Burnley vs. Manchester City
Manchester City’s defence of their Premier League title got off to a routine start, with a comfortable 3-0 win away at newly promoted Burnley.
Erling Haaland did the business with a first half brace, easy points for those who captained the most owned player in the game.
Kevin de Bruyne’ owners can consider themselves very unlucky with the Belgian midfielder sustaining a first half injury, meaning he returned just a single point.
Phil Foden was impressive but failed to produce a return, although I’d imagine he is an easy hold for owners given De Bruyne’s injury.
Ruben Dias and John Stones both missed the trip to Turf Moor through concussion and a calf strain respectively, with news of the latter’s omission coming just 30 minutes before the deadline.
Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest
Gabriel’s tactical omission from the XI was the big talking point going into the game, with the Brazilian international comfortably the highest selected Arsenal defender.
To rub salt into the wounds for owners, he was brought on in the dying moments of the game for a disappointing one point return.
Arsenal were good in the first half but coasted after the break and that nearly cost them with Nottingham Forest pulling one back with 10 minutes remaining.
Forest actually had higher XG than Arsenal at the Emirates in an encouraging performance from the visitors, with Anthony Elanga and Taiwo Awoniyi excellent off the bench.
Arsenal’s star boy Bukayo Saka scored was the games highest scorer, returning 10 points thanks to a goal which had as low as 0.04 XG.
Gabriel Martinelli produced a lovely assist but was barely involved in the game and that will be a worry for owners ahead of a difficult trip to Crystal Palace in GW2.
Brighton vs. Luton Town
As expected Brighton taught Premier League debutants Luton Town a lesson at the Amex on Saturday, recording an easy 4-1 win.
All of Brighton’s highly owned assets returned, with Pervis Estupinan’s late assist sending him from one to seven points.
Estupinan was heavily involved through out and was perhaps unlucky not to record more than the one goal contribution he did.
Joao Pedro had a solid debut, although can consider himself fortunate that people are talking about him being on penalties, rather than his horror miss in the first half.
No side created a higher XG this weekend than Brighton and with games against Wolves and West Ham on the horizon, the double or triple up remains the way to go.
Luton’s first ever Premier League goal came from the spot when Lewis Dunk handled, a decision I was surprised wasn’t overturned by VAR.
Newcastle United vs. Aston Villa
Most expected a close game between two of last seasons top seven in Saturday’s evening fixture; however Aston Villa were given the run around by Newcastle United.
Villa’s high line was exposed on numerous occasions and is if conceding five wasn’t bad enough, they look to have sustained a second serious injury of the season, with Tyrone Mings stretchered off in the first half.
Both Alexander Isak and summer signing Harvey Barnes produced double digit returns for Newcastle in the 5-1 win, the latter scoring and assisting as a late substitute.
I went into the game with no Newcastle options, with rotation and a tough fixture list being the main reason and despite their dismantling of Villa, I’m unlucky to look at Isak and co just yet.
As awful as they were defensively, Villa did look alright going forward and on another day would have scored a couple more.
As an Ollie Watkins owner I’m not worried in the slightest just yet and I expect them to bounce back in GW2 when they host Everton.
Brentford vs. Tottenham
Ange Postecoglou promised attacking football following his appointment at Tottenham and judging by his Premier League debut, he didn’t disappoint.
Defensively Spurs looked shaky through out, not helped by the head injury to Cristian Romero, who had given his side an early lead.
However they controlled large parts of the game and despite conceding the larger XG, few can say they didn’t deserve at least a point.
James Maddison was heavily involved for Tottenham and provided two assists, the second of which was a little fortunate, but he will definitely be one to watch in the upcoming weeks.
Richarlison struggled to fill the Harry Kane void, but judging him on one game when he had a minor injury is a tad harsh.
Brentford looked threatening on the break, with left wing-back Rico Henry exposing the space left in behind by the visitors on numerous occasions.
Bryan Mbuemo didn’t have the best of games, missing an absolute sitter on the stroke of half-time, but calmly converted from the spot and is a good long-term pick in Ivan Toney’s absence.
Chelsea vs. Liverpool
Draw was the safe bet at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and so it played out, with the two sides finishing level for a seventh consecutive match in all competitions.
Mohamed Salah looked excellent in the first half an hour for Liverpool, assisting one, hitting the bar as well as having a goal chalked off for a narrow offside.
Liverpool could have been out of sight before Chelsea equalised and then it was the Blues turn to have one disallowed.
Mauricio Pochettino confirmed after the game that Ben Chilwell started in a left-wing role to counteract the Trent Alexander-Arnold threat and the former Leicester man was Chelsea’s main source of attacking threat.
It was Chilwell who scored the offside goal for the Blues and he also provided the assist to tie the game up. Going forward he looks the best Chelsea bet, even should he return to his natural left-back spot.
No one this Premier League weekend had more clear cut chances than Nicolas Jackson and owners can be a combined frustrated and excited for his potential points tally when the fixtures turn for Chelsea in GW3.
Manchester United vs. Wolves
Manchester United can consider themselves very lucky to have edged out Wolves in the final fixture of the first game week.
Raphael Varane’s header was the difference between the two sides; however Wolves controlled a good amount of the game and should have been awarded a late penalty.
Wolves’ lack of a clinical edge has cost them in recent years as this was evident once again at Old Trafford, with Mathias Cunha missing a sitter with the scores tied.
Heavily owned FPL assets Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes were quiet, with the former struggling in the striker role.
Andre Onana, who should have conceded the late spot kick, was good for United, making six saves in his nine point haul.
United assets are holds for now, but it was far from an encouraging start for Erik ten Haag’s men.
Elsewhere
Bournemouth and West Ham played out a 1-1 draw, with the 4.7% owned Jarrod Bowen scoring a superb opener for the visitors.
Dominic Solanke impressed for Bournemouth and equalised late on.
Everton’s struggles in front of goal continued as they were beaten 1-0 by Fulham at Goodison Park.
Neal Maupay and Abdoulaye Doucoure missed glorious chances for the hosts who amassed near 3xg in their home blank.
Bernd Leno was the highest scoring keeper of the week making nine saves in the 1-0 win for Fulham, returning three bonus points in the process.
Sheffield United looked desperately blunt in their 1-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
As for Palace, Eberechi Eze was unlucky not to produce an attacking return, with Jordan Ayew and Odsonne Edouard combining for the winning goal.
