The first week of the new Premier League season has just concluded, and there were plenty of talking points. The round began with defending champions Liverpool beating Bournemouth in a six-goal thriller at Anfield on Friday night and concluded with newly promoted Leeds’ 1-0 win over David Moyes’ Everton on Monday.
Liverpool’s clash with the Cherries produced six goals- a fourth of all of the goals scored in the first gameweek. The Reds raced to a 2-0 lead inside the hour mark, with Hugo Ekitike scoring on debut and then assisting Cody Gakpo for the second.
However Bournemouth staged a fine comeback through Antoine Semenyo, who grabbed a brace as the Cherries fought back to make it 2-2. Substitute Federico Chiesa however scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool in the 88th minute to restore their lead, and Mo Salah continued his fine habit of scoring on the opening weekend with a stoppage time strike to seal a 4-2 win for Arne Slot’s side.
Manchester City matched Liverpool for goals, putting four past poor Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. Dutch midfielder Tijjani Reijnders had a fine league debut for City, with the icing on the cake being his cool finish on 37 minutes.
City and Arsenal, interestingly, were the only away teams to win in this round of fixtures- an indication as to why the Fanduel odds have the duo as the main challengers to Liverpool’s title defence this season.
The Gunners prevailed 1-0 at Old Trafford against Ruben Amorim’s United. It wasn’t a very convincing win, but they got the job done. The winning goal, as it’s so often happened with Mikel Arteta’s side, came from a set piece, with Italian Riccardo Calafiori heading home the only goal of the game on 13 minutes.
United were good and their new attacking signings- Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo, seemed better than Arsenal’s. Viktor Gyokeres failed to register a single shot on target and Arsenal had less than 40% of the ball. However it’s the scoreline that matters, and the Gunners came away with all three points thanks to a stellar performance in goal from Spanish keeper David Raya.
Two games- Aston Villa v Newcastle and Chelsea v Crystal Palace, ended in goalless draws. There was no shortage of drama though, with Villa reduced to ten following a red card to Ezri Konsa and VAR having a big say in the Chelsea-Palace fixture.
Burnley lost 3-0 to Tottenham Hotspur, with Richarlison scoring a wonderful bicycle kick to start the Thomas Frank league era with a win. The Clarets were the only promoted side to lose their Week 1 fixture- Sunderland beat West Ham 3-0 while Leeds also picked up three points against Everton.
Fulham’s game against Brighton saw a stoppage time equaliser from Rodrigo Muniz help the Cottagers came away from the South Coast with a point.
Nottingham Forest might have been firing blanks in pre-season, but they had no such problems in their season opener, with Chris Wood helping them to a 3-1 win over Brentford.
Week 2 has some interesting fixtures coming up- Man City v Spurs promises to be tasty, as will Newcastle v Liverpool in light of the ongoing tussle between the two clubs regarding Alexander Isak.