One of the best and the most unpredictable football leagues in the world kicked off in a surprising manner with Champions Leicester City losing to newly promoted Hull City. Leicester City had a fairytale season last year after defying the odds of 5000-1 and were crowned Champions. Such is the unpredictability of the Premier League that they could not prevent a 2-1 loss against Hull City.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola did not have one of the most satisfying debuts after Manchester City had a great difficulty defeating Sunderland. Pep’s men took an early lead in the first half after Sergio Aguero converted the penalty. Sunderland struck back in the second half but Paddy Mcnair’s own goal gave Manchester City all 3 points. Pep needs to look into his tactics as it will take him some time to adapt to this pacy Premier League.
However, Red side of Manchester had a brilliant outing this weekend as they defeated AFC Bournemouth 3-1 with goals from Juan Mata, Captain Wayne Rooney and newly signed forward Zlatan Ibrahamovic. Jose Mourinho, who also made his Manchester United PL debut, started with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Two of his newly signed players started the game. Baily was excellent defending really well and looks a good prospect for the upcoming season. Ironically Jose’s first Manchester United goal was scored by Juan Mata who does not have very good relations with the manager. United had a perfect match attacking point of view but failed to keep a clean sheet. Anyway they dominated the game throughout and Jose would have been very satisfied with the team performance.
Liverpool kicked off with a victory over Arsenal defeating them 4-3 at Emirates. Both teams tore each other apart defensively and looked vulnerable whenever either of the teams had possession. It was a tight affair in the first half as Theo Walcott, who missed a penalty, scored 90 seconds after it. Coutinho scored a wonderful free kick on the stroke of half time to even the score at half time. It was an insane second half as Adam Lallana took Liverpool ahead in the 49th minute. Liverpool and Coutinho struck once again in the 63rd minute giving Liverpool a two goal cushion. Sadio Mane scored his first Liverpool goal in the 7th minute. Goals from substitutes Alex – Oxlade- Chamberlein and Calllum Chambers were not enough to prevent a first weekend home victory.
Chelsea also began on the winning note defeating Bilic’s West Ham 2-1 with goals from last season flop Eden Hazard and Diego Costa. Antinio Conte looked animated as usual tasted his first victory in the Premier League. Dimitri Payet surprisingly started on the bench for West Ham United. Spurs were held to a 1-1 draw after Lamela equalised a Ross Barkley free-kick.