The action-packed English Premier League made its highly-anticipated return. Here are 5 things we learned from the EPL opening weekend.
Nervy Man United squeak past Fulham
You could sense that the Manchester United players were carrying ghosts of past traumas in their Friday night win over Fulham at Old Trafford. It was more a case of playing with a sense of nervous trepidation in the hopes that a pass wouldn’t go awry or a glaring mistake leading to a cheap goal in remnants of recent seasons.
It was far off of a team brimming with confidence, playing with flair and hitting in first-time passes at a healthily high tempo. But… United had enough individual quality and resilience to clinch a dramatic win through new striker Joshua Zirkzee. Man United have made many positive changes behind the scenes to their football structure alongside positive transfer dealings – this though, is yet to translate to the football pitch.
Erik ten Hag won’t care though and would have told himself after the final whistle… we’ll take the three points!
Manchester City still the team to beat
Pep Guardiola against Pep Lite… the Spanish tactician proved that he remains the elite brain in world football in his match-up against Chelsea adversary and former assistant Enzo Maresca. The Citizens outclassed a dysfunctional Chelsea side and still possess some of the most gifted players on the planet.
Cyborg Erling Haaland is an impressive mixture of lethal finishing, the physical attributes and confidence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the drive of Cristiano Ronaldo, scarily at just 24 years old. City appears the team to beat, especially as none of their challengers seem to have closed the gap to the defending champions.
Arsenal at present are still a lethal goalscorer shy of a Premier League title, Liverpool are in a transitional period after Jurgen Klopp’s exit, and Man United have strengthened but are still some way off challenging.
For Mikel Arteta… there are no friends in football
The Arsenal manager, even though highly rated as a gifted coach and the closest challenger to serial winners Manchester City has a final hurdle to overcome to finally lift the Premier League.
Arteta has to chuck pleasantries and his friendship with Guardiola out the window in their expected managerial rivalry for the top of the pyramid in English football. The very best footballers at the top are cold calculated self-minded serial killers who would give up their grandmother to win. Arteta still appears to be chummy with his former Man City compatriot in Guardiola who is the man standing between him and success.
In F1, Nico Rosberg threw away a childhood friendship with former best friend Lewis Hamilton to get the better of the Brit to finally win an F1 Drivers’ Championship. It’s not an easy thing to do by any means alongside the draining sacrificial demands of winning which can be shown by Rosberg’s decision to retire from racing soon after.
Only a few can win and face the demands of being at the top… now you know why.
Magnificent managerial match-ups
Not only does the Premier League attract the best players in the world. Gone are the days when two teams (think back to the Arsenal Invincibles against Roy Keane’s Man United) were brimmed with star talent, whereas the rest of the league contained average players with the one maverick star.
The streets will never forget David Ginola, Paolo Di Canio, Matt Le Tissier, Jay-Jay Okocha and Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen. These days the Premier League hosts many talented coaches who will be aiming to mastermind their way to the top four. Unai Emery actually achieved that with Aston Villa. Perhaps the Spaniard only lacks charisma for the biggest managerial jobs, alongside his cringe “good ebening” post-match greetings.
Other notable coaches are Newcastle’s Eddie Howe, Ange Postecoglou, Andoni Iraola, with new Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler. May the best manager win… many games.
Relegation candidates face a steep uphill battle for safety
For the first time since the 1997/98 season, all three promoted teams were relegated from the Premier League last season. In the strive for excellence, a clear gulf between the Premier League to Championship does appear to be widening.
This season’s promoted teams in Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton. The latter two lost on their league opener with Leicester facing Tottenham on Monday evening. The only thing safe about those three teams is that they are a safe bet to again face the unfortunate dreaded drop.
