English Premiership Kicks Off
Premier League Champions Struggle as Other Favorites Record Wins
Aug 18, 2008
Saturday's opening day of fixtures in the Premiership saw valuable wins for Arsenal and Liverpool, although neither side were impressive in their performances. On Sunday the Champions, Man. Utd. showed how desperately they need to bolster their strike force as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Kevin Keegan's Newcastle at Old Trafford. Their expected main rivals, Chelsea, were in dominant form in Luiz Felipe Scolari's first competitive game in charge however, demolishing a surprisingly inept Portsmouth side by 4 goals to 0.
Arsenal opened Saturday's fixture list with a match against newly-promoted W.B.A. at the Emirates Stadium. New signing Samir Nasri indicated his value on debut with a 6th minute goal, but that was all The Gunners could muster on a frustrating day against the Premiership new boys. In fact, Ishmael Miller and Kim Do-Heon could have created a stir with a number of decent chances for West Brom, but Manuel Almunia in Arsenal's goal spared the blushes with some fine goalkeeping. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger declared himself happy with his charges' performance but deep down will know that Arsenal will need to convert their chances more regularly as the season progresses.
Liverpool visited Sunderland in their opening fixture and can consider themselves lucky to have come away with the 3 points following another stuttering performance. It took a trademark Fernando Torres effort to secure the points deep into the match but manager Rafa Benitez will be concerned that his new 46 million pound striking combination are taking longer to gel than he would have liked. Robbie Keane has looked like a 20 million pound flop so far in his two outings for his new club but is too good a player for this impression to continue indefinitely.
Man. Utd. took the field at Old Trafford without regular strikers Carlos Teves (in Argentina for personal reasons) and Cristiano Ronaldo (still recovering from surgery). Wayne Rooney was partnered up front by youngster Fraizer Campbell, who started for the first time in Red Devil colors. Newcastle gave as good as they got, with Obafemi Martins opening the scoring in the first half. Man. Utd. equalized two minutes later when Darren Fletcher got onto the end of a Ryan Giggs cross to secure at least a point. A string of spectacular saves by Newcastle 'keeper Shay Given kept Newcastle in the match however and they remained level until the final whistle blew. Sir Alex Ferguson's concerns would have increased though following injuries to midfielders Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs. His priority this week will be to secure the services of Dimitar Berbatov from Spurs to provide the depth Utd. are lacking up front at the moment.
Chelsea were nothing short of spectacular in their opening fixture on Sunday. They went straight to the top of the League following their 4-0 drubbing of a hapless Portsmouth outfit. Goals from Joe Cole, Nicolas Anelka, Frank Lampard and new signing Deco secured the win and the points but it is more about the way Scolari's charges played than the goals that will have Chelsea fans licking their lips in anticipation of the coming matches this season. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was all smiles at the end of the match - he had called for complete football and Luiz Felipe Scolari and his team delivered exactly that. On this performance they will be very difficult to beat.
Other results saw Aston Villa (4-2 over Man. City), Hull (2-1 over Fulham), Bolton (3-1 over Stoke), Blackburn (3-2 over Everton), West Ham (2-1 over Wigan) and Middlesbrough (2-1 over Tottenham) all secure full points. Chelsea lead the Premiership ahead of Aston Villa and Bolton on goal difference after the first round of fixtures.
