Well the Premier League has well and truly begun, the fight starts now. After the opening round of fixtures in the EPL, Chelsea and Arsenal were the big losers while Manchester City established themselves as serious title contenders for all those who doubted them. The first game of the season saw Manchester United stuttering to a one nil win over Spurs at Old Trafford. Liverpool managed to avenge their 6-1 humiliation on the final day at Stoke last season, through a late stunner by Philippe Coutinho which ensured a 1-0 victory for the reds.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Adrian (West Ham)
Though the Spaniard wasn’t tested a lot over the 90 minutes, keeping a clean sheet against a team like Arsenal at Emirates does take a really good performance. He made couple of smart stops to keep out Olivier Giroud and Sanchez. He commanded his area brilliantly and made sure his team mates ahead of him remained compact and organized throughout the match.
Pape Souare (Crystal Palace)
Arrived at Selhurst Park last January from Lille but hasn’t been too much in the radar till this weekend, where he was involved in the cleverest free kick of the weekend. Linked up very well with Zaha ahead of him and wasn’t scared to run down the left flank and join the attack.
Chris Smalling (Manchester United)
Its not often that we see Smalling in the team of the week but his performance against Spurs was composed and solid to say the least. He was instrumental in nullifying the threat of Harry Kane at Old Trafford. Part of a new look defensive line, smalling looked assured all through the match.
Winston Reid (West Ham United)
Reid worked hard to keep Arsenal at bay on Sunday, he put in a true leader’s performance. It was impressive how he kept everyone focused during long stretches of time when Arsenal had the ball. He himself was responsible for three crucial blocks in the penalty area.
Matteo Darmian (Manchester United)
The Italian right-back put in a very impressive performance for the red devils against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. In total he made 5 clearances and was rock solid defensively, while contributing a lot in the opposition third. Fans will be looking forward to how Darmien performs during the course of the whole season.
Reece Oxford (West Ham United)
The second youngest player to start in the Premier League history put in a very mature performance against some of the player he idolizes. He had a passing accuracy of 97% and walked off to a huge round of applause from the whole stadium.
Marc Albrighton (Leicester City)
Albrighton carried on his fine form from last season, he contributed two assists before getting a goal himself with a neat finish in the second half. His fine performance gave Claudio Ranieri his first ever win with Leicester City.
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City)
The Algerian scored two goals and struck the post once during an energetic display against Sunderland. He was excellent on the wings, tormenting Sunderland’s defense. His second came through a penalty which he had won himself.
Yaya Toure (Manchester City)
The Ivorian was back to his dominating best after not such a successful last season. Toure scored two goals in what was surely the performance of the week, his was a beautiful curling effort from outside the box. If he manages to build on this performance in the coming weeks, maybe City can start dreaming about the title.
Jefferson Montero (Swansea City)
Branislav Ivanovic must be having nightmares after being totally outplayed by Montero. His combination play with Andre Ayew was breath taking at times. He provided the cross for Swansea’s first goal. he made sure Ivanovic never settled and had 6 successful dribbles in the whole match.
Arouna Kone (Everton)
He came on as a late substitute for Everton against the newly promoted Watford but without his introduction it would have been very difficult for Everton to avoid defeat. He created his sides first goal before scoring himself late on to secure a draw.
