening day. As I previously mentioned only Leicester City had lost on match day one after winning the title the season before, now I am in no way suggesting Chelsea will end up having a season similar to the midlands club from last season, but you have to think how unprepared are Chelsea coming into this campaign. With a full strength starting eleven, they can compete with the best, but beyond that, there simply isn't enough for the London club to compete on all fronts. I would expect Roman Abramovic to get him check book out between now and August 31st, if not, what are the odds on Conte walking out before the end of the season? Think about it.Brighton and Hove Albion 0-2 Manchester City - Pep's men spoil the party on the coast.
Despite rugged resistance from the home side, the early favourites started their campaign with what was expected from them, a win. When it was announced that Brighton's first ever Premier League game would be against Manchester City you couldn't help but feel sorry for the newly promoted side. And the 22% possession the home side saw made their first outing a lot of hard work, but they truly put up a fight. As expected however, the blue half of Manchester were the better side throughout, Gabriel Jesus coming close early on, forcing a sublime save from Brighton keeper Mathew Ryan, this was followed by the Brazilian having the ball in the net, but disallowed for hand ball. Other then Gabriel's bright spark, Pep's side never quite clicked into gear, which saw half time arrive, with the score still at 0-0. The second half saw more of the same to begin with, all the possession, but few clear chance for City. The best falling to Aguero, who intercepted an under hit back pass, only to put the ball wide of the post. However as I'm sure you could guess, the Argentinian wouldn't waste another chance, picking up the ball to the right hand side of the box, and firing expertly into the far left hand corner, giving City the lead. Once ahead, City started to play themselves more into the game, Kyle Walker impressing on his debut and drawing a free kick. This free kick lead to a corner, which lead to Manchester City's second, and an own goal off of Lewis Dunk, to seal all three points of the blues. Despite not quick clicking into gear fully, City picked up all three points and a clean sheet on the opening day, the same of which can not be said about many sides. What was interesting about this game was, as a unit, they looked a lot more drilled, the side seemed to have a much clearer idea of what their managed wanted from them. The new signings at full back of Danilo and Kyle walker slotted in seamlessly, and the rest of the side seemed to follow suit. The massive possession figure is very reminiscent of Pep's former sides in Barcelona and Bayern Munich, all over the pitch City dictated the play, meaning that despite their attacking ventures not all coming off, they never looked in doubt. Then when you think, with the likes of Jesus and Aguero leading the line, City won't need too many chances to find the back of the net throughout the season. The biggest talking point from this game however is how much room this side still has to grow. At no point during the game did they look like the finished product, and this is what it going to be a sight for sore eyes for City fans. They didn't look like the finished product, and they registered a comfortable win. Now yes it was against Brighton, but last season, that was the kind of game City could have easily slipped up in, but they registered their first win of the season, and left room to grow. Watch this space.The best of the rest -
Now, before I go over the final game of the weekend lets look at the remaining games from match week one. Huddesfield Town are currently top of the league after beating Crystal Palace 3-0 in their first every Premier League game! Historic. Spurs started their campaign with a 2-0 away win at Newcastle, a game which was perfectly balanced until Jonjo Shelvey stood on Dele Ali's ankle and the Newcastle captain for the day was given his marching orders. Stupid. Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the game on his return to Goodison Park, breaking the record for longest period between two goals for the same club. 13 years. Despite having less then 30% possession at home, West Brom turned over Bournemouth 1-0. Stats aren't everything. And the only 0-0 draw of the weekend saw Southampton and Swansea play out an even game, a steady start for two sides with potentially tough seasons ahead of them. Stale mate.
Manchester United 4-0 West Ham United - Saved the best for last.
The best performance by any side on the opening weekend, and it was the last game to be played. Drawing match day one to a close was Jose Mourinho's Manchester United and to put it simply, they were sublime. From the first whistle the red devils looks dangerous, and Lukaku was appearing to be a handful for the West Ham defence, so when he ended a sweeping counter attack, by firing the ball in off of the post, it had been coming, The Belgian always looked to find the space behind the defence and with the home side seemingly always on the front foot, it played right into Lukaku's hands. After conceding West Ham did an okay job keeping United out for the remaining 10 minutes of the first half, but as soon as the second 45 minutes began, Jose's men went up a gear. Again it was the new boy Lukaku, heading in a free kick, out jumping the entire West Ham defence and continuing his near perfect debut! However for the remainder of the game, the striker turned provider, bringing the likes of Rashford and Pogba into the game any chance he got. Speaking of Rashford, the young Englishman look incredibly sharp, opening up his body and steering a shot just wide on the counter attack. This was just before he fired a beautiful curling shot onto the inside of the post, Rashford looked back to his best. Next to create nightmares for the Hammers was Anthony Martial. The Frenchman showed his incredible pace to burst through a weak West Ham back line and provide a smart finish past an on rushing Joe Hart. And last but certainly not least we saw the man who is now formerly, the world most expensive player, Paul Pogba, firing home from outside the box. A very good finish to cap off a very impressive performance from the Frenchman. From start to Finish United were a class above their opponents on the day, and from back to front, man for man, they were the better team. Nemanja Matic anchoring the midfield was a revelation for United, giving Pogba the freedom to roam he was missing last season, suddenly his £40 million price tag from Chelsea looks like a steal. Then as I mentioned we have Pogba himself. He looked like a different player from least season, strong on the ball, involved in every attack, which is what we didn't see from him last time out. With Matic behind him, Pogba isn't required to do the 'dirty work' and he can play in a role he suits. Henrikh Mkhitaryan's involvement seems to have gone very much under the radar so far, the Armenian however was perhaps the stand out performer on the day! Creating two goals and providing that bit of creativity when it was needed, the former Dortmund midfielder had the 'it factor' which lead to so many of the home side's chances. And then of course, last but not least, the man of the hour, the new boy, Lukaku. I was very doubtful of the Belgian striker and his huge price tag, I didn't feel like he was worth anywhere near the £72 million spent on him, with so much of his game yet to be up to standard. But in this game, he proved me wrong. We all know how good he is one on one, and we all know how much of an impact his presence has on his opposition, but for me, he played the perfect game. Moving constantly, splitting the centre backs every chance he got, holding the ball up and bringing the likes of Rashford and Pogba into play, and he was just simply, too much for West Ham to handle. All in all, Manchester United stole the show during an excellent opening weekend, and firmly staked an early claim to be one of the front runners this season.So match day one has been brought to a close and the Premier League 2017/2018 season is underway, and what a way to start! Over the course of the 10 games we had everything, early goals to late drama, goal fests to tightly contested fixtures, even games to one sides routes. I think it's safe to say, we're all very much glad it's back!
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