Matchday 1 Recap

Welcome to an American in the EPL. With the first weekend of games behind us let’s take a look at a few games I had circled as intriguing or ones to watch.

Brentford 2 vs. Arsenal 0:

The bees win their first game in England’s top flight since 1947 and the atmosphere from the home crowd came through the tv as it was a full stadium for the first time since they opened it in 2020. A nice near post finish from Sergi Canos in the first half and a header off a poorly defended throw by Christian Norgaard sealed the 3 points. Arsenal sure missed Pierre Abaumayang as they never really threatened. Emile smith Rowe and Nicolas Pepe with the only two real chances, but David Raya for the Bees saved Smith-Rowes shot and then got down quickly to save Pepe’s near post effort in the second half which was one of my saves of the weekend, He reacted quickly as he was anticipating the far post shot but adjusted and pushed Pepe’s shot round the post.

Man U 5 vs. Leeds 1:

I always root for Man U to lose and I thought it was possible with how Leeds attacks and presses but Man U was just too good in the second half. Bruno Fernandez with the hat trick. I didn’t watch much of this game since I turned it on and Man U had just scored their 5th. From the highlights Pogba looked amazing pulling all the strings in the midfield. Leeds will have to out score teams again this year. Stings a bit more as my great great grandma was born in Pontrefact a village outside of Leeds. I feel for them in this one. The one bright spot was the Luke Ayling screamer for Leeds and we’ll see this in goals of the week. Watch the Leeds Untied TV coverage for a brilliant call of the goal.

Tottenham 1 vs Man City 0:

The defending champs stumble against a Harry Kaneless Spurs. Heung min son with the goal in the second half to give Nuno Espirito a win in his first game in charge. Man city just couldn’t find the finishing touch, despite having some really good chances. Spurs sat back and countered as they did last year. I just watched the extended highlights on this one and nothing really stood out. City had the bulk of possession per usual for them, but were missing Kevin de Bruyne in the midfield as there were only 3 attacks on goal from the middle for city as opposed to 30 from the left. Jack Grealish all over that stat there.

In the “Regulation Station” game of the week (That’s what I’m going to call games from teams that should be fighting to avoid the drop this year) it was Brighton Hove Albion 2 vs Burnley 1. Both teams finished just above the drop zone last year in 17th and 16th position. I am surprised the Burnley goal stood as the guy ran over the Brighton player but VAR this year is being scaled back. So on a goal that probably would have been ruled out last year stood as the opener within 3 minutes of the start. As fortunate as Burnley was for the goal being allowed they were done in by the post on a wonderful shot by Johan Goodmanson. Burley had another chance off a corner but the header came off the underside of the cross bar and stayed out. Brighton started the comeback in the 72 minute on a quick counter attack, and 5 minutes later Brighton have a 2-1 lead. Both goals coming from the right on low crosses that found targets around the penalty spot and were put away with gusto. As the season progresses we’ll see how big those three points will be.

Right so those were the games I had circled as the intriguing matchups of the week. Onto Liverpool in segment 2

Norwich 0 vs Liverpool 3

With the addition of The American Josh Sargent this week Norwhich just became a team to keep an eye on this year. They should struggle against top sides but I could see them staying up with the talent they have brought in. Playing in front of their home fans the Canaries came out with purpose in the first ten minutes, but then Liverpool started to control the game. Trent Alexander-Arnold looks like missing the Euros through injury might have done him some good. He looked word class whipping in crosses from the right, and it was his deflected cross that eventually found Diego Jogta who opened Liverpool’s account for the season. Trents cross was touched by Mo Salah who didn’t control it and Jota latched on in a right place right time situation to start the scoring. The second came after Bobby Firmino came on for Jota and you saw how these front three of Mane, Firmino, and Salah work together. Firmino found Mane who’s shot was blocked but it fell to Salah who played it back to Bobby who was all alone at the back post. It was horrible defending from Norwich as they just seemed to forget about Bobby and he just walked into a good spot and was never challenged on his shot. New Norwhich youngster Billy Gilmor didn’t track Firmino after his pass to Mane. His age showing that you can’t switch off in this league because with those attackers you will get punished. Salah then took a poorly cleared corner and hit a left footed strike past the Canaries keeper to finish them off and make it 3-0. Was probably the most technical goal of the three and with it became the first premier league player to score in 5 straight opening games. On a final note How good is the Allison save at the end of the game. This is up there for save of the week. Free shot by Gibson but Allison closed him down just enough that Gibson couldn’t put it anywhere but straight at him. He then blocked the rebound then swiped the ball out of the air and Liverpool finally cleared. For someone who didn’t have a ton to do today especially in the second half that kept the clean sheet.

Since josh Sargent got his debut we’ll move onto American in the EPL

Now Josh got about 15 minutes and in that time he won a free kick that resulted in the Allison saves and had a shot that he dragged just wide. Physically he looks the part and didn’t look out of place. In only 15 minutes I think he did about as well as he could have and I’m excited to see him grow in the league. I believe he’ll challenge Norwich’s starting striker Teemo Pukki soon for that starting spot.

Okay so now onto the American that went 82 minutes in a 3-0 win and grabbed a goal. Christian Pulisic loves playing against Crystal Palace and has scored 5 times against them in the last three meetings or something close to that. He’ll be fighting for playing time this year as Chelsea brought in Romelau Lukaku to lead the line which pushes Timo Werner out to the left so not only will he have to compete with Hakim Zayich but Werner as well. Keep scoring though and he’ll be just fine.

Americans on the move?

Owen Otasowie of wolves turned down a contract extension and will be on the move soon to prevent him leaving for free next year once his contract expires. Last I saw Club Brugge in Belgium, Everton and West Ham were interested in the 20 year old.

Cameron Carter-Vickers of Spurs who has been loaned out since he was 18 sounds like he’s leaving before the transfer deadline of august 31st. Celtic of the Scottish Premier league have been in talks but don’t count out his last loan spell team, Bournemouth. He played there last year and did well after recovering from injury and helped them reach the playoff semifinals before losing to Brentford. He needs a permanent home and playing time as he’s starting to get into his mid twenties.

Rounding out the weekend my goal of the weekend was Marcus Alonso’s free kick for Chelsea. Save of the weekend was David Raya of Brentford and my game to watch a replay of is Newcastle vs. West Ham. It was end to end action with West ham coming back twice to pull away and win 4-2. I turned it on for the second half when Newcastle were up 2-1 and fully take the blame for the Newcastle loss.