It’s time to dust off your Copa Mundials and start having a rather strong opinion on Hector Bellerin’s haircut because the Barclay’s Premier League is back, baby!
Even if you’re not the sort of bloke who spends endless hours tinkering with your cleverly named fantasy football team (MurderOnZidane’sFloor? Nice), it’s safe to say that football and divisive chats about “us” and “them” will be dominating water cooler conversations for pretty much the remainder of the year.
We’re certainly not complaining as 2017’s opening weekend of action provided some pretty interesting points of discussion along with goals, goals, and more goals.
Arsenal Might Have Solved Their Striker Crisis
WHAT A START TO HIS ARSENAL CAREER THAT IS!
LACAZETTEEEEEEEEE!#AFCvLCFC 1-0 (2) pic.twitter.com/QAmqB6D6Lx
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) August 11, 2017
Arsenal fans have been clamouring for a decent striker for just about as long as they’ve been waving around their #WengerOut banners. So it’s fairly safe to say that most gooners must have been pretty pleased when new boy Alexandre Lacazette banged in his first Premier League goal for the side after only 2 minutes of play against Leicester City.
Welbeck, Ramsey, and Giroud also followed up with successive efforts for Arsenal as they clinched the game 4-3 to open up the floodgates for a weekend of high scoring affairs. Three Arsenal strikers scoring in one game? Someone check on Robbie from ArsenalFanTV and make sure he’s okay.
Rooney’s Triumphant Return
| Thanks for your MotM votes, folks! @WayneRooney tops the poll after his match-winning strike and assured display. #EFCmatchday pic.twitter.com/hgfghPjaYx
— Everton (@Everton) August 12, 2017
Setting a new record for the longest gap (4,837 days) between two Premier League appearances for the same club, expectations were pretty high for Wayne Rooney’s return to Goodison Park.
Scoring a goal on the stroke of half-time to seal the deal for his side against Mark Hughes’ cagey Stoke City, the man from Croxteth managed to live up to the hype. Proving to naysayers that he’s still got a lot more left in the tank, a Rooney Renaissance might just be around the corner.
Chelsea’s Poor Discipline
17 – Fabregas booked for sarcastically applauding a Burnley free kick. 0-0
— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) August 12, 2017
Chelsea were also breaking records this weekend. But not in the way they’d have hoped. Antonio Conte’s boys in blue were left rather red faced in their effort against Burnley as they became the first reigning Premier League champions to concede three goals in the opening match of the season.
An early Gary Cahill red set the tone for Chelsea’s ill discipline, with Spaniard Cesc Fabregas even finding himself initially booked, before receiving a second yelow later in the game, for sarcastically applauding the referee. Not a great way to show the kids how it’s done, Cesc.
Liverpool Forget What Defending Is
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 12, 2017
Likely distracted by the whole ongoing Coutinho transfer saga, it appears that Liverpool sort of forgot how to defend along the way. They might have managed to nab three goals of their own, but rather woeful defending led to Watford stealing a draw with a late equaliser at the death.
As a neutral this obviously made for some entertaining football, but any Kopites out there suffering from high blood-pressure might be best in avoiding future games if Liverpool deliver more of the same defensive shambles.
Huddersfield Town Make A Dream Start
What a day for @htafcdotcom!
In the top flight for the first time since 1972
First EVER Premier League match
Win at the first attempt pic.twitter.com/H7scyZzTTx— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) August 12, 2017
Every inhabit of Huddersfield are probably feeling a little bit worse for wear this morning. In fact, sales of Lucozade in the region have likely increased tenfold as of yesterday. It’s not often that a team manages to win in their first ever Premier League game and it’s even less often that they manage to do it in such convincing fashion.
Beating Crystal Palace 3-0 with a brace from new signing Steve Mounie, Huddersfield Town might not exactly be favourites for the title but this win currently puts them at the very top of the league for the very first time.We’d advise any fans of The Terriers to savour this while they can, however, as it might very well be the last they see of the top of table.