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The first weekend of the highly anticipated English Premier League season has drawn to a close. Though Chelsea and Aston Villa are yet to square off in what would be their second game of the season and the week, fans and critics all around have got a glimpse of what to expect from their teams and from the League as a whole.
The opening weekend always makes for an exciting one with blood running fast in huge anticipation of witnessing the new signings in action and the timely analysis of squads so as to fill any void before the transfer window slams shut in a little less than two weeks.
While Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea had a perfect start, Tottenham and Liverpool managed to pass through with the scruff of their necks. Arsenal got off to the worst possible start following a disappointing summer of transfers as they slumped to a heavy defeat at the hands of Aston Villa, who now look a good unit under Paul Lambert.
West Ham looked like a revitalized unit with the midfield boasting of Joe Cole, Kevin Nolan and now Downing, who will pose a huge threat once Carroll gets into the line-up.
Everton, too, salvaged a draw against a refurbished Norwich side, having bought Whittaker and Van Wolfswinkel in the summer. Though certain players were up for it, the Blue half of Merseyside have left a lot to be desired.
Newcomers Cardiff City, Crystal Palace and Hull City slumped to defeats, but their performances gave hope.
With an exciting week drawing close with each team having played at least one game, we look at the talking points:
RVP still key for United, Welbeck’s persistence pays off
Manchester United began their title defence amidst huge speculation over Rooney’s future in the summer, with a move to Chelsea highly likely. This prompted Moyes to bench Rooney and start with Danny Welbeck and Robin van Persie upfront.
Despite a fight from Swansea, the two strikers’ rose to the occasion with van Persie starting the scoring in alternate fashion between him and Welbeck, to put four past the Swans.
Welbeck scored more goals in the opening game than he scored in the entire campaign last term and seems to be repaying the faith shown in him.
Despite van Persie stealing all the headlines with a stunning double strike, Welbeck showed a considerable improvement and gave early signs that the attacking line-up is gelling well.
Arsenal need to spend, now!
After such an horrendous start, one thing is pretty sure, the early remarks of Arsene Wenger challenging for the title without a signing is certainly delusional. If Arsenal continue with the stubbornness and continue with lowly evaluated bids, the title is far-fetched; even a top four finish would seem far from reality.
Though Arsenal fans would cry foul over bad refereeing but one thing cannot be denied is that it was a bad performance and the squad looked shallow. Having gone into the season with a long injury list, Arsenal piled on their misery with four more addition to the list to go with a red card to their most dependable defender.
Arsenal have been in pursuit of a striker, but the weekend gave a fair glimpse of the actual need- a defensive midfielder.
Tottenham will take time
No one has a percent of doubt regarding the quality of Tottenham this season and are bookies favourites after the Manchester sides and Chelsea to break into the top-4, pipping the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool to the spot. But the performance this week has left a lot to be desired of a threatening looking Tottenham lineup.
Tottenham have a fairly new look midfield and forward line with the likes of Paulinho, Chadli and Soldado breaking in. Capoue too has been acquired in the summer and with their focal point in Bale uncertain to continue with the London outfit, most of the midfield is fresh and have no experience of playing together.
All this means that the AVB led side will need time to adapt to each other’s game and gel well to pose the kind of threat they do on paper.
Liverpool are moving in the right direction and though Mignolet struck the headlines, Begovic stole the show
Liverpool have had a new philosophy in place with the induction of new manager Brendan Rodgers last summer. The 40-year-old Northern Irishman is an advocate of ball possession and has induced a new style of play and put his money on young, exciting talent.
Rodgers doesn’t like losing the ball and hence employs more wing play ahead of the half line so as to move the ball up without losing it. Rodgers has took the pressure off any one man distributing work between Coutinho and Sturridge, and in the absence of Suarez, used Aspas to move the ball around the opposition box so as to create an opening.
Despite an impressive performance, Mignolet hit the headlines with a fine penalty save in the dying stage of the matches, but it was his opposite number in Begovic who kept Stoke in the match throughout, pulling a string of phenomenal saves and kept the adrenaline rushing for the entire 90.
Chelsea and City have made a statement under new coaches
Chelsea started the season in the wake of a déjà-vu of 2004-05 and 2005-06 when the Blues went on to lift back-to-back titles under Jose Mourinho. Chelsea have added ammunitions to the lineup with the signing of Schurrle, Kevin de Bryune and Van Ginkel to go with a return for Lukaku who was out on loan at West Brom last term. They got off to a brilliant start and though could only get two past Hull City, but the play looked promising.
On the other hand, Manchester City too started the campaign under new coach Pellegrini looking to get back their title with the additions of Navas, Fernandinho, Jovetic and Negredo in the best possible way getting four past a struggling Newcastle outfit.
Edin Dzeko looked amazing, Toure was at his effortless best and Silva took control of the midfield, while Zabaleta and Kompany guarded the defense to near perfection.
Putting all into perspective, both teams look set to take the bull by its horns and well on their way to shape one of the most exciting title races in recent times, one similar to the 2011-12 season. Both teams have announced title ambitions in style
Alan Pardew has a lot of work to do
Newcastle were never expected to get the better of Manchester City, but nor were they expected to go down in the fashion they did. With a lot going on the Cabaye transfer front at the back, Newcastle were out to give City a fight at their own home, but as it panned out, were completely outplayed by a brilliant City outfit.
Newcastle looked short in the midfield with Sissoko failing to win back balls, while a red card to Steven Taylor meant further trouble for the Magpies. Even Cisse, their hero in the last campaign, too went unseen for most part of the game and failed to make any of the impact he made in a win over Chelsea with a near-impossible-goal hitting at the most toughest angles, making physicists all over raise eyebrows with his finish.
With Cabaye set to leave, Pardew will have a lot of work to be done if Newcastle are to get over their horror run, a phenomenon of the end of last season.
Aston Villa under Paul Lambert and Stoke under Mark Hughes look a different unit
Aston Villa and Stoke City had been enjoying a long-run under coaches Martin O’Neil and Tony Pulis who had their style of play. But with the appointment of Paul Lambert and Mark Hughes, both teams gave a reflection of change. While Aston Villa moved from a flat back-four to attacking full backs with freedom to bombard forward, Stoke too shied from their long-running long-ball play.
This is not only a good sign for the two teams but the Premier League on the whole, and would certainly test the fellow EPL outfits this season.
Discount West Ham at your own peril
Rejected by Cheslea and now by Liverpool, Joe Cole sealed a move to West Ham United. The kind of performance the crafty midfielder put-in this weekend, there are no doubts over the still existing quality. Joe Cole got himself on the scoresheet and controlled most of the midfield play.
With Kevin Nolan getting into the groove at West Ham, things have started looking rosier at Upton Park. Adding Downing to their arsenal and Carroll being a daunting figure in the box, West Ham United is likely to surprise quite a few outfits and don’t be surprised if they do a West Brom of the opening half of the last season or the Newcastle of the prior.
