Premier League returns; Week 1 review
The “biggest” league in the world graced our screens and timelines again after a 2-month hiatus last weekend.
On Friday, Manchester United opened the season with a 1-0 triumph over Fulham at old Trafford. New signing Joshua Zirkzee got the goal late in the game.
Saturday came with a flurry of fixtures, the earliest of them being Liverpool’s trip to Ipswich Town. The reds impressed on Arne Slot’s first game in charge, getting a comfortable 2-0 win which could’ve been more if not for some valiant defending from the newly promoted boys.
Saturday continued with routine wins for Arsenal, a 10-man Newcastle and Aston Villa. Arsenal beat Wolves 2-0 courtesy of goals from Kai Havertz Bukayo Saka. Newcastle scrapped a narrow 1-0 win over newly promoted Southampton. Joelinton scored from Isak’s pass shortly after Fabian Schar was sent off for the Toons in an altercation with Brereton Diaz. Aston Villa beat West Ham away, courtesy of goals from Amadou Onana and Sean Duran. Paqueta scored the Hammer’s only goal from the spot when Soucek was brought down in the area.
The biggest result of Saturday has to be Brighton’s 3-0 triumph over Everton at Goodison park. Goals from Mitoma, Welbeck and Adingra sealed a convincing performance for the seagulls. The only draw of the day happened between Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth. Both teams had to share the spoils after a 1-1 draw. Chris Wood and Antoine Semenyo got the goals for their teams.
Super Sunday
Sunday started with an exciting London derby at Brentford. Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa goals were enough for the home side to edge Crystal Palace 2-1. Eberechi Eze had a goal controversially disallowed, but Palace were able to score via an Ethan Pinnock own goal.
The match of the week kicked off at Stamford bridge with champions Manchester City visiting on Chelsea. City won 2-0 with goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic. While the Cityzens bossed the game, Chelsea showed glimpses of improvement but had no end product.
The final match of the round featured the return of Leicester and Jamie Vardy at the King Power. The veteran scored to snatch a point for the Foxes against a spirited Tottenham, whose goal was scored by Pedro Porro.
Key takeaways from the opening weekend
Liverpool looking good under Slot;
Many might have been worried about how the Kop will fare without Klopp, but those doubts were extinguished with their display on Saturday. We saw passes, speed, creativity and the high press they are known for. The midfield comprising of Gravenberch, Szobozlai and MacAllister were unplayable. Slot also showed us he won’t hesitate to make changes. He hauled off Quansah for Konate at half-time, for “losing too many balls and costing the team control”.
Chelsea woes continue;
Many have called for a 9 in the mould of Osimhen, but having spent so much already, Chelsea look like a team that will struggle this season
Three horse race?
Will we see City, Liverpool and Arsenal fight for it again? They look the most likely.
Refereeing and VAR issues still persisting;
It is said that centre referee Samuel Barrott apologized to Eze after the Crystal Palace match, having wrongly disallowed his goal against Brentford. There were controversial decisions in several matches, most especially the Chelsea game. Unless something drastic is done, these officiating problems will continue.
Player of the week
Our player of the week is Bukayo Saka. The Arsenal star had 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 shots on target and 90% pass accuracy. Everything good for the Gunners came from him.
Team of the week
GK. Nick Pope
CB. Lisandro Martinez
CB. Gabriel Maghalaes
LB. Gvardiol
RB. Rico Lewis
MF. Kovacic
MF. Szobozlai
MF. Joelinton
FW. Salah
FW. Saka
FW. Wissa
Goal of the week
What do you think? Click here to head over to Spotkick’s Facebook page and decide the goal of the week.