The Premiership roundup, week one

[Kenfucius]

So, this is what I was pretty much hired to do. Apologies for the lateness, work this week was a bitch, and the roundup has holes in it all over the place because I didn't get a chance to watch everything thanks to it. Anyone who wants to fill in the gaps (no doubt Ally will, at least, on the basis of what he said in the other threads), please do.

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The opening weekend of the 2008/09 Premiership season kicked off with Arsenal gaining a 1-0 victory over newly promoted West Bromwich Albion, thanks to a goal by debutant Samir Nasri within the first five minutes. Despite the win, I thought Arsenal looked rather poor, and there's a worry over where their goals are going to come from if Adebayor is off form, as he was in this one. Nasri is an excellent creative player, but his weakness in the past is that he maybe doesn't chip in with as many as he could. Arsenal can't bank on Fabregas either, no matter how many games in a row he scored last year. Credit to West Brom though, newly romoted, against a team of Arsenal's stature, they did well and made a few chances of their own. Still the best bet of the new boys to stay up.

Sticking with the newly promoted sides, the only one of the three to claim any points on opening day was Hull City, as they picked up a 2-1 win at home to Fulham. No idea what happened to Hodgson's side here. I thought they'd finally got past that atrocious away form when they pulled the Houdini act last year. They're backsliding, and unless they can sort that out, they could find themselves digging too deep a hole this year. As for Hull, I still fancy them to go down, but whether they do or they don't, expect Geovanni to be named Supporters' Player of the Year if he fires in a few more like that. Beautiful goal, and everything good Hull did seemed to go through him.

As for Stoke City, they fared very poorly indeed against Bolton Wanderers, losing as they did 3-1, and, to be honest, Stoke only got their goal when Bolton had the points sewn up and stopped caring. I can't see a lot of positives in this one for Stoke at all, really, and while I expect Hull to go, I figure they'll push it late and make a decent fist of it. On the basis of this performance, Stoke could just be a new way of saying Derby. As for Bolton, this was a solid, professional win from an established middle of the road team. They'll be safe with plenty to spare, the only question is where the goals will come from. Johan Elmander is good, Kevin Davies will always put in performances, but they aren't the first names that come to mind when I think of prolific goalscorers.

I may, however, think of Dean Ashton, who netted both for West Ham United in their 2-1 victory over Wigan Athletic .. then got injured AGAIN. I swear, this guy, in everything he does, is the player England have been looking for since Alan Shearer retired. The only problem is that Ashton can pull a muscle watching Match of the Day. Hopefully, this one won't be serious, and he'll be back banging in the goals soon (says the biased guy with Ashton in his Fantasy Team), because, honestly, West Ham could be dark horses for the UEFA Cup spot if they can remain injury free. Not so for Wigan, who'll probably be in for a tough fight to stay up.

If The Hammers do make that run, they at go in with a head start over much-fancied Tottenham Hotspur, who crashed 2-1 away to Middlesbrough and looked pretty bad doing it. With Alan Hutton still recoving from a broken foot and the confusing decision to leave Ledley King benched, the glaring weakness they have at the back is there for all to see, particularly on their right flank. Chimbonda wasn't great, but at least the guy could do his job at the back, unlike Zokora. They also need more steel in midfield, Huddlestone for Jenas solves a lot of problems. They'll still be a force, but they don't have the outright goalscorers to play "we'll score one more than you" football. As for 'Boro, I'm liking the look of Downing, Tuncay and Alves as an attacking force, if the lattermost of those guys hits goalscoring form, they are going to be a tough team to beat.

While all of that was happening, the best game of the weekend was unfolding at Goodison, as Everton suffered an unjust 3-2 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers. Great game in all, real end to end stuff, and Everton looked pretty strong for a team that couldn't sign anyone in the summer and had to start a 16 year old. Yakubu is going to score goals, no matter what, and Arteta was just phenomonal in midfield. Blackburn, however, are managed by Paul Ince these days. Ince is an unmitigated prick, and I've never liked the guy, but nobody can deny that he knows how to win, by whatever means necessary. So it proved, as the linesmen missed a blatant offside at Blackburn's last gasp winner. I can't help feeling that this will be indicative of the season Everton are facing. They've sold a few players, haven't replaced them, and the heights they've been hitting in the past few years may be too big an ask for them this time around, I expect them to be in the top half, but mid table and not really challenging for Europe, much like Blackburn, who, Santa Cruz aside, are a team without real quality to them now that they've lost Bentley.

The final game played on Saturday was a late kick off, with Ince's old friend Roy Keane seeing his Sunderland side suffer a tough 1-0 loss at home to Liverpool. Despite losing, Sunderland looked very good value for a better result, and should have no trouble consolidating their place in the top flight. It was only the fact that Fernando Torres is one of those goalscoring freaks of nature that can hurt a team from nothing. He'd been kept quiet throughout, and as one comical moment in that match proved, the dream team strike force with Robbie Keane still needs work. To be fair though, despite the fact that they looked pretty ordinary, this was the type of game that Liverpool dropped points in last season, if they've figured out how to win these niggly games on their travels, they'll be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. The acid test for them will be when they come up against one of the big sides, as they've shown a distressing tendency to capitulate against other members of the "big four".

And so, onto Sunday, with Chelsea, under new Scolari-style management, opening their campaign with a flourish against FA Cup holders Portsmouth. Aptly, the game was played at lunchtime, because Chelsea provided a footballing feast on their way to a comprehensive 4-0 victory. Unfortunately, I missed the Sunday fixtures, so all I've got are second hand sources, but by all accounts, Chelsea looked absolutely superb, and they were up against one of the better sides in the Premiership.

Also in action were both Manchester sides, both facing tough fixtures, and, ultimately, failing to deliver. Manchester City suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa away from home. City have suffered a tough start to the season, having already been on the wrong end of an embarrassing reverse in UEFA Cup qualifiers. Villa, by comparison, were very impressive in their own UEFA Cup opener, scoring four in that, and following it up with the same tally here. They've also made strong additions to their squad, and if they can continue to keep Liverpool at bay over Gareth Barry, they'll right there in the European race at the business end. They might also be a decent outside bet to win the UEFA Cup, since major favourites tend not to make it all the way in that competition.

Finally, it was the turn of defending Premiership and European Champions Manchester United to open their campaign, and they got off to another slow start, as Newcastle United held them to a 1-1 draw. Man Utd suffered for the lack of their major attacking threats, and with the Ronaldo saga seemingly ended, the big story out of Old Trafford is who Ferguson is going to bring in to bolster his strike force. The smart money seems to be on Berbatov, which seems like a strange one to me, because he's not the most prolific striker. The other name I've heard mentioned is Thierry Henry, who, as far as I'm concerned, is on a downhill slide these days. As for Newcastle, given the complete hammerings they suffered at the hands of these same opponents last season, this is a definite improvement. They've got the tools to be a dangerous team, they just have to put it all together, which they've been unable to do with catastrophic results over the past few years.

So, that was the results, plus a few opinions from me on how things look, and how things will probably shape up over the year. Now for the difficult part, my goal of the week.

Tough call. I could mention Geovanni's wonderful equalizer for Hull, or David Dunn's very similar opener for Blackburn against Everton... however, I think the goal of the week had to be Mikel Arteta's free kick for Everton in that game. a wonderful piece of invention from the Spanish midfielder that caught the Blackburn goalkeeper completely unawares and left him stranded. Awesome strike.

Thankfully, my gaffe of the week is much easier. Paul Konchesky, what the hell happened? For a man of his experience to get caught in possession like that was criminal, and the fact that it led to Hull's winning goal was a just punishment. Of course, he did have competition, namely just about everything Zokora and Assou-Ekotto did for Spurs, but while they were poor, Konchesky was just farcical.

Finally, a nice little "Are You Kidding Me?" moment, thanks to Bolton's first goal against Stoke courtesy of Steinesson. I've heard of no interviews with the guy, but if he tries to claim he meant that goal, I expect his nose, Pinocchio-like, to extend out to somewhere over Oxford. All I've gotta say to Stoke is, welcome to the Premiership, lads. They'll have a tough enough time as it is without things like that happening to them.

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That's my take, thus far. I'll have, hopefully, a rundown on the home internationals over the next day or two (and from what I've seen, that's going to make for grim reading all over)

Anyway, you agree? Tell me! Disagree? Even better! Remember, I'm a dirty Scot, so I'm unbiased, I hate all you Sassenachs equally. 

[Ally]

Steinsson meant it. End of. Even if he didnt its easily the goal of the week!

Elmander will bang in the goals, Davies is more prolific than people think. He got played out of position because we had Anelka and he had injuries. He'll score more this season.

Dont have time to go in depth, but a good round up.