City and Liverpool hit the ground running with thumping victories
Before the English Premier League season kicked off, there was a popular belief that it will be a two-horse race for the title between Manchester City and Liverpool. Yesterday’s action certainly did nothing to alter that view.
Champions City eased to a 2-0 victory against Arsenal at the Emirates, while Jurgen Klopp’s free-flowing Liverpool side thumped West Ham United 4-0.
It was a new era for Arsenal, with manager Unai Emery taking charge of his first fixture following the departure of Arsene Wenger. But the match was all about Pep Guardiola’s City slickers, who got into their stride quickly.
Raheem Sterling skipped across the edge of the box and rifled home an excellent shot after 14 minutes, before Bernardo Silva smashed a stunning, unstoppable effort into the top corner midway through the second half.
“Our performance was good. We made mistakes, but in general I’m more than satisfied,” said Guardiola. “The first part of the second half we found a goal and maybe didn’t deserve it – but in the first half we deserved to score two or three goals more.”
At Anfield, Mohamed Salah only took 19 minutes to continue where he left off last season, putting Liverpool ahead with a far-post tap-in after a cross from Scotland full-back Andrew Robertson.
Sadio Mane grabbed a double to put the game beyond doubt; first he converted a James Milner cut-back just before half-time and then eight minutes after the restart he latched on to a Roberto Firmino through-ball.
Daniel Sturridge completed 0 Manchester City goalscorers Bernardo Silva, left, and Raheem Sterling are all smiles during their team’s 2-0 win at the Emirates.
the easy victory, turning home a deflected corner seconds after replacing Salah.
Klopp, though, isn’t getting carried away with the result or the performance. “We know about our expectations and we realise there is a really positive atmosphere around us in the pre-season,” said the German. “That is good that people are positive, but this season will be unbelievably hard. We cannot be anything different than the challenger because we haven’t won anything since I came in.
“We have to invest more, we have to fight more, we have to create more. That’s the only thing we expect from ourselves. We will see where it leads to. West Ham will play a good season but they are not the Uniteds, the Citys. We know that and we have to be ready week-in, week-out for all the challenges.”
Southampton and Burnley played out a goalless draw at
St Mary’s on a day when the goalkeepers – Alex Mccarthy and Joe Hart – were on top.
In a match low on quality in the final third, Burnley’s Jack Cork was denied a goal against his former club when his first-half effort was chalked off for offside.
On Saturday, Jan Vertonghen and Dele Alli were on target in Tottenham’s 2-1 win at Newcastle,whilenewchelsea manager Maurizio Sarri watched N’golo Kante, Jorginho and Pedro score in a 3-0 victory at Huddersfield.
Former Aberdeen winger Ryan Fraser scored the opener in Bournemouth’s 2-0 triumph over Cardiff, Fulham lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace despite spending over £100 million in the summer, and Argentine Roberto Pereyra scored either side of half-time as Watford defeated Brighton 2-0.
And there was a fourgoal thriller at Molineux as Wolves and Everton drew 2-2. The visitors, who were reduced to ten men after Phil Jagielka’s 40th-minute red card, twice took the lead through Richarlison but were pegged back by goals from the impressive Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez.