The first weekend of the English Premier League ends with Manchester United giving Frank Lampard a headache, and Arsenal turning over Newcastle at St James’ Park.
The last time Manchester United and Chelsea were 30/1 shots for the title, cave dwellers were still battling Sabre Tooth Tigers for a hind of Mammoth.
It’s for this reason (and the utter supremacy of Manchester City & Liverpool) that United fans won’t get carried away despite the 4-0 spanking handed out on Sunday afternoon.
Chelsea began the brightest and could have been two-nil up after Tammy Abraham and Emerson both struck woodwork, but a lousy piece of defending by Kurt Zouma, bringing Marcus Rashford to ground in the penalty area, allowed United to take the lead going into half-time after Rashford had scored from the spot.
The last time United lost a league game at Old Trafford after leading at half time was in 1984, and you sensed this Chelsea side were not the ones to break that record.
It proved right.
United was lightning on the counter-attack and broke Chelsea’s spine with two goals within the space of two-minutes beginning on the 67th-minute mark. Paul Pogba, much-maligned by United fans over his desire to leave the club, found Rashford with a pinpoint pass, and the youngster scored in a spot where last year he would have shot wide.
Then two minutes later, Andreas Pereira jinked past the Chelsea full-back down the right, sent the ball into the six-yard box, and United’s new number nine Anthony Martial got there quicker than anyone else. United finished things in the 81st-minute when Pogba set up the debutant Daniel James to score, five-minutes after coming off the bench.
There was much for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to wax lyrical about at the end of the game, but Harry Maguire’s performance would have satisfied him the most. Maguire looked every inch the United man.
Newcastle 0 v 1 Arsenal
40/1 shots Arsenal earned three-points after overcoming a tough challenge at St James Park.
Newcastle had the better chances in the first half.
On 17-minutes, Andy Ritchie put in a cross from the left, and Joelinton’s flicked header went wide of the post. Three-minutes later, and Jonjo Shelvey nearly gave Newcastle the lead when he smashed a half volley against the post.
When you have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leading your line, you’re always going to threaten at the other end, and so it was when on 58-minutes, Ainsley Maitland-Niles screamed down the right flank after robbing Willems. Jamaal Lascelles went walkabout leaving Aubameyang unmarked, and Maitland-Niles found him, and the rest is history.
Newcastle’s puff expired after that goal, and Arsenal coasted through the rest of the match.
Results in full
West Ham 0 v 5 Man City
Crystal Palace 0 v 0 Everton
Burnley 3 v 0 Southampton
Watford 0 v 3 Brighton
Bournemouth 1 v 1 Sheff Utd
Spurs 3 v 1 Aston Villa
Leicester 0 v 0 Wolves
Newcastle 0 v 1 Arsenal
Man Utd 4 v 0 Chelsea
Premier League table
1. Man City – 3 pts
2. Man Utd – 3
3. Liverpool – 3
3. Brighton – 3
4. Burnley – 3
5. Spurs – 3
6. Arsenal – 3
7. Bournemouth – 1
8. Sheff Utd – 1
9. Crystal Palace – 1
10. Everton – 1
11. Leicester – 1
13. Wolves – 1
14. Newcastle – 0
15. Wolves – 0
16. Aston Villa – 0
17. Norwich – 0
18. Watford – 0
19. Chelsea – 0
20. West Ham – 0
Odds
To win
Man City 2/5
Liverpool 3/1
Spurs 20/1
Chelsea 40/1
Man Utd 40/1
Arsenal 50/1
Relegation
Sheff Utd 8/11
Norwich 10/11
Newcastle 2/1
Aston Villa 9/4
Burnley 5/2
Brighton 3/1
Golden boot
Harry Kane 10/3
Mo Salah 5/1
Raheem Sterling 6/1
Sergio Aguero 7/1
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 8/1
First manager to leave
Roy Hodgson 5/1
