Chelsea stumbled out of the gate in its Premier League title defense, as Swansea City held the Blues to a surprising draw. There was an opening weekend win for Liverpool as well but Chelsea and Arsenal suffered surprising reversals.
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The pre-match discussion was nearly entirely focussed on whether Arsenal will finally end their title drought.
And that’s plenty more than can be said of Arsene Wenger’s men, who had the rude awakening that there’s more to plotting a genuine assault on the league title than signing a prized goalkeeper from the current champions. Arsenal’s back line weren’t much help to the Czech on either goal, but these were not the kind of mistake you expect from someone of his pedigree. They had the possession numbers like they always do, but hardly looked like that they would put that to good use.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic may well not have heard of the annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge, but has shown his faith in another Oxford: Reece Oxford.
“We will fight against them and our intention is to win, yes, we are favourites”.
There always tends to be one coupon-buster on the opening weekend of the Premier League season and the bookmakers were not to be disappointed once again.
Louis van Gaal’s side got their Premier League campaign off to a ideal start against Tottenham Hotspur yesterday with a 1-0 win courtesy of a Kyle Walker own goal.
Liverpool on the other hand, had one of the toughest away fixtures in the league at Stoke City to contend with.
Gary Cahill resumed his central defensive partnership with Terry, but was unconcerned about their form and instead maintained that they should be judged from Saturday, when the league season begins. The performance, like United’s, was ordinary for the most part. Philippe Coutinho scored the best goal in all of Round 1. The physio, Eva Carneiro, rushes on to the pitch to give him medical attention leaving Chelsea with nine men for a while. The closest they came in the game’s final minutes were two tepid attempts from Sanchez, a player who only returned to the training ground six days ago.
It’s a ridiculous discussion to have but that’s exactly what Mourinho wants. Dimitri Payet was leaving Arsenal defenders in his wake and provided the assist for the opener while striker Mauro Zarate wrapped up the match by beating Cech from long range at the near post.
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Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois is shown a red card by referee Michael Oliver during the team’s August. 8 game against Swansea.
