Week 3 Quickie

Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester City

Forget City’s exhilarating comeback, this game will be shown decades from now for Charlie Daniels’ wonderstike. 

Watford 0-0 Brighton

Brighton holding their own in a bright start for the new boys.

Newcastle 3-0 West Ham

The better West Ham get on paper the worse they play. Newcastle finally looked like they’re ready to be back in The Premier League.

Crystal Palace 0-2 Swansea

Swans get first win over poor Palace.

Huddersfield 0-0 Southampton

Huddersfield pull third with goal difference over City. Words I never thought I’d never type.

Man United 2-0 Leicester City

United’s defense being overlooked as their perfect start continues. 

West Brom 1-1 Stoke City

These two could have a played game 100 years ago and the tactics wouldn’t have been much different. 

Chelsea 2-0 Everton

Morata double sinks Everton.

Tottenham 1-1 Burnley

Late Burnley goal sees Spurs drop more points at home by week 3 this year than the entire campaign last year. 

Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal

Arsenal playing so poorly they make Liverpool defense look good. 

Week 2: A Shaky Anfield Affair

It was all as close as the croppings on Romelu Lukaku’s hair until late. By then Swansea were trailing 1-0 and were forced to throw men forward. It’s at that point when United went for the jugular. Perhaps this team is for real and week one was an indication, not aberration, for United. Where United were poor last year were in moments when they were down or conceding stupid goals. Credit to Mourinho, he acknowledged this in his post game interview saying that this team has yet to respond to adversity. After a few games like that I will judge where they could realistically finish. Too early.

Southampton should have easily dispatched of The Hammers after they went 2-0 up against a 10 man West Ham. Arnautovic is a man completely unchanged at his new club and it may end up affecting his career. In only his second game for West Ham he is sent off for a karate chop retaliation. I thought that West Ham would be much better this year than in years past and i still think they will be. They have a man in Hernandez who has made a career off of poaching and demonstrated those skills in this game. If not for a controversial penalty for the slightest of aerial duels West Ham would have completed the comeback.

In a shaky affair that Michael J Fox could relate to Liverpool somehow dispatched Crystal Palace at Anfield. It wasn’t without moments of real doubt however as Benteke missed an open net and Liverpool missed many late chances. They got their goal but pulling away proved difficult. I see this win as a positive though. Liverpool didn’t play well and this is exactly the type of game they have lost the past few years. If they can turn these games that they don’t play well into wins then they have a decent chance at top 4 again.

It was a game in which it all seemed to go wrong for Arsenal. They dominated a first half in which they had a decent shout for a penalty. Stoke then found their goal as they came into the game from their new signing Jesé. Later Lacazette found the back of the net but was found to be maybe 2 mm offside. A rainy night in Stoke was then capped off by a most unusual incident as Giroud missed an unmarked header. Arsenal Fan TV went off but for me I can see them turning it around next week against Liverpool.

Huddersfield capped off a game that had as much quality as a Championship match. In the only watchable moment of the game Mooy “the new Jonjo Shelvey” scored a long curler. There were 5 total shots in the first half and at one point i swear they were just hoofing the ball from end to end. I haven’t been to church in 14 years but I swear on Sunday morning I was half considering finding Christ rather than watch this crucification of my patience.

I wouldn’t want to play my home matches at Wembley. It’s an event for every team that comes to play you. It’s also a burden to pack that thing out each week. Chelsea certainly felt up for it. Marcus Alonso scored a brace in a game in which either side really could have won, each hitting the bar. Not sure how to feel about Chelsea yet this season and as for Tottenham I could see a hangover of finishing second two years in a row.

I think it says a lot that Everton are competing with City now. They have been completely blown away in the past. Did they get lucky with a bullshit yellow? Sure, Kyle Walker should not have been sent off. But City pushed and pushed and really got lucky with the deflection and Sterling goal. Klaasen’s late clearance was clutch and shows the quality the team has now. Rooney seems to have rediscovered his motivation for the game. If Everton can string some games together against teams higher than them they may surprise people.

Week 1 - Resurrection

Well The Premier League is back and it means everything in the world. Gone are the summer days of existential crisis wondering why you have no friends or hobbies outside of football. By mid June you’ve already wondered what happened to all the unreasonable hairstyles you’re used to flashing across your tv screen. By mid July you begin to wonder if you can get into competitive bowling on ESPN3. You watch the Audi Cup which feels like a crucifixion of all sporting behavior that is true and holy. Then, like Jesus exiting the Tomb, redemption. It’s back. Something matters.

And yet the first week rarely indicates what’s going to happen the rest of the season.

But lets not let that spoil the celebration that is ‘Week 1.’

Arsenal sees their second consecutive week 1 thriller. Last year they were bested by Liverpool by the inverse score. This time they win in spectacular fashion as Lacazette wastes no time opening his Arsenal account. Almost immediately though the man no one particularly likes, Jamie Vardy, levels the game! This is an interesting first 10 minutes of the year. It would be Leicesters advantage by the 2nd half but Arsenal take a very late lead. Giroud does what he seems to only be able to do and scores a thumping header off the crossbar. My word.

We got an absolute thriller for the opener so it surely must calm down, right? We then see another barn-burner as Liverpool draw 3-3 with Watford. This was a game in which I expected to see Watford sit back and defend as so many lesser teams did against Liverpool last year. This may be the only saving grace to the day for Liverpool as they seem to have found a solution to those teams with the pace of Mané and now Salah. If Liverpool have any chance at a title run this year it must be like 13-14 when they outscored their opponents. The defense seems to have the same issues although Mignolet has performed better and better since the tail end of last season.

There are so many things we could talk about with Everton. Whether it’s the entirely new team or the still incoming transfers (Sigurdsson). It’s almost easy to forget that Wayne Rooney is again a Toffee. But he just has to remind you. Scoring the only and winning goal for his boyhood club 13 years after his exit at 18. I was 15 when this happened and Jose Mourinho  had still yet to depart Porto. How things have changed. Perhaps one thing that hasn’t changed is Rooney himself as he still scores goals and still presumedly sleeps with a vacuum cleaner on (Yes this is true, look it up).

New boys Huddersfield got an emphatic win at Palace. Palace is one of my pics to go down. I know it’s early and i know they have talent but much like QPR’s last PL team I see them dropping despite all that. I do say congrats to Huddersfield as they will quickly learn that points in this league are hard to come by.

Chelsea played up to expectations. The expectations being over the last couple of years that last years league winners must play like a mid-table team the next year. Except they hardly did even that. They lost 3-1 with 9 men against Burnley. They can’t afford any injuries this year as they already have a paper thin squad. Perhaps the man who personifies pure-chaos and has looked 40 years old since he was 8, Diego Costa, is the catalyst to this team performing. Good news Chelsea fans it is still only week one after all.

Brighton put up a valiant effort on their return to The Premier League. They kept City at bay until the second half. It looks like City still have yet to mesh together but they are my favorites this year.

Oh and United look really good. Nothing feels better than an opening day demolition of West Ham. Any team that has Lukaku is going to stand a chance with a half decent squad around him. That said, Pogba looks motivated this year and the underperforming players of last year all seemed to have real drive on Sunday. As stated earlier, week 1 means nothing but if United continue to play like this then have to give the league a real run this year.