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Premier League opening weekend: Liverpool send out early message, champions City begin with win

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb


Round-up:

In the Premier League's opening match of the 2018/19 season, Manchester United began with a 2-1 win over Leicester City. After a rather messy pre-season for United, this was just the result they needed. Manchester United were awarded a penalty after just 2 minutes, after Leicester City's Daniel Amartey handled the ball in the penalty area. Paul Pogba coolly converted the resulting penalty, after being handed the captaincy by boss José Mourinho despite considerable speculation that he is looking to leave the club. With 7 minutes left, Luke Shaw scored his first ever goal in senior football to make it 2-0 to Manchester United, whilst Leicester's Jamie Vardy scored a late goal for Leicester City just to make for a tense end to the match, but in the end United just edged the match. Manchester United were hardly too convincing in their performance, but all considered, were not too poor and in the second half controlled the game - that said, there certainly is plenty of room for improvement.

In Saturday's early match, Tottenham Hotspur began their season with a 2-1 victory away to Newcastle United. Jan Vertonghen opened the scoring for Tottenham Hotspur from a set-piece after just 8 minutes, with the ball having crossed the line by a mere 9mm, proving the use of goalline technology. It did not take long for Newcastle to respond, however, with Joselu equalising less than 3 minutes later with a header thanks to a gorgeous cross from Matt Ritchie, although Tottenham's defending was rather suspect to say the least. It did not take long for Tottenham to go back in front, though, with Dele scoring in the 18th minutes thanks to another excellent cross, this time from Serge Aurier, and the scoring did not change after that, although Newcastle did hit the crossbar twice in the second half.

In the afternoon's matches, newly promoted sides Fulham and Cardiff City both started off with 2-0 defeats against Crystal Palace and AFC Bournemouth respectively. Jeffrey Schlupp opened the scoring for Crystal Palace, with key player Wilfried Zaha wrapping up the win in the 79th minute. Meanwhile, AFC Bournemouth got their first ever opening day win in the top flight thanks to goals from Ryan Fraser in the first half, whilst Callum Wilson secured the win in the 90th minute, redeeming himself after earlier on he missed a penalty. Chelsea under Maurizio Sarri began with a rather convincing 3-0 win away to Huddersfield Town, with goals coming from World Cup winner N'Golo Kante, new signing Jorginho from the penalty spot, and Pedro. Meanwhile, in the other match of the afternoon, Watford began their season with a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion thanks to a brace from former Juventus player Roberto Pereyra.

In Saturday's late kick-off, newly promoted side Wolverhampton Wanderers opened their campaign with an entertaining 2-2 draw against Everton. Everton's new signing Richarlison gave them the lead on 17 minutes after a set-piece. Everton then had defender Phil Jagielka sent-off for a two-footed tackle on Diogo Jota, and Wolves' midfielder Ruben Neves scored from the resulting free-kick. In the 67th minute Richarlison gave Everton the lead once again, but Wolves battled back and rescued a point thanks to Raul Jimenez.

In Sunday's early match, Liverpool threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the opposition in the League after cruising to a 4-0 win at home to West Ham United. The scoring was inevitably opened by striker Mohamed Salah on 19 minutes. Just before the half-time whistle, Senegalese striker Sadio Mané doubled the lead for Liverpool. Eight minutes into the second half, Mané got himself on the scoresheet, though the goal should not have stood as Mané was in an offside position when the ball was played to him. Daniel Sturridge wrapped up the scoring with 2 minutes remaining just very shortly after coming on. Meanwhile, in a match that was being played at the same time as that of Liverpool's, Southampton and Burnley played out a goalless draw. In Sunday's later match, reigning champions Manchester City began with a convincing 2-0 win away to Arsenal, in their first game without Arsene Wenger since the 28th September of 1996. Raheem Sterling opened the scoring for City on 14 minutes, whilst Bernardo Silva wrapped up the win in the 64th minute.


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