EPL opening weekend wrap
Posted by
Juan Arango
Hope everyone enjoyed what was a very interesting first week for the Barclay’s Premier League. We saw a slow start in the opening match between Tottenham Hotspurs and Manchester City. Yet things improved as the day went on. Chelsea tallied an impressive six goals in their return to action. While newcomers Blackpool sent Wigan fans for a loop, scoring four goals on the road. American keeper Tim Howard had a slip up in goal. While David Jones showed off his set piece skills. Squads are still unsettled with Manchester City leading in the category.
Aston Villa meanwhile weren’t rattled at all by the loss of Martin O’Neil. If the season continues like this we’ll have some great highlight reels for the vault.
Manchester City proved that money can’t buy happiness on Saturday.
Unorganized is quite an understatement for this club. Players making a positive showing were YaYa Toure and David Silva. I was impressed with Toure’s speed and creativity. He’ll be a big part of squad’s success. Meanwhile Joe Hart locked himself into the starting role with an impressive display. Tevez was disappointing and appeared to lack fitness.
No big deal though as he will recover and be the main threat for this club. Hopefully Balotelli will be by his side for next week. Adebayor made a surprise appearance as well, or did he? Nothing really positive to take from this game for City fans expect that you came away with a point. A tough week for them ahead with a Europa League game and Liverpool at home four days later.
Spurs showed they have a lot of promise and scoring threats. Tottenham was close to getting a win but 0-0 was the end result. Gareth Bale looked impressive and will be a big scoring threat for the club. He was unfortunate not to be credited with any offensive points as he sent in some beautiful passes as well. Assou-Ekotto looked a real threat and almost scored on a cracker from long distance. Aaron Lennon looked strong and will easily break his tally of three goals from last season.
Crouch was effective but mainly with his head. His success depends directly on the balls coming in from his team mates. He may struggle to find the net as much as last season. Their next opponents are the Young Boys in the Champions League Playoff Round. The Swiss side needs to be taken seriously as they recently knocked off a big club in Fenerbahce. They see Stoke on the road after and should be happy to come away with a draw. A lot will depend on the Champions League result though.
Things heated up after the first match as viewers got to see twenty-one goals in the following seven. Chelsea led the way with a trifecta of sorts. A Drogba triple, Malouda double, and Lampard single on the sheet against West Brom. In what was a great day to be a Blue’s fan as they backed up their scoring record. Malouda changed the score early in just the 6th minute. The first half saw two goals but West Bromwich Albion lost their nerve and began making errant challenges near the eighteen.
In the end it was too many set pieces for Didier. Two goals of his hat-trick were from such a spot. The performance earned him a substitution in just the 70th minute. The first thing West Brom can work on is their set piece walls. Players must have felt they were facing a firing squad with their twisting and turning. Look for Chelsea to continue the damage against Wigan next week.
Aston Villa surprised a few with a great three goal win against West Ham. Milner should reconsider his move to City after the victory. Especially since West Ham were more organized than the club at the Eastlands. The guidance of Kevin MacDonald seems to be working for the time being. Carew had a few good chances and Marc Albrighton was playing phenomenal. Ashley Young looked great and played some beautiful crosses into the area. I can only hope that Milner makes the right choice and forgets the big money offer. Look for Villa to continue their run against newly promoted Newcastle. West Ham should rebound nicely against Bolton at home.
Other matches saw Blackburn defeat Everton one to nil. Tim Howard made an unfortunate error that cost his side a point.
Bolton held off Fulham at home in a scoreless draw. Bobby Zamora is back and almost scored a long range effort. He will be a big part of this squad and hopefully remains healthy. Clint Dempsey didn’t feature but another USA national Stu Holden rattled one off the post.
Sunderland and Birmingham had an exciting match. It ended with four goals total and a point a piece for the clubs. The Black Cats will be disappointed after blowing a two goal lead in the second half.
Wolves continued their EPL success with a two to one victory over Stoke. David Jones scored a spectacular free kick that one wouldn’t expect to see in the top flight. Anyone that hasn’t seen it is missing out.
Sunday we witnessed what looked to be Liverpool’s downfall. However after Joe Cole's first half sending off David N’gog scored a bomb in the 46th minute. Almunia could have done better but it may be Given or Mark Schwarzer in net soon. Arsenal bounced back with a late own goal error by Reina. Set up by the new transfer Marouane Chamakh. Chamakh or “The Raptor” as I’m calling him looked reserved in this game. Hopefully he will turn up the intensity after settling in. A one to one draw was a fair result for both sides.
The last game of the week will see Manchester United taking on Newcastle. A tough draw for the Toon Army, can they hold off the Reds? I’m thinking it will be a good match with less than two goals. Let’s see if Rooney turns it up in his return to the EPL.
8.16.2010
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