Gameweek 2 is over and there are so many things to talk about.
Chelsea VS Tottenham Hotspur
We start with the Super Sunday matchup between Chelsea and Tottenham that finished in a dramatic 2 all draw. Kalidou Koulibaly had a great start to his life in a Chelsea shirt by scoring a brilliant volley to put Chelsea in the league and from what I saw, Chelsea were easily the better team. Hojbjerg scored to level the match for Spurs and that resulted in the first of two altercations between the two managers. Before the goal, Tottenham’s Bentancur looked to have fouled Kai Havertz but nothing was given which was the reason why Tuchel was so annoyed. Reece James then scored for Chelsea to put them back in front in which resulted in Thomas Tuchel running down the pitch in celebration. However, in the 96th minute, Harry Kane headed home from a corner to get Spurs a point at Stamford Bridge. This was even more controversial as Christian Romero was pulling Marc Cucerella but nothing was given for it. After the full-time whistle, Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel got into another angry confrontation which saw them both get sent off. This was a fun but messy game that Chelsea deserved to win.
Brentford VS Manchester United
One of the biggest results in recent Premier League history came as Brentford beat Manchester United 4-0. Brentford played great and deserved to win and are currently sitting third in the table. Manchester United, however, were absolutely abysmal. The players in their team are not good enough and the only one who is good enough doesn’t even want to be there. Man United need to sort this out as being bottom of the league is unacceptable for a club of that stature. Man United go into the Liverpool game with no confidence and could get thrashed again if Liverpool step it up. As for Brentford, there next 5 games are all winnable so they could be in an incredible position come the end of gameweek 7.
Liverpool VS Crystal Palace
Liverpool hosted Crystal Palace in the first Monday Night Football of the season, and it was an intriguing matchup that finished 1 each. Liverpool dominated possession and had 24 shots but could only score once and that was due to a brilliant solo goal by young Luis Diaz. Crystal Palace’s game plan worked to perfection and Wilfred Zaha up front caused major problems. He could off scored 3 or 4 he was that much of a pain. I thought that Eberechi Eze was absolutely brilliant for Palace and really caused the Liverpool defence problems, particularly with his assist to Zaha. Hyped new signing Luis Diaz decided it was ok to headbutt Joachim Andersen twice which resulted in a straight red card. I joked before the game that he was Liverpool’s new Suarez expect he headbutts people instead of biting them. Two draws to start the campaign is disappointing for Liverpool whilst Palace will go into their game with Aston Villa with some confidence after last night’s performance.
Manchester City VS Bournemouth
This was a typical first home game of the season for Manchester City where they dominate and win 4-0. They had 67% possession and 93% of their passes were accurate. Kevin De Bruyne shone again in a team that looks very hard to stop at the moment. As for Bournemouth, they always knew that this game was going to be incredibly tough, and this also isn’t a game that Scott Parker’s men aren’t going to be judged on. City sit top of the league with 2 wins from 2 and haven’t conceded a goal yet. As for Bournemouth, they are 11th which they would 150% take come the end of the season. A comfortable day for City that doesn’t tell you much in the grand scheme of things.
Arsenal VS Leicester City
The highest scoring matchup saw Arsenal beat Leicester City 4-2 at the Emirates. This was a game where new number 9 Gabriel Jesus shone with two goals and two assists. Leicester brought the game back to 2-1 but then conceded less then 2 minutes later which they managed to do again later on in the game, resulting in a 4-2 loss. Leicester only have 1 point out of their first two fixtures so will need to respond with a win over Southampton next Saturday. As for Arsenal, they are the only team other than Manchester City to have an 100% record in the league and looking at their fixture list, they could keep that going for a while. A bright start for Arteta’s men.
Aston Villa VS Everton
Both teams came into the game with famous English midfielders as managers and 0 points after the first weekend of the season. It was Gerrard’s Aston Villa who got the first points between the two teams with a 2-1 home victory. Everton never really looked like challenging Villa and in the 85th minute, substitute Emiliano Buendia scored to put the hosts two nil up. However, from the kick off, Everton went up the field and scored from an own goal by former Everton player Lucas Digne. Everton then had multiple chances to get the result but weren’t able to take them. Villa find themselves 9th after 1 win whilst Everton are sitting in the bottom three as one of the three teams to have lost both games so far and with Forest next, they need to get a result. I wouldn’t expect either of these teams to do that well this season.
Southampton VS Leeds
Southampton VS Leeds saw 4 goals, two for Rodrigo and 2 for Southampton. Leeds will be disappointed that they didn’t win considering they were 2 nil up with 20 minutes to go and Jesse Marsch made that quite clear with his post-match interview. A positive Leeds can take is that they actually had more shots on target than off target which should help them if they can keep it up. Southampton were poor for most of the game but managed to pull 2 goals out to secure their first point of the season. Southampton’s next game is against Leicester whilst Leeds have the tough challenge of hosting Chelsea. These two teams were right down the bottom of the table but after the first 2 games, I’d be more worried of a relegation fight if I was a Southampton fan.
Nottingham Forest VS West Ham United
Nottingham Forest played there first Premier League home match of this century against West Ham, and it was a very eventful matchup. I had the game on in the background whilst I was doing my NFL Predictions and I had to keep skipping back because there was so much going on. Multiple disallowed goals, West Ham hitting the woodwork twice, Declan Rice having his penalty saved by Dean Henderson who was excellent all game and craziest of all, West Ham scored which silenced the crowd only to have it overturned due to Michael Antonio playing like an offensive lineman trying to protect his QB in the NFL. Less than two minutes later, Forest’s new striker Taiwo Awoniyi scored to send the City Ground into bedlam. Forest will be happy with three points from their first two games and will look to build on it away to Everton whilst for West Ham, two losses to start the year has the Hammers sitting down in 19th place. They will need to bounce back at home to West Ham but have a game against Viborg to worry about earlier on in the week.
Brighton VS Newcastle
Brighton and Newcastle played through a pretty uneventful 0-0 draw. Brighton had a lot more chances however with 13 shots compared to Newcastle’s 4. Nick Pope was the man of the match and is already showing what a brilliant signing he is going to be for Eddie Howe’s side this season. Both teams won’t be too disappointed with the result though as they both have 4 points from the first two games which is a good start considering both of this teams are hoping to contend for the European places. Brighton’s next matchup is away to West Ham whilst Newcastle host Manchester City in the most exciting game of the weekend.
Wolves VS Fulham
Wolves VS Fulham finished 0-0 in a pretty poor game. A lot of my family are Wolves supporters and they weren’t impressed with how poor their team was, including my sister who said the best thing in the match was the drinks break! Bruno Lage disagrees though as he is happy with his squad. The only thing I can think of that would make him happy with his team is the fact that they have more points than they did this time last year. They had good chances but their lack of a top forward player is holding them back from finishing 7th place like they used to. As for Fulham, two points in their opening two games isn’t that bad but it will be interesting to see how costly Mitrovic’s missed penalty ends up becoming. Wolves’ next match is away to Spurs whilst Fulham host Brentford in a game that they believe they can win.
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