Thank god for that, the ‘summer’ is over and Premier League football is back on our screens. There have been 4 live matches shown on TV already from the opening round of fixtures, kicking off with Liverpool vs Stoke last Saturday. Sure, the return of the SkyBet football league a couple of weeks ago was good, but with the return of the Premier League, Soccer AM, Match of the Day and Gillette Soccer Saturday to name a few we are now very much in the swing of things again.
With that in mind, I’m keen to stress the point that we have only barely got underway, each Premier League team has played 1 of 38 games, but still I feel that as this fledgling season begins we have already learnt so much.
Arsenal Still Have Work/Spending To Do.
The shock result of opening weekend was definitely Arsenal losing 3-1 at home to Aston Villa. Despite taking an early lead the Gunners were pegged back and suffered what must go down as a disappointing loss to last season’s relegation candidates, Villa.
This defeat also seemed to exacerbate the uneasy feelings that the Arsenal fans felt with their team adding no significant additions to the squad. Arsenal threatened to spend early in the summer with ultimately nothing coming of it but this defeat may have finally kicked them into action. A bid for Newcastle’s Yohan Cabaye has already been submitted but truly there are still signings that need to be made to keep the Gunners supporters happy. Especially with their North London rivals making waves in the transfer market.
Man United Aren’t A Spent Force Just Yet.
With Sir Alex moving on and new manager David Moyes struggling to add to his squad United have seemingly become the 3rd wheel of the title race, most bookmakers making Man City and Chelsea joint favourites. But this is still the playing squad that won the league last season.
With a couple of additions still possible, United showed that they are very much capable of retaining their crown. A comfortable 4-1 win away at a notoriously difficult to beat Swansea City highlights this. A strong performance from United’s current crop of title winners.
Life For Promoted Clubs Is Hard.
It’s long been said that the gulf between the Championship and Premier League is such that staying in the Prem after promotion is no mean feat. In recent years teams like Swansea, Norwich and Southampton have bucked the trend but this year’s crop of Championship Graduates will need to improve quickly to survive.
With Champions Cardiff going down comfortably away at West Ham, Crystal Palace being bested at home by Spurs and Hull City being outclassed away at Chelsea there will certainly be challenging times ahead for the three clubs. Best of luck to all of them but early signs suggest that they are facing an uphill struggle.
BT Are Here To Compete.
This Saturday marked not only the Premier League débuts of numerous new stars but also the début of BT Sports, the new sports channel that will carry a sizeable chunk of this year’s Premier League action. What was clear early on was that BT were not interested in becoming a carbon copy of Sky whilst showing Sky’s left over games like ESPN before them.
BT innovated and entertained in equal measure. Showing a game with the score and time in the bottom left hand corner!? Crazy! They’re playing by no one’s rules but their own! In all seriousness though BT’s coverage was bursting with new ideas including crossing live to referee turned pundit Mark Halsey to explain any controversial decisions by the officials and their own take on Sky’s Saturday afternoon institution, Gillette Soccer Saturday.
Mourinho Is REALLY Back.
Even the British press are probably not capable of producing the hype that José Mourinho’s return to Chelsea deserved, but lord knows they tried. One thing this weekend showed was that the Mourinho of old is back, the Mourinho that was beloved by Chelsea when he left in 2007. His Chelsea team cruised to a 2-0 first half advantage against Hull City and in truth it could have been more. Chelsea passed Hull off the park and looked good value for their half time lead.
In typical Mourinho fashion his team were not interested in doing any more than they needed to. Once the game seemed secure they were happy sit back and collect the three points, they noticeably took their foot off the gas in the second half. Mourinho WANTS to entertain, but as far as he is concerned his only NEED is to win. It’s a strategy that has brought him plenty of success with the West London club in the past.
It’s early days yet but the season is looking as though it will be an exciting one. Just look at the opening weekend. We’ve already seen fast-paced super competitive football, some of the best players in the world and a set of results that would have been difficult to predict before kick-off. So, everything we expect from the Premier League really.
More of the same next week please.