The PL View - Matchday 1

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

The opening weekend of any football season offers fans up and down the country the chance to set their hopes high over the course of the next nine months.

The start of the 25^th Premier League season was always likely to provide drama and excitement and after a slightly underwhelming opening day, Sunday’s entertainment at the Emirates Stadium between Arsenal and Liverpool FC certainly made up for that.

Here are my thoughts from the opening weekend of the 2016/2017 campaign in The PL View.

Champions’ off-colour

For the first time in Premier League history, the defending champions were beaten on the opening weekend as Leicester City surprisingly went down 2-1 to Hull City at the KCOM Stadium.

The Foxes’ pre-season has certainly been exciting for fans and the players – featuring games against La Liga champions Barcelona, French powerhouse PSG and the kings of Scottish football in Celtic. However, performances were scratchy and results not much better.

That continued against Hull, who despite only having 13 senior players to choose from showed huge amounts of guile and work ethic to pull off a stunning victory.

Leicester were off-colour, there was no doubt about that. Their passing was wayward, decision-making wasn’t as decisive as it was last season and the Hull front pairing of Abel Hernandez and Adama Diomande gave Wes Morgan and Luis Hernandez a very uncomfortable afternoon. It was a miserable debut for Hernandez and I don’t expect him to be starting many games in the coming weeks. Robert Huth’s return from suspension could be well-timed.

Jamie Vardy seemed to be suffering a post-Euro 2016 hangover and although he scored a penalty, Riyad Mahrez was a pale shadow of the man who dazzled throughout last campaign. It was hardly a disaster but an unexpected shock for the champions. Claudio Ranieri would not have been happy with what he saw on the touchline.

Stubborn Wenger found out again

For 44 minutes, Arsenal actually bossed their Super Sunday clash with Liverpool FC. Theo Walcott had them infront and they looked in control of the game. By the 61^st minute, they were 4-1 down and the sense of anger was once again simmering around the Emirates Stadium.

Liverpool were magnificent in that spell. Philippe Coutinho was unplayable, Sadio Mane gave Calum Chambers serious problems and Georgino Wijnaldum sparkled – playing a key role in two of the goals. With Daniel Sturridge still to feature due to injury, Jurgen Klopp has so many attacking options available to him.

It was another testing opening weekend for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal

Once again, it highlighted Arsene Wenger’s (pictured) sheer stubbornness and if not careful, Arsenal will be found wanting this season. They are the only club from the top seven last season to have barely spent a penny in the transfer market which is no great surprise. Amazingly, his only major signing Granit Xhaka was left on the bench which was baffling to say the least. Why pay huge money as he did for Xhaka and then leave him out?

His insistence on giving extended time off to Olivier Giroud, Mesut Özil and particularly Laurent Koscielny following their EURO 2016 exploits backfired. Koscielny should have played – especially as other senior central defenders, Gabriel and Per Mertesacker are both out with long-term injuries.

As usual, Arsenal have lacked a presence in the transfer market and still miss a proper leader on the field of play. Whilst Wenger’s legacy and achievements should never be questioned, his stubbornness to not react to the changing face of football is a negative.

The booing around the Emirates said it all at full-time, despite the Gunners getting the scoreline back to 4-3. Already, there is a sense of trepidation around the place and that isn’t a good sign.

Liverpool’s main issue is sorting out a left-back. Alberto Moreno was once again found wanting, conceding a penalty and being totally out of position for Walcott’s opener. Klopp must invest in this position before the window shuts because Moreno’s positional ability and tackling judgement is simply not good enough.

Palace desperate for a forward

Crystal Palace’s 1-0 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday indicated their problem – a lack of goals.

It might have been a typical West Brom performance under Tony Pulis – winning by a single goal with the decisive moment coming from a set-piece. Credit has to go to Pulis for the way he sets-up his teams. It isn’t very entertaining to watch for the neutral but it secures survival and Salomon Rondon could be one to watch this season. He looks fitter, stronger and more prepared for his second Premier League campaign.

If only Palace had someone like Rondon. Alan Pardew sold Dwight Gayle to Newcastle, released Emmanuel Adebayor and Marouane Chamakh and now has seen Yannick Bolasie depart for Everton. No.1 target is Christian Benteke but Liverpool FC are playing hardball with the asking price.

The Eagles must invest in a proven goalscorer, or it looks like being a long winter at Selhurst Park…

Will Fabregas remain?

The Antonio Conte reign at Chelsea began with a 2-1 win over West Ham United on Monday night. Diego Costa scored the winner in the 88^th minute, although he was lucky to still be on the pitch after his crude challenge on Adrian in the second half wasn’t punished by referee Anthony Taylor.

Cesc Fabregas was an interesting omission from Conte's first match

In fact, 10 of the 11 players who started for the Blues on Monday figured in their stormy 2-2 draw on the opening weekend last term against Swansea City. The man who missed out was Cesc Fabregas (pictured).

The Spaniard was left on the bench by Conte and ended up as an unused substitute. Was this a statement of intent by the Italian to his playmaker?

Fabregas is a creative player who will always set goals up but his performances for the last 18 months now have been more miss than hit. His market value has dropped and he probably isn’t quite the lynchpin that he was in Chelsea’s 2015 title team.

The indication is he will stay for now at Stamford Bridge. I actually don’t think there will be many takers for him if he was to be made available. His best bet is to knuckle down and try to win Conte over. It wasn’t the start to the campaign he was hoping for though.

Fact Pack

Here are some interesting facts from the weekend’s matches to round off week one of The PL View.

James Collins has scored nine league goals in his career and 4 of them have now come against Chelsea.

After netting at AFC Bournemouth on Sunday, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has now scored on his debut 5 times (in England, France, Italy, Spain and in the UEFA Champions League).

Liverpool’s victory at Arsenal was only their 2^nd victory at the Emirates Stadium since the ground opened 10 years ago. In this millennium, they’ve only won three times at Arsenal in 16 league meetings.

Only Alan Shearer and Frank Lampard have scored more goals than Wayne Rooney on the opening weekend in PL history. Rooney now has 7 after his header at the Vitality Stadium – one behind Shearer and Lampard.

Sergio Aguero now has 18 league goals in this calendar year which is the most of any player.

Burnley’s defeat at home to Swansea City at the weekend was their first in 24 league matches. Their last league loss was a Boxing Day defeat to Hull City in the Championship last season.

Xherdan Shaqiri scored Stoke's first direct free-kick goal in the Premier League since October 2013.