Chelsea and Manchester City both claim opening day victories

Yesterday Chelsea and Manchester City claimed victories in their opening Premier League games of the season.

However, their victories produced contrasting emotions.

Chelsea fans would have been quite happy with their performance, whereas City’s fans wouldn’t be so happy with their sides display.

Comfortable

Chelsea was very comfortable in their 2-0 away victory at Wigan.

The Blues were 2-0 up after just seven minutes and looked relatively comfortable throughout the game. It was a good start for Roberto Di Matteo as permanent Chelsea boss.

Unconvincing

Manchester City though were rather unconvincing in their 3-2 victory over new boys Southampton. City were in control of the game for most of the match, but in the first half struggled to break down Southampton.

Southampton were superb and took the game to the champions. At one point the top flight new boys were 2-1 up and City looked in trouble. This game had echoes of last seasons victory over QPR. This time around though City scored the winner ten minutes from the end of the match, instead of injury-time.

Impressive

I must say I was really impressed by the display of Chelsea’s new big money signing Eden Hazard. The Belgian international is highly-rated and was being chased by a host of big European clubs. He made a very impressive competitive debut.

The youngster created a goal and also won the penalty for Chelsea’s second goal. He came off in the second half, to be replaced by Brazilian star Oscar. Hazard looked like the sort of player that could help the Blues challenge for the Premier League title this season.

Southampton also impressed me very much with their display at the Etihad Stadium. The Saints looked like a team that wanted to play attacking, passing football. The Saints were superb last season and from what they showed against the champions they won’t struggle in the top flight this season.

Mistake

Manchester City’s only new arrival this summer Jack Rodwell didn’t have the best of debuts, as he gave away the ball for one of Southampton‘s goals. His was performance was decent, but he looked slightly nervy on his City debut.

I’m sure once he gets accustomed to his teammates and surroundings he will become more assured. At Everton he was hyped-up as a very cool player on the ball. If he fulfils his potential then he could be a good player for City, but his performances will definitely have to improve though.

Improvement

Manchester City started the season as favourites for the Premier League title. Boss Roberto Mancini will know that his side will have to do better in future games though, or they will struggle to win the Premier League title this season.

No doubt City’s performances will improve from yesterdays game. The Citizens have quality in abundance and I’m sure that quality will show over the course of the season.

Title

While Manchester City may be regarded as title challengers this season, hardly anybody has mentioned Chelsea as realistic contenders. However their first day performance suggests that they have the potential to challenge the two Manchester club for the Premier League title this season.

Early

It is very early days of the Premier League season. However, both sides have started with victories and will be expected to carry that form on for the rest of the season. One thing for sure is that despite their differing performances in their opening games, come the end of the season both teams will be challenging for the Premier League title.

Who produced the best performance in the Premier League on Sunday?