The Premier League returned with bang as Arsenal staged a thrilling fightback to beat Leicester, champions Chelsea suffered a shock defeat against Burnley and Romelu Lukaku marked his Manchester United debut with a brace in their rout of West Ham
Here, we look at five things we learned from the opening weekend of the season.
Problems mount for Conte
Throughout a turbulent close-season, Antonio Conte had grown increasingly fraught as Chelsea failed to deliver his transfer targets, while allowing several players to leave.
The Chelsea boss claimed defending the title would be the toughest test of his career and Conte’s worst fears were confirmed in Saturday’s stunning 3-2 home defeat against Burnley.
Rocked by Gary Cahill’s early red card, Chelsea crumbled as Burnley scored three times in the first half with hardly any resistence from the lacklustre champions.
Goals from Alvaro Morata and David Luiz put a flattering gloss on the score, but, with Cesc Fabregas also sent off, Conte’s already depleted squad will be even more under-manned due to suspensions.
“We lost our composure. We have to improve a lot on this aspect because there was the rest of the game to try to do our best,” he grumbled.
Saints need to strike it rich
A goalless draw in the opening weekend is usually nothing to sniff at for Southampton.
Yet the stalemate against weakened Swansea points to a chronic weakness in attack – 29 shots in total with just two on target – accentuated by Manolo Gabbiadini’s erratic finishing and a failure to buy in the transfer market.
Saints were the lowest scorers in the top half of the table in 2016/17 with just 41 goals and a season of regression could lie in store unless money is spent – and fast.
An early Blue warning
Following a summer spending spree, Manchester City are heavily fancied to lift the title, and their comfortable 2-0 win at Brighton only reinforced that view.
Although it took until the 70th minute for City to open their account they always looked in control.
They looked devastating going forward, with the combination of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus unstoppable, but its at the back where they have a new-found solidity.
Not surprising with all those full-backs they bought.
Eriksen is underrated
Yes, he’s playing for a leading Premier League club and, yes, everyone knows Christian Eriksen is a very fine footballer but in terms of quality measured against attention, the Dane is an afterthought.
He was his usual controlling presence at Newcastle, switching the play, upping the tempo when needed and created both of Spurs’ goals.
With Barcelona in need of such a playmaker and hitting a brick wall with Coutinho, they should maybe be turning their attentions to north London.
Everton slowly building
The Toffees’ 1-0 win over Stoke was all about Wayne Rooney – and rightfully so – but while they were solid at the back, against a poor Stoke outfit, one slight concern was how slow their build-up play was.
Davy Klasseen admits he’ll need time to adapt to the pace of England, Rooney’s not the burst of energy he once was while Idrissa Gueye and Morgan Schneiderlin, while controlled, were a little ponderous in possession.
