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Talking points from Premier League opening weekend

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb

Graham Potter could not have wished for a better managerial debut in the Premier League.

The Premier League has got back underway, and it definitely did not disappoint, producing plenty of action, as well as talking points which will be reflected upon here. Man City and Liverpool prove they still are the teams to beat Last season, it was a race between Manchester City and Liverpool - and on the evidence of this weekend, one would certainly back both teams to go far in this year's title race. Reigning champions Manchester City opened the season with a 5-0 hammering away to West Ham United, where Raheem Sterling scored a brilliant hat-trick, whilst it is worth pointing out that the team, especially in the first half, were not even in top gear (they were closer to it in the second half). Last season's runners-up, Liverpool, got off to an ideal start by convincingly beating Norwich City on Friday night through goals from Salah, Origi, van Dijk and a Grant Hanley own goal. However, they suffered a big blow as goalkeeper Alisson went off injured, and their defending at times was not optimal. Despite a few teething issues for both sides on the opening day (which may be expected), they clearly demonstrated on the opening weekend that they will be the teams to be battling it out for the title.

United still not title contenders despite handsome win Despite a very impressive opening day win by Manchester United against Chelsea at the Theatre of Dreams, any talk suggesting that Manchester United will be title contenders following yesterday's result is at this stage premature. It is worth pointing out that yesterday's result was better than the performance, particularly in the first half - United struggled to win the midfield battle (they did better there in the second half but it was probably still unconvincing), and Luke Shaw was particularly weak in the left-back slot and Chelsea were constantly targeting him and that side - both of these were weaknesses, that, with all due respect to the London side, a better team would have exposed. That is not to say that United's performance was disastrous, actually, the performance did show that they have potential - debutants Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire were outstanding, and their counter-attacking was absolutely ruthless. It was a promising performance by the Red Devils yesterday, but patience is required with such a young team which does have potential to go further.

Promoted teams impress despite results Although the only promoted team to come away with a positive result were Sheffield United, the results of each of the three teams did not tell the full story of their performance. Norwich City, whilst they suffered a nasty 4-1 defeat away to Liverpool, certainly showed moments of promise and did deserve their goal - Emi Buendia showed flashes of promise, and Ben Godfrey was quite decent at the heart of their defence. In fact, Norwich City had a total of 12 shots during the match (5 of them on target) - Liverpool only had 3 more. Admittedly, their defending did leave quite a bit to be desired (Grant Hanley's performance was rather poor it has to be said), but there were definitely some signs of potential, and it is worth pointing out that they played against the current European champions (it doesn't get much tougher than that!) and the Canaries will not play against such calibre of opposition every week. As for Aston Villa, it was a performance which was far better than the result itself actually suggested. They took the lead in the 9th minute of the game through John McGinn, who was outstanding at the heart of their midfield, and led for over an hour of the game, before they eventually tired out and Tottenham took full advantage. Tom Heaton had an impressive debut in goal for the Villans and could well prove to be a bargain signings, whilst Tyrone Mings was also very impressive at the heart of their defense (whilst Bjorn Engels was also quite decent). This is not to say that they have no room for improvement, far from that, but on the evidence of last Saturday's performance one would be foolish to not back them of at least having a chance to stay up, and if they continue improving, one would back them to have a fairly successful season. In the case of Sheffield United, a draw away to AFC Bournemouth was an impressive way to return to the Premier League after 12 years away. They created some decent chances, whilst they were quite well organised defensively and after they fell behind, rather than throw the towel in or go recklessly gung-ho in search of an equaliser, they kept pushing sensibly in search of a goal and ultimately got rewarded, and it was fitting that club captain and veteran striker Billy Sharp scored his first ever goal at Premier League level, aged 33, to give Sheffield United their first point on returning to the top flight. Dream managerial debut for Potter Last season, it ultimately turned out be a disappointing season for Brighton & Hove Albion, who after a decent first half of the season, tailed off massively during a fraught second half of the season for them, and they ultimately only survived by two points - the board felt the performances had deteriorated so badly that then manager Chris Hughton was sacked. In place of Hughton, Brighton decided to appoint English manager Graham Potter, formerly of Swedish side Ostersunds, who he guided from the fourth to the top tier of Swedish football, and Swansea City, with whom he did an impressive job last season on limited resources. Potter could not have dreamt of a better opening day outcome, as Brighton convincingly beat Watford 3-0 and played some impressive attacking football, which was far more attractive than last season's negative and tedious defensive showings under Hughton. It is of course early days yet, but based on the opening day performance and his previous managerial spells, Potter could be the man to guide Brighton further up the table. Welcome to the world of Premier League management, Frank Lampard Whilst it was a dream managerial debut for Graham Potter, the same certainly cannot be said for Frank Lampard, whose Chelsea side suffered a 4-0 humbling at the hands of Manchester United. After a relatively promising first-half where they hit the post twice, yet still found themselves behind, United dealt Lampard a very harsh lesson as to the realities of management at Premier League level, as they were ruthless on the counter-attack, scoring 3 second half goals in a match which eventually turned out to be a rout and proved that Frank Lampard has a lot of work to do with this current Chelsea side, one which admittedly is in transition and could not really be strengthened in the summer due to their transfer ban.

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