Well the Premier League is up and running folks and what a start we’ve had, the reigning Champions lost their opener, the challengers all won theirs and a newcomer stunned a tired old hand.
A second half strike from Heung-Min Son consigned Manchester City to a shock opening day defeat and gave Nuno Espirito Santo a first league win in charge of Spurs, a result which gave Whites fans hope that the future may not be so bleak after all. The result also gave the other title hopefuls renewed belief that Manchester City can be beaten. Elsewhere, the result of the weekend was at Brentford, where the Bees saw off a lacklustre Arsenal and West Ham continued their form of 2020/21 with a resounding victory in Newcastle.
Grealish can make the goals…
…but Manchester City’s recent £100m recruit needs someone to convert the chances he will undoubtedly create for the Sky Blues. The former Aston Villa captain picked up a handful of free-kicks as you’d expect, and he gave the Spurs’ defence a few jitters, but despite his and others’ efforts Hugo Lloris had a relatively comfortable afternoon in the Spurs goal, and a crucial clean sheet.
Pep Guardiola is still to replace the departed Sergio Aguero and speculation mounted that a second move for Harry Kane was imminent as the Spurs striker was omitted from Nuno’s match day squad. Of course the Sky Blues are still strong favourites with SBOTOP to retain their title but their odds of success have drifted slightly after this first round of Premier League 2021 results to 2.10. Kane has been included in Spurs’ Europa Conference League play-off at Pacos de Ferreira on Thursday, but surely he’ll want more than Europa football at this stage in his career.
There is no conflict for the Sky Blues in Kane’s appearance in the Europa competition and no doubt they will continue to test Spurs’ resolve. But if Kane doesn’t go to the Etihad presumably Guardiola has a plan B.
Challengers are ready
Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all won their opening games in convincing fashion, and after sweeping Crystal Palace aside 3-0 the latest Premier League 2021 betting odds have installed Chelsea as second favourites at odds of 4.50, with Manchester United at 5.50 and Liverpool at 6.00.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds won well, 3-0 away to newcomers Norwich City, but the biggest victory of the weekend came at Old Trafford, where Manchester United won against Leeds United. Bruno Fernades was the beneficiary of Paul Pogba’s best performance in a Manchester United shirt. The Portuguese striker scored three in the 5-1 destruction of Leeds while Pogba made an astonishing four assists. Whether he’s putting himself in the shop window or not, the French enigma looked happy to be playing at Old Trafford in front of almost 75,000 happy fans.
Brentford’s perfect start
Newly promoted Brentford announced their arrival in the Premier League with a fully deserved 2-0 win over Arsenal on Friday night, and while it doesn’t mean the Bees aren’t in for a tough campaign, it shows they have ability and desire, two qualities which were sadly lacking in the Gunners in their opener.
After a 74 year absence from the top flight Thomas Frank’s side looked perfectly at home as Sergi Cano beat Bernd Leno at his near post to give Brentford a half time lead. Arsenal were abject, and rarely troubled Brentford keeper David Raya, though he did pull off a superb stop to deny Nicolas Pepe, and the points were confirmed when Christian Norgaard headed home a long throw with 17 minutes left on the clock.
From then on a famous win was never in doubt, though the Brentford fans celebrated like they’d won the league at the final whistle…and why not?
Hammers are at it again
David Moyes silenced all the doubters when he guided West Ham United to a sixth placed finish last term, and a Europa League place. The Hammers attacked with real fluency last season and, after going behind away to Newcastle, they stormed to victory with a second half fight back. Magpies striker Callum Wilson opened the scoring on five minutes but West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell levelled soon after. Newcastle went ahead through Jacob Murphy just before the break but they were swept aside by a second half Claret and Blue wave.
Said Benrahma levelled soon after the break and when Tomas Soucek tapped home the third, the visitors had their noses in front. West Ham’s evergreen striker Michail Antonio made it 4-2 with his 47th Premier League goals for the Hammers, equalling the record set by Iron legend Paulo Di Canio.
Moyes looks set to lead his team to another fine campaign on the evidence of those 45 minutes.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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