The Premier League is back in our lives after a short break lasting less than two months, and the opening weekend of action has already provided us with plenty of interesting talking points.
It all began on Saturday afternoon as Arsenal made the 11-mile trip across London to take on Fulham. In what turned out to be a fairly one-sided affair, the Gunners eased to a 3-0 victory with Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Magalhaes and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang getting on the scoresheet.
Today, we’re going to run through five things that we took away from the game.
Willian the saviour
Some fans felt confident that Willian could succeed with Arsenal upon making the switch over from Chelsea, but some were second guessing themselves. In the end it was the Brazilian who had the last laugh after he put in one of his best ever Premier League displays – and that’s no overstatement. He contributed to every single goal with three assists to his name, giving fans confidence that he can be a gamechanger for them this season.
No Fulham creativity
There’s always some trepidation when you make the jump up from the Championship to the Premier League, but there’s also some kind of hope for all three of the newly promoted clubs. Unfortunately for Fulham fans, they didn’t really get a chance to see any of the creativity that they’d been hoping for. Perhaps they were stifled by Arsenal, but maybe they just don’t have the players they need to really compete at this level just yet.
Aubameyang’s clinical edge
Aubameyang had some long periods in this game where he barely made an impact, mainly because he was having to really work for his services out wide. With that being said, he’s the kind of striker that will take an opportunity with both hands if you present it to him – and the Gabon international proved that by slotting home his biggest chance of the game.
Arteta’s blossoming style
Mikel Arteta may not be the finished product as a manager, but considering how long he’s been in the job at the Emirates, we shouldn’t expect that from him just yet. What we can expect from him is what we saw on Saturday – progress. In addition to having the confidence to put out a starting XI in his own vision, he also showed the kind of energy on the touchline that you need from a manager in the Premier League.
Darkness ahead for West Ham?
Right now, Arsenal are the clear 12/25 favourites with 888sport to beat West Ham United on Saturday. We’d actually suggest that those odds are quite generous to West Ham after how the Hammers looked in their opening league fixture against Newcastle, and if we were Gunners fans, we’d be incredibly confident heading into their second straight London derby of the campaign. West Ham obviously have a handful of impressive stars that can cause some damage if they’re given the space to do so, but the odds simply are not in the underdog’s favour.
- Soccer News Like
- Be the first of your friends!
