We witnessed an eventful second round of Premier League matches this past weekend, as the new season begins to take shape. Here are five things we learned.
New season, same old City
Manchester City were rampant as they dismantled Huddersfield Town 6-1 at the Etihad yesterday to continue their 100% start to the season. Pep Guardiola’s team are now top of the table thanks to a better goal difference than Chelsea and Tottenham. They dominated the league for the best part of last season, and they don’t appear to be relenting. They remained typically passionate in their pressing against the Terriers, but also showed some unpredictability in their play that should make them hard to beat again this season. Sergio Aguero’s hat-trick saw him rise to the top of the scoring charts.
Shambolic United
Manchester United were hopeless in a 3-2 defeat at Brighton on Sunday. Their overall play was wanting throughout the 90 minutes, with the defensive partnership of Victor Lindelöf and Eric Bailly particularly shambolic.
The Seagulls were 2-0 up within 28 minutes and José Mourinho’s men never looked like getting back into the match. It is too early to write off the Red Devils, but they definitely need to sort out things at the back lest teams around the division use this wake-up call as a template for playing against them.
Promising signs for Arsenal
Arsenal fans would be forgiven for feeling doomed after starting the season with two straight losses for the first time since 1986. They can, however, take courage from the fact that the fixtures computer was extremely harsh on them by handing them Man City and Chelsea in their first two matches. The Gunners were also quite impressive for spells at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, despite eventually falling to a 3-2 defeat.
New boss Unai Emery will in a sense feel that their season starts now, with games against West Ham United, Cardiff City and Newcastle United lined up next.
Hammers keep struggling
The new season brought a new manager for West Ham, but they seem to have carried some of their struggles from last season into the new campaign. The Hammers struggled under David Moyes to finish the season in 13th place and consequently brought in former title-winning manager Manuel Pellegrini. However, nothing much seems to have changed so far, as they were crushed 4-0 by Liverpool in their first match and lost 2-1 to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Richarlison and Walcott promise a great partnership
Everton won their first league game against Southampton on Saturday, as new signing Richarlison once again stole the headlines. Theo Walcott opened the scoring in the 15th minute and then set up his new Brazilian teammate for the Toffees’ second 16 minutes later. Richarlison now has three goals after two games in Everton colours. The 21-year old cost a fortune but should be well worth the money if he can keep up his productive partnership with Walcott on the wings.