The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

English Premier League Round 2: What we learnt

23rd August, 2017
Advertisement
Leicester City's goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel during the English Premier League soccer match between Sunderland and Leicester City at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England, Sunday, April 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Roar Pro
23rd August, 2017
2
1701 Reads

Man Utd lead early, Tottenham don’t get the result at Wembley and Aaron Mooy’s Huddersfield are one sixth of the way towards avoiding relegation. Here’s what we learnt from Round 2.

Swansea v Manchester United (0-4)
A 4-0 Manchester United win cements themselves on top of the table and serious title contenders. Swansea hit the woodwork early and should have capitalised on two early chances.

Eric Bailly tapped in a goal from a Paul Pogba header off the crossbar to put them up on the brink of half time. From then on Man United were in control striking three times in five minutes towards the end of the second half to put in a dominant display.

Paul Pogba showed how good he can be with a delicious chip as well as setting up Anthony Martial’s goal. But the real standout performer was Henrikh Mkhitaryan who continues to look threatening setting up two goals and having a few decent long-range efforts on goal.

For Swansea, they are really missing Fernando Llorente. They should look to dive into the transfer market before the window closes as they are struggling to threaten.

Southampton v West Ham (3-2)
Now this was the craziest game of the round. A late penalty given away by Pablo Zabaleta for a push in the back of Maya Yoshida as he attempted to score a late header gave Charlie Austin the chance to win the game with a stoppage time penalty which he coolly slotted.

Marko Arnautovic was signed for a club record to West Ham and he made a mark in the wrong way by elbowing a Southampton defender in the head after the ball had gone earning him a straight red.

Chicharito managed to poke home two close range goals to tie up the match from 2-0 down. He is same as always rarely scoring goals for the highlight reel but doing the job nonetheless.

Advertisement

The result leaves a West Ham team who have spent plenty of money in last and putting the manager’s job in question early in the season.

Southampton while looking decent should have a few questions to answer letting a 2-goal lead slip against a team with ten men but will take the 3 points.

Liverpool v Crystal Palace (1-0)
Liverpool got the three points at home thanks to a Sadio Mane goal midway through the second half. Other than that, it was a fairly uneventful game. Not a convincing performance from Liverpool but they managed a win which they have failed to do in recent years in games like this.

Christian Benteke fired over from eight yards with the goal gaping and will hope to score soon blanking in his first two games.

Daniel Sturridge returned to the starting team in a lacklustre performance. For Liverpool’s sake let’s hope he can return to goal-scoring form.

Leicester v Brighton (2-0)
Leicester look solid early on this season after going down in a close fought game to Arsenal. Shinji Okazaki scored in the opening minute and from there on the game looked Leicester’s to lose. Brighton managed to have more possession but failed to do enough with the ball.

Harry Maguire was exceptional at the back and managed a goal late on to reward his efforts. Riyad Mahrez looked back to his 2015-16 title-winning form.

Advertisement

Burnley v West Brom (0-1)
A game with plenty of shots but not much quality. Burnley had most of the ball and racked up a monumental 20 shots. The problem being not one forced a save out of Foster. After such a good opening game from Sam Vokes he was disappointing in this one.

Jay Rodriguez looked threatening again for West Brom without providing the end product.

Hal Robson-Kanu scored a great solo game winning the match for West Brom after coming on as a substitute. He followed that up by getting sent off for violent conduct.

Both teams have started the season pretty well as West Brom are undefeated and this is Burnley’s first loss for the season in a game they arguably should have won.

Bournemouth v Watford (0-2)
Great performance from Watford who had a few out injured after their opening game draw with Liverpool. Etienne Capoue scored a late cracking goal from well out. New signing Richarlison managed the opener after transferring to Watford this season.

Not too much to comment on this match as Watford were very good and Bournemouth were disappointing at home. Joshua King failed to fire and new recruit Andre Gray failed to make much of an impression.

Stoke v Arsenal (1-0)
Gunners fans will be upset after a frustrating defeat to Stoke. Stoke’s Jese managed a nice goal to win Stoke the match. Arsenal managed over 77 per cent possession but still couldn’t find a goal.

Advertisement

Mesut Ozil makes every football fan question whether he is quality or not going missing again. He has always had the tendency to go missing in close games and did once again. It is easy to look good when your team is winning but it takes real quality to step up for your team when things aren’t going your way.

Alexis Sanchez is back training and hopefully will bring the X factor back to Arsenal as they face a tough game against Liverpool next.

Joe Allen had a top game controlling the midfield for Stoke and limiting Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey’s input.

Arsenal are a quality team but can they do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke? The answer is no.

Huddersfield v Newcastle (1-0)
Aaron Mooy. Do I need to say anymore? The Australian midfielder managed a quality goal to make all Australian and Huddersfield fans excited. That was the difference in a close game.

A great start to the newly promoted Huddersfield who beat a fellow promoted team who they failed to beat in their previous meetings last year. Huddersfield couldn’t have dreamed of a better start with two straight wins.

Newcastle looked disappointing and must bring in new recruits or else they will be bound for relegation. They offered basically nothing upfront with Christian Atsu the only one who looked slightly threatening.

Advertisement

Tottenham v Chelsea (1-2)
A great win for Chelsea after opening round failure. They looked relatively solid at the back and dangerous in attack and held a strong Spurs team at bay.

Harry Kane does not score in August. Yet again the Spurs striker failed to find the back of the net as his dry August runs continue, He hit the post and was unlucky not to score but was kept mostly quiet from Chelsea’s defence.

What can’t Marcos Alonso do? A top quality free kick and a late strike to win the match. The win back looked exceptional. Absolutely brilliant performance from the Chelsea defender who looked solid in defence and deadly in attack.

When Hazard comes back does Pedro or Willian make way? Both looked very good and created chances for their strikers. When Hazard comes back and one must make way I honestly don’t know who Conte will leave out.

Manchester City v Everton (1-1)
Wayne Rooney does it again with a goal in both his games in the Premier League for Everton. This followed Raheem Sterling’s goal off the bench.

One of the best matches of the round with both teams looking strong. Manchester City looked the better especially after Kyle Walker got sent off after two yellow cards in quick succession. The second of which was a hard call and one that should be considered tough.

On the opening two performances I see the title being a battle of the Manchester clubs and think Manchester City have looked stronger.

Advertisement

Gylfi Sigurdsson made his debut off the bench and did look quite good but may take some weeks to integrate properly into their team.

Both City strikers looked good. Unfortunately, Gabriel Jesus was subbed off at half time to accommodate the loss of Kyle Walker’s red card. Definitely looking like a deadly combination.

What did you make of the Round 2 action?

close