PREMIER LEAGUE RECAP: WEEK 1.

PREMIER LEAGUE RECAP: WEEK 1

It’s finally started, Premier League season 2018/2019. This summer has been hectic with respect to footballing term, especially for players and fans attached to clubs in England; The FIFA World Cup which was fantastic and largely enamoring, followed by the integration of the shortened transfer window for English based clubs and ultimately, the start of the new season which started 24 hours later. After several changes both in players and backroom personnel for 19 of the 20 clubs (Spurs the exception) the season kicked off under the lights Friday 10^th of August in Old Trafford in the premier clash between Manchester United and Leicester City and the matchday concluded on Sunday with the reigning champions Manchester City taking on Arsenal at the Emirates. Let’s now go into a recap of the weekend.
Weekend’s results:

Manchester United	2-1	Leicester City
Newcastle United	1-2	Tottenham Hotspurs
AFC Bournemouth	2-0	Cardiff City
Fulham	0-2	Crystal Palace
Huddersfield	0-3	Chelsea
Watford	2-0	Brighton & Hove Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2-2	Everton
Liverpool	4-0	West Ham
Southampton	0-0	Burnley
Arsenal	0-2	Manchester City

Manchester United vs Leicester City

Manchester United:

An opening day win for Jose’s men after a summer filled of the moaning and complaining that has become habitual of Mourinho, though it seemed quite amplified. With Lukaku out of the starting lineup, United struggled to have a focal point at the head of their attack. Naturally, Rashford was more reliant on his movement and speed but was unable to do any real damage. Pogba was the bright spark in a relatively uninspiring opening game for the new season. Alexis Sanchez tried to make things happened but resulted in more losses in possession than anyone else. Luke Shaw probably was the happiest man in this game finally getting a chance under Mourinho with Young unavailable and ultimately getting his first career goal.

De Gea returned to his usual powers after his poor showings at the World Cup, but overall Mourinho would be content with the result but not the performance. There was a lack of cohesion amongst the team but this could be due to lack of preseason for a few players. Once Lukaku returns to the lineup there should be more fluidity with a natural target man to knit the attack and midfield together.  Fred added the tenacity that fans were expecting and could prove to be the foil required for Pogba to truly have a great season for United. Andreas Peireira also had a good debut and could be the 3^rd part of the midfield. 3^rd time’s the charm to unlock Pogba?

Leicester City:

As Everton, struggled without their former star Lukaku last season, Mahrez has been missed. In big games, the lesser lights of the league look to their star men to help them take the fight to the top clubs and Mahrez was a symbol of this for Leicester. While still getting accustom to life without him, Leicester struggled. Also, without Vardy they also missed their talisman who has a habit of scoring against the league’s big six. Despite these things, Demarai Gray was a driving force against United’s defense completing several take ons especially vs Darmian. Maddison was given his debut and also tried to take the game to United but to limited effect. Ndidi has to be Leicester’s best player on the day and his reputation in the premier league continues to grow. On evidence, with time Puel can have a pretty formidable attacking quartet between Gray, Maddison, Ghezzal and Vardy but time would be required where this attacking force is relatively young bar Vardy and new to the Premier League.

Newcastle United vs Tottenham Hotspurs

Newcastle United

Newcastle continue to seem like a Premier League club with championship level players with a minority of them deserving to be in the top flight. A lot of players are not up to scratch in this team both in attack and defense. Jonjo Shelvey, however, is not one of them. He shows why there was a small shout for him to go to the World Cup as everything runs through him as their deep-lying playmaker. Perez and Joselu are not clinical enough to be their Premier League strikers. To be fair to Newcastle, the did create a decent amount of chances to score but couldn’t provide the finishing touch. Lascelles still seems to be a decent prospect but aside from him and Yedlin (who can be inconsistent) they back 4 really is worrisome. Now, there might be too much reading into this being only matchday 1, but fans much be worried about the drop at the end of this campaign.

Tottenham Hotspurs

The curse of August seems to have followed Harry Kane into this season but if it’s the price that Tottenham has to pay for him free scoring for the rest of the season then I’m sure fans would be fine with it. Tottenham continue to revolve around Eriksen and everything flows through him. Their set pieces in particular were very deadly with the combination of Eriksen delivery and Dávinson Sánchez’s aerial prowess. Sissoko is clearly the odd man out in the midfield but he still had a great chance to score, drawing a fantastic close range save from the Newcastle ‘keeper. This would have been the area on the pitch that Spurs fans would have wanted some improvement on; a true replacement for the aging Dembélé, a quality ball carrying, box-to-box midfielder, but alas none were brought in the understanding that has developed between Vertonghen and Sánchez could mean that Alderweireld be 3^rd choice at the moment unless Poch switches to a 3 for different tactical approaches. There may be some worry that with no recruitments complacency may creep in but so far there was no suggestion of that.

AFC Bournemouth vs Cardiff City

AFC Bournemouth

Bournemouth under Eddie Howe have traditionally been known for some really nice attacking football, especially at home. Opening day was no different with talisman Callum Wilson coming to the fore with a goal and an assist. Aside from that, Bournemouth’s attacking play looks a lot similar to what the premier league has witnessed in the season of 16/17. Fraser and King was also at the heart of the best moves going forward in a team which has been relatively unchanged from last season, with Colombian international Lerma not yet integrated into the team.

Cardiff City

Cardiff have returned to the premiership and hope for better luck than they did on their previous appearance in the top flight. Unfortunately, their start wasn’t what they hoped for. Summer signing Josh Murphy came on as a substitute but he would be seen as a key figure in this side going forward. These are the games Cardiff need to be stronger in defense if they want to avoid another relegation campaign. See Simon Francis dribble in your box and find a cross is not a good sight for the Cardiff faithful.

Fulham vs Crystal Palace

Fulham

There was much fanfare surrounding this Fulham team upon their return to the premiership due to their style of play in the championship last season and given the high-profile signings they have made coming into this season, namely players such as world cup winner André Schürrle and midfielder Jean Michaël Seri. Also, after holding on to the young player of the year nominee Ryan Sessegnon for another season the expectations for this season sky rocketed to not just avoiding the drop but a top half of the table finish. Alas, it came crashing down at least for the time being as Palace put them to the sword on matchday 1. On the ball there were flashes of what they can be in attack but when defending they were too timid off the ball, allowing players like van Aanholt and Zaha too much time which in turn caused them problem. This has to be addressed for upcoming fixtures.

Crystal Palace

Palace were not going to allow the newcomers to use them as a welcome mat on their return to the Premier League and instead shut the door in their face in this opening day derby. Zaha has stayed with Palace and even committed his long-term future to the club and returned their faith in him with a goal. The work that Roy has done with them has been a fantastic transformation and only if they could get Benteke to return to his former powers then they could have a real potent attacking force. Patrick van Aanholt continues to be an attacking threat from the left and got himself an assist and it seems like he isn’t the only full back in this side ready to contribute to the attack with new comer Wan-Bissaka grabbing one as well.

Huddersfield vs Chelsea

Huddersfield

Huddersfield plan from the beginning of the game was pretty clear; to sit back in their defensive 3^rd and hit them on the break, specifically on the flanks, attacking the spaces that the opposition’s full back would leave whilst attacking, in particular Alonso. This made sense to some degree to counter Sarri’s attacking-possession based football. However, with the limited chances they got they were not clinical enough, with the closest they came was Mounie’s header against the woodwork. Pritchard didn’t get on the ball enough to help the team’s cause with just 8 passes and overall 20 touches and Hadergjonaj got a few crosses in but weren’t accurate enough. It can be put down to beginning of the season rust and also to be against one of the bigger teams in the league but Mooy and Pritchard has to be more influential in the game if Huddersfield are to avoid the drop. They defended well in period but they have to be similarly effective on the other end.

Chelsea

The Sarri era began with a healthy 3-0 win away from home where goals came from some of the most unexpected of places in the form of Kanté and Jorginho. Sarri from the off has no intentions whatsoever of changing his style and set up his team as such. Barkley did a decent impersonation of the Hamsik role in Sarri’s midfield as he tried to link up the attack. Hazard’s late introduction added real verve and drive to a tired huddersfield and his effect on the side is clear to see. Given his work rate, Pedro, like under Conte, might be the first choice on the right, leaving Willian on the bench. A major concern for Sarri, and one which was brought over from the Conte’s regime is the lack of quality on the part of Morata. A perfect example is the 1 on 1 chance he missed vs Hamer. Mertens was a fantastic servant for Sarri and was a key figure for him as well as his predecessor in Higuain. He may get a few more chances but if his lack of efficiency continues, it may offer a chance to Giroud or even Tammy Abraham to take his spot.

Watford vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Everton

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On their return to the Premier League, Wolves were involved in the most end-to-end game of opening weekend. After a summer of recruiting several top-class players, not usually synonymous with a newly-promoted side, namely João Moutinho and Rui Patrício, both part of the Portugal winning team of the European Championship in 2016. Ruben Neves has always been clear to see as a talent too good for the English second division, but he really went out to take the game to Everton, albeit really did so when they were a man down but his class showed, topped off by a superb free-kick. Their vibrance in attack showed their willingness to stick to their style from last year despite the opposition. On a lesser positive note, their defending was not up to par, especially for Everton’s second goal and they cannot afford to be that careless across their campaign.

Everton

Marco Silva’s first game as Everton’s head coach saw him unfortunately a man down for the majority of the match, which makes his first game all that much harder to judge. Add in to the fact that there were four other players who are were not even in the matchday squad, Silva’s side now and what it may be when he has really imprinted his style may be different. Jagielka showed why its his time to call it on his Everton career, thankfully Mina and Zouma are waiting in the wings to step in. Obviously, the star of the day would be Richarlison, who got 2 goals on his debut. Last season Everton’s recruitment was poor, recruiting too many players for the same role and a lack of recruitment in others. This year the team is much more balanced on paper to say the least. Are they flattering to deceive once again? Time will tell. Tosun with Richarlison and Walcott could be lethal if Marco Silva figures out how to get all of them scoring.

Liverpool vs West Ham

Liverpool

Heading into the season, Liverpool were singled out as the number one threat to Man City’s throne. Despite it being early days, it is easy to see why. Naby Keïta has seamlessly slotted into this side and has reformed Liverpool’s “Fab Four” with the trio ahead of him. His movement and intelligence on the ball is clear to see and with such quality on the ball, Firmino does not have to drop as deep. There seems like such a positivity around Liverpool and was reflected in the mood around Anfield. After a summer of big spending and big names incoming, there is a feeling of expectation for Klopp’s men and they just may be equipped to do it. Despite these names coming in it’s a familiar face pairing up with Van Dijk in Joe Gomez. It may be just because Lovren is returning late, but Gomez offers a calmer presence at the back and has seemed to finally gotten over his injury problems.

West Ham

It is a personal opinion that West Ham could not of had a better summer realistically. With Manuel Pellegrini being appointed head coach and bringing in some top-notch players, for example Issa Diop, Jack Wilshere and Felipe Anderson. However, this is not how you’d set up your team to face such a high pressing, quick countering Liverpool team. Liverpool exploited the high line set by West Ham on countless times and their energy in the midfield saw West Ham’s own suffer to gain any control. Wilshere would hope for better outings in the coming weeks, given he is playing in what he described as his preferred role. Antonio- Arnautovic- Anderson should also improve under Pellegrini. However, it should be about time Mark Noble be replaced.

Southampton vs Burnley

Southampton

Southampton narrowly avoided the drop last season after some poor performances throughout the year, especially after losing star defender Van Dijk to Liverpool. It was always going to be a tough ask to score on this Burnley team as Sean Dyche has become reputable for putting tougher a very hard to beat team. Ryan Bertrand was a constant outlet from on the left but couldn’t do anything meaningful and truth be told the game panned out as any pundit would have expected it to. Boring. Danny Ings comes into the side after his transfer from Liverpool and would hope to use here as a fresh start after being plagued by injury problems during his time at Merseyside but would have to do better than today when he came on with none of his effort being on target.

Burnley

To criticize a Sean Dyche side for being drab in attack but solid at the back would seem pointless as we all know what Burnley are about as they head into their 3^rd consecutive campaign in the top fight division. With Pope set to miss out on the majority of this campaign Hart was seen as the solution and would be happy to be in a side so focused on being organized at the back compared to previous teams… sorry West Ham. Gudmundsson had a decent enough game as he usually tends to be the attacking threat for Burnley but unfortunately for him it was not meant to be today.

Arsenal vs Manchester City

Arsenal

New era, same problem? It may not be that case in its entirety but the result was the same. Arsenal could not find a way to beat the press by city nor could of find a way to try and really press them into losing possession in areas it matters. The silver lining for arsenal fans would be that 1. This is the arguably best team in England, it can go down as one of the best in the premier league era, and is currently one of the best in Europe & 2. There seems to be a plan that may have been too early to see results against a team of such caliber, but can see results eventually. Under Wenger there would have been the concept of, “go out there and impose yourself with your style and talent” whereas under Emery there seems an actual plan for both attacking and defending. Also, it was nice to note his willingness to change things if they are not working as compared to Wenger, E.g. Ramsey substitution in the 52^nd minute. The playing out from the keeper would take time and probably different personnel to help it be less terrifying. Time is needed but it could be something in a few weeks that can have them as potentially real candidates for top 4.

Manchester City

Perfection. I mean really, whether or not you agree by the means they have came about this side, it is nearing perfection. Laporte has gotten a full preseason with Pep and is showing dividends. His entire game was immense to the point he wasn’t even about to be outpaced by Aubameyang. Also, a fully fit Mendy has added a real drive on the left and the strength in depth is there for all to see, with notable omissions from the first team such as De Bruyne, David Silva Kompany and Sané. Bernardo Silva looks like he’s ready to overtake David Silva in the midfield and honestly, this team is just remarkable as a system. The way Pep has devised his team to be a machine per say rather than built around one or two key players means that he can afford to rotate and rest players and do not look off the pace. My only hope is that they do not go undefeated. Gulp.