The headline says it all really; there’s only one thing Premier League football fans have been waiting to see during international break (and no it’s not the sub-standard performances of most of the home nations) – the repercussions of transfer deadline day and how the new signings, mainly Mesut Ozil, would kick off life at their new clubs.
As it happens, Ozil’s Arsenal career kicked off like no man’s business as it took the little German only 11 minutes to open his Arsenal assist count. A scrappy start to an Arsenal counter-attack eventually found its flow as young Kieran Gibbs played a long ball forward for Arsenal’s new number 11 to control brilliantly and square into the path of an oncoming Giroud who placed the ball firmly in the Sunderland net. Sunderland then began to find their rhythm but still looked susceptible to the counter-attack as Ozil and Walcott combined twice on lightning fast breaks only for the Sunderland keeper to thwart their efforts. Arsenal looked to be on their way to regretting their lack of cutting edge as Sunderland equalised with a penalty and from then on were very much the dominant side. The game was soon settled though from the unlikeliest of sources as Aaron Ramsey scored a delightful double for the Gunners to grab a 3-1 win.
Whilst Arsenal gained a key midfielder on deadline day, Everton lost one but they didn’t dwell on it for too long as they threw the kitchen sink at Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in the day’s late fixture. Samuel Eto’o was handed his debut and was menacing throughout the first half as he spearheaded the Chelsea attack alone but he would never score the decisive goal; that honour would fall to Steven Naismith. Chelsea lost the ball after some sloppy work in the midfield and Everton swarmed forward in response before Nikica Jelavic more or less put the ball on a plate for the Scotsman to nod home. From then on the game was all Everton as Chelsea looked very ordinary and occasionally very much out of ideas and ultimately led to Jose Mourinho’s first domestic loss in his second stint as Chelsea boss.
Tottenham began life without Gareth Bale in dominant fashion as their new signings ran Norwich City ragged throughout the match as Christian Eriksen in particular was on hand to cause chaos for AVB’s side. It was left to an established Tottenham star though to steal the goalscoring honours as Gylfi Sigurdsson scored both goals for Spurs. Eriksen, Soldado and Paulinho were menacing from the get-go as Eriksen, who I think will prove to be the bargain of the season at £12m, pulled the strings in the attacking third for Spurs. A lot of people were sceptical of Tottenham’s splashing of the cash this summer and many think that buying so many new players will ruin the chemistry of the team but on today’s evidence, granted Norwich didn’t put up much of a fight, Spurs look to be in a good position in the long run as the depth in the squad now could really make them title contenders if not this year then definitely next year.
Manchester United’s new signing started his Old Trafford career on the bench as the Champions put in a rather unconvincing shift to come away with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. United had a lot of the ball throughout the first half and never really looked in danger except for a momentary lapse in concentration by Rio Ferdinand but they couldn’t for the life of them find the cutting edge in open play. They did take the lead on the stroke of half-time though through a very controversial penalty decision which subsequently saw Crystal Palace reduced to ten men but United even then couldn’t break through despite their dominance however they did double their lead through another set piece from Wayne Rooney. United came away with the three points and never looked in trouble but you can’t help but wonder ahead of the derby next week that United will desperately need to find that cutting edge before next Sunday’s trip to the Etihad.
Loic Remy was lively on his Newcastle debut as Newcastle tried to keep fans focus on the pitch rather than boardroom affairs (Paolo Di Canio is probably more welcomed by Newcastle nowadays than Joe Kineear). The Frenchman set-up his compatriot, Hatem Ben Arfa, to open the scoring at Villa Park on a day that the French-speaking contingent of the two sides would have a field day. Christian Benteke then levelled the scoring with his 18th goal this calendar year (more than anyone else this year in the Premier League) before Yoann Gouffran scored the winner late on after Brad Guzan could only tip an effort into the path of the Frenchman who wasted no time slotting home.
Elsewhere in the league, Mark Hughes looked to give Stoke City their best ever start to a Premier League campaign as Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City travelled to the Brittania Stadium. The match ended goalless but it wasn’t without it’s opportunities for both sides with Kenwyne Jones looking particularly menacing for Stoke who actually had the better chances in the match. However neither side made the crucial breakthrough and the match ended 0-0 but in all honesty Stoke would probably be more disappointed with that than Manchester City were.
And finally, the league’s two other newly promoted sides shared the spoils in what was a very exciting end-to-end 1-1 encounter at the KC Stadium whereas Fulham and West Brom also finished their clash 1-1; some question marks are being raised about Fulham now as they just don’t seem to be able to get the job done in games they should be comfortably winning.
Check back in with us tomorrow as we come back to you with details on the weekend’s remaining fixtures!
Results:-
Sunderland 1 – 3 Arsenal
Everton 1 – 0 Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur 2 – 0 Norwich City
Manchester United 2 – 0 Crystal Palace
Aston Villa 1 – 2 Newcastle United
Stoke City 0 – 0 Manchester City
Hull City 1 – 1 Cardiff City
Fulham 1 – 1 West Bromwich Albion