West Brom 0 Manchester City 3
Arsenal 0 West Ham 2
Stoke City 0 Liverpool 1
Newcastle 2 Southampton 2
Chelsea 2 Swansea City 2
Norwich City 1 Crystal Palace 3
Leicester City 4 Sunderland 2
Bournemouth 0 Aston Villa 1
Everton 2 Watford 2
Manchester United 1 Tottenham 0
Manchester City were the most impressive of the title contenders on the opening weekend of the new Barclays Premier League season. City won 3-0 away to West Brom thanks to two first half goals from YaYa Toure and a second half header (it was really a shoulder) from Vincent Kompany. Raheem Sterling made his league debut for City and should have scored in the first half but once again it was David Silva who impressed most. City have won the league twice in four seasons but have failed to retain the title on both occassions. They’ll be desperate to get the trophy back off Chelsea and the two go head to head at the Etihad on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho’s side started the defence of their title with a 2-2 draw at home to Swansea which was the first time Mourinho hasn’t won on the opening weekend in the Premier League. The season is only underway and the Chelsea manager seems to be frustrated but this is what he does and will probably always do. He’s already had a go at Rafa Benitez, he lost to Arsene Wenger for the first time and the latest person to be on the receiving end of his dissatisfaction was Chelsea club doctor Eva Carneiro after the draw with Swansea. Diego Costa’s hamstring problems will be a cause for concern all season especially with Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy as back up but the Champions still have the best 11 in the league IF all available.
Chelsea sold Petr Cech to Arsenal during the summer and the Czech International was meant to be answer to the Gunners goalkeeping problems and I’ve no doubt he’ll still be a success. Cech didn’t cover himself in glory as Arsene Wenger’s side lost 2-0 to West Ham at the Emirates. I don’t think his defence really helped him out for the Cheikhou Kouyate goal and he hasn’t all of a sudden become a bad goalkeeper overnight. Arsenal got off to a slow start last season which gave them too much work to do so they’ll be keen to bounce back although a trip to Crystal Palace is not the easiest place to get up and running.
Manchester United have three points on the board already thanks to a 1-0 win at home to Tottenham in the opening game of the season and they didn’t even have to score themselves. Kyle Walker’s first half own goal was the first time the opening goal of a new season was an own goal. Sergio Romero kept a clean sheet on his debut as David de Gea is almost certain to join Real Madrid and Louis van Gaal also handed debuts to Matteo Darmian, Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis while Bastian Schweinsteiger came on as a second half sub. United will certainly be a lot better this season but only time will tell if they can be serious challengers for the title although I expect a few more arrivals before the transfer window closes.
Once again it looks like Tottenham won’t have enough to break into the top four but they’ll be a match for most on their day. Liverpool finished behind them last season and Brendan Rodgers side got off to the perfect start with a 1-0 win away to Stoke who had thumped them 6-1 at the Britannia on the final day of last season. They left it late but Philippe Coutinho produced another superb strike from outside the box. Christian Benteke is still a work in progress but the sooner he gets that first league goal the better given some of the tough away fixtures they have coming up over the next couple of months. Liverpool should be a lot stronger this season after a better summer of recruitment although central defence would still be a worry.
If Rodgers is a man under pressure then the same can be said for the manager of the other Merseyside club Roberto Martinez. Everton twice came from behind to rescue a 2-2 draw with newly promoted Watford at Goodison Park. Another 11th place finish won’t be good enough and by the end of October the heat could really be on the Spaniard given the fixtures the Toffees have to come. Quique Sanchez Flores will be disappointed he didn’t take all three points in his opening game as Watford boss but he will be encouraged by what he saw.
The same can be said for Eddie Howe and Bournemouth who lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa in their first ever Premier League game. Rudy Gestede will be a handful for the opposition from set pieces and the Villa striker proved that by scoring the winner from a corner. Bournemouth created some good chances but the difference this season is they’ll be punished for missed opportunities. They go to Anfield next Monday which will tell us a bit more about where they’re at.
The other promoted side Norwich City will feel hard done by after a 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at Carrow Road. The Canaries went behind despite dominating the opening 20 minutes and even when they were 2-1 behind, Cameron Jerome had a goal ruled out and it looked a tad harsh to be honest. The good news for Alex Neil is they travel to Sunderland next and on the evidence of the opening weekend the Black Cats will be fighting for survival again.
Dick Advocaat probably wishes his side could actually show a bit of fight and their defending was shambolic at times during their 4-2 defeat away to Leicester City. Younes Kaboul and Sebastian Coates were the main culprits as John O’Shea was forced to watch from the bench. Claudio Ranieri must be thinking why did he wait 11 years to come back to the Premier League but they’ll have tougher days ahead and will need Riyad Mahrez to continue to shine.
Sunderland’s rivals Newcastle will be keen to avoid another relegation battle and on the evidence of their 2-2 draw with Southampton at St. James’ Park they should be good enough to get dragged into a dog fight. Steve McClaren would have been delighted to see one of his new signings Georginio Wijnaldum on target after a superb cross from Gabriel Obertan. Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long is already up and running for the new season but the only concern is he had to settle for a place on the bench. Long should get plenty of game time if the Saints qualify for the group stages of the Europa League and they look good once again under Ronald Koeman despite losing more high profile players during the summer.
