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The table isn’t taking shape yet, but there are known knowns. Arsenal will not fall away easily from their title ambitions; their 2-0 win at Villa Park was a significant statement of intent. Erling Haaland has had a summer off and now has his seventh hat-trick in 68 Premier League matches.
How long will we have to wait for a promoted club to win? Ipswich Town cannot be blamed for losing to Liverpool and Manchester City, but there are already signs of cracks at Leicester City and Southampton, who lost at home to Nottingham Forest.
Chelsea are still a basket case, but in Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer, they have hope for a brighter future. Liverpool have discovered a winning formula under Arne Slot. And of course, our old friend VAR rears its ugly head again.
Scroll down for our verdict on every team (listed in table order).
Gameweek 2 results
Saturday 24 August
- Brighton 2-1 Man United
- Crystal Palace 0-2 West Ham
- Fulham 2-1 Leicester
- Man City 4-1 Ipswich
- Southampton 0-1 Nott’m Forest
- Tottenham 4-0 Everton
- Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal
Sunday 25 August
- Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle
- Wolves 2-6 Chelsea
- Liverpool 2-0 Brentford
Manchester City
Was there some notion that Manchester City were lacking some squad depth this season, largely based on the fact that Julian Alvarez has left and Oscar Bobb got injured? I don’t think we needed to worry much.
There’s only so much that you can take from the champions beating a promoted team at home, but City have started the season perfectly. Joao Cancelo is back and hasn’t played a minute yet. Rodri is injured and so hasn’t played. Nathan Ake hasn’t played a minute. Kyle Walker hasn’t played a minute. Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, John Stones and the returned Ilkay Gundogan have played a combined 122 minutes and do not have a start between them.
That is the most frightening aspect of City’s dominance. Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis are back to being starters, for now or forever. Gundogan, that vital component two seasons ago, will slot back in. Savinho, signed with a nod and a wink from Girona, looks instantly dangerous. And you think that this squad needs more?
Brighton
It’s something we’ve often reflected upon with Brighton, but it’s worth mentioning given the loss of a manager over the summer. There is something at this club that makes players better than themselves, that squeezes all potential to the surface. It goes beyond tactics and managers and individual players. It is a positive working environment.
Saturday’s victory over Manchester United was the perfect example. Brighton’s starting XI cost the club £75m to buy – more than £60m of that was split across two players in Yankuba Minteh and Joao Pedro. The performances of those who were developed here or bought for impossibly low fees – Jack Hinshelwood, Jan Paul van Hecke, Joel Veltman – were ludicrously good against higher-profile, supposedly higher value players.
But Brighton’s great trick lies in their future proofing. They sold Marc Cucurella for a huge fee because they believed that Hinshelwood had been moulded to step into the breach. They let Moises Caicedo go to Chelsea for north of £100m because they already had a replacement. And when Enock Mwepu was forced to retire, they had a third option on the conveyor belt.
Carlos Baleba will be that replacement, sooner or later. He is still just 20 years old, leaving Lille after six Ligue 1 starts and so pretty raw. But the control he exerted in central midfield after coming on against United was faintly embarrassing for their opponents. We usually tell you to remember the name. In Brighton’s case, there’s always four or five.
Arsenal
David Raya was the headline act for Arsenal at Villa Park on Saturday. Against Wolves on the opening day, Raya got a strong right hand to keep out Jorgen Strand Larsen’s powerful header from point-blank range to maintain Arsenal’s slender one-goal advantage. It was an excellent intervention but he topped it against Aston Villa on Sunday with a miraculous stop to deny Ollie Watkins when the scoreline was level and Arsenal were wobbling.
When Amadou Onana’s wickedly deflected shot looped over Raya’s despairing dive and bounced straight to a poised Watkins via the underside of the bar, Villa’s supporters rose as a claret and blue mass, ready to celebrate.
All the England striker needed to do was nod the ball into an empty net with Raya prone on the floor, like an upturned beetle. Watkins got a good connection to his header but watched aghast as Raya bounced back to his feet like a toddler rebounding off a trampoline and palmed it clear with a strong left hand.
Watkins should have converted the chance but it was a remarkable reaction from Raya, the type he would have made thousands of times before in training sessions when reflexes are tested and sharpened for precisely those situations.
Ben Benson, Raya’s former goalkeeper coach at Blackburn Rovers, described him as a “street footballer” and there was an element of performance art about it, an entertaining exhibition of agility you might see on the cobbled streets of Covent Garden.
Mikel Arteta described the save as “unbelievable,” while Gary Neville picked Raya as the game’s standout player on Sky Sports.
“How he’s thrown himself onto the ground in quite a dramatic style, he’s jumped up in the air and landed hard on the grass and then all of a sudden he’s there with his hand!” he said.
“It’s absolutely remarkable physical work that he puts into being able to do that. The agility, the strength, the work he’ll do in the gym and every day with his goalkeeping coach. We’ve just seen something there that’s a world-class moment.”
Debates over whether Raya is among the world’s best shot-stoppers have been prevalent since the Spain No 2 made the move to Arsenal from Brentford last summer. What is no longer up for discussion is that he warrants his place as Arsenal’s first-choice keeper over Aaron Ramsdale.
After a sticky first few months, he has barely put a foot wrong for the Gunners. Last week, he was named in the PFA Team of the Year after winning the Golden Glove for keeping the most clean sheets.
He has clearly earned the trust of the defenders in front of him too given how effectively they work together as a unit. Arsenal’s defensive record in 2024 is astonishing.
The shutout at Villa Park means that they have kept 13 clean sheets and conceded only nine goals in their 20 Premier League games since the turn of the year. Raya has recorded eight clean sheets in his last 10 league games away from home.
Arsenal’s defensive statistics have improved since Raya displaced Aaron Ramsdale. In 2022-23, Arsenal let in 43 goals in 38 Premier League games; last season it was down to 29.
Ramsdale conceded 1.13 goals and kept 0.36 clean sheets per game in 22-23; Raya has conceded 0.70 goals and kept 0.52 clean sheets per game for Arsenal in league matches. There is a clear upward trajectory in the numbers and Raya has played his part in Arsenal becoming the most formidable defensive unit in the division. By Oliver Young-Myles
Read more: Mikel Arteta was right about ‘world class’ David Raya
Liverpool
If his first two Liverpool games provide any indication of future performances, Arne Slot may be overseeing the most impressive recent transition after an all-time great manager’s departure. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger both took success away with them, but Jurgen Klopp appears to have laid far more stable foundations.
Having signed no-one and framed his impact as refreshments and tweaks on an already successful system, he has Liverpool playing some truly remarkable football. He’s taking advantage of the existing relationships between this squad to supercharge the implementation of his slick passing football, and boy is it working.
There were some breathtaking moments in the 2-0 win over Brentford, from Luis Diaz’s remarkable counter-attacking opener to a near-perfect team move on the hour mark which only failed with the final Mo Salah touch. While Ipswich and Brentford may not be considered the most formidable opponents, there’s an unmissable sense something special is happening. Transfers will only be made if one makes the team better and that’s currently a very high bar to overcome.
Liverpool have taken the joint-most shots per game (18.5) and conceded the second-fewest (7.5) this season. On Sunday they completed 92 per cent of their passes, their highest accuracy in a league match on record. From the limited early evidence, this appears a slicker and more composed version of Klopp’s side.
Diaz’s performance exemplified that. Under Klopp he was often considered brittle, unreliable and at one point expendable, yet against Brentford he scored one goal and set up another, completing all his 27 passes and hitting both his shots on target.
With Salah imperious and Diogo Jota fit and far more reliable than Darwin Nunez, there are all the early indicators of an effective masterplan in place. Arsenal and Manchester City may not yet have one eye on Anfield, but the thought there could be a third horse in this race yet again will have at least crossed their minds.
It’s also worth a mention for Ryan Gravenberch, whose assimilation as an all-action No 6 continues apace. On Sunday he completed the most passes of any player (72), while also making the most tackles (3) and recoveries (8). Considering most Liverpool fans consider this their problem position, their fears can begin to alleviate. By George Simms
Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou said recently “some trust-building needs to happen” between Yves Bissouma and his Tottenham peers. How much trust does a thunderbastard and near-perfect performance as a lone No 6 earn?
In his first match since his one-game suspension after being filmed inhaling laughing gas, Bissouma proved exactly why he’s worth trusting: 73 of his 79 passes completed – a match high when he was substituted – five long balls, two tackles and his first Spurs goal.
Everton had just one shot on target and less than 30 per cent possession while he was on the pitch, both an indictment of their increasingly obvious flaws and proof of Bissouma’s consummate midfield showing.
Given James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski functioned as twin attacking midfielders in a Pep Guardiola-esque 4-1-4-1, Bissouma was effectively left to handle Abdoulaye Doucoure, Tim Iroegbunam and Idrissa Gueye alone.
A starting lineup including four wingers could have indicated Postecoglou had decided to do away with a midfield altogether, but really Bissouma just played the roles of three men. His goal, struck with searing force from the edge of the area, was a cathartic release of recent frustrations and a shining example of why he’s worth fighting for.
Now, redemption is a long and complex process, but Postecoglou and his wayward charge have a rare opportunity to work together towards a mutually beneficial goal.
If he continues at the level he demonstrated against Everton, there’s a fair argument Bissouma could be the perfect Postecoglou No 6.
Signing a true defensive midfielder is always unlikely to suit Angeball, which has no real place for a simple ball recycler. Bissouma’s flaws align with the concessions his manager is willing to make defensively in exchange for rapid ball progression and scintillating attacking play.
Far better at progressing the ball than he is recovering it, Bissouma is dynamic and tenacious enough to provide a hard edge Spurs often lack and his experience should be vital in a young yet prodigious dressing room.
“Biss was good – we know Biss is a good footballer – it’s about him being the best version of himself,” Postecoglou said after the game. “Discipline is a big thing for him and I thought it was a disciplined performance.
“There’s no doubt he has that ability to do something special. But he needs to make sure he endeavours to do everything right on and off the field to give himself the platform to show who he can be as a footballer.” By George Simms
Read more: The gesture which shows Tottenham don’t need a new midfielder
Newcastle United
This isn’t a new concern, but Newcastle desperately need to spend some money. A backline of Lloyd Kelly, Dan Burn, Emil Krafth and Tino Livramento, while all fine players individually, is not a remotely resilient or functional enough defensive unit to match the club’s ambitions. This can’t be a situation the club end up in again.
While a return to the Champions League is far-fetched, Newcastle have to be wary of slipping the other way. Their 1-1 draw with Bournemouth was an even game between two sides of similar quality, one the home side should have won in injury time were it not for a dubious VAR handball call.
Without the right signings over the next week, Eddie Howe could just as easily find himself in a battle for mid-table mediocrity as for Europe come the end of the season. Chelsea’s runaway victory at Molineux, Spurs’ dominance against Everton and Brighton’s early form under Fabian Hurzeler suggest Newcastle’s competitors are some way ahead of them at this stage.
When asked about potential incomings, Howe said: “We’re not in control of it. We’ve made it clear we’d like to add to group. But they have to be the right players at the right price for short & long-term benefit of club.”
Now, Sandro Tonali will be back by their next league match which should help ensure more stability and control in the long-term, but a centre-back and quite possibly a couple of full-backs too should be a priority. Lewis Hall looked sharp off the bench, but Howe clearly still doesn’t trust him. Lloyd Kelly will have to show more than he did at the Vitality to earn the left-back berth outright.
And while it had no bearing on the end result, Joelinton only receiving a yellow card for clotheslining Neto is one of the most bizarre refereeing decisions in recent years, among stiff competition. This was both dangerous and unsporting, not so much gamesmanship as a brass-necked assault. If a rule needs to change for that to be an automatic red card, then it should be changed immediately. By George Simms
Nottingham Forest
We know that keeping clean sheets has been Nottingham Forest’s bugbear during their two seasons in the Premier League – one in 2024 in the Premier League before Saturday, at home to West Ham in February. Their previous away clean sheet was a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace in October 2023.
That changed at Southampton partly because their opponent was of Championship standard. Forest were barely threatened until second-half stoppage time, either in open play or the dreaded set pieces that have caused migraines all round for too long.
But Nikola Milenkovic made his full debut on Saturday and that also seems relevant. During Forest’s first Premier League season back, Steve Cooper was largely forced to pick between Championship staples: Joe Worrall, Scott McKenna, Steve Cook. In 2023-24, new arrivals landed but, the excellent Murillo aside, struggled to stay fit. Forest started eight different players in central defence last season in the league alone.
Milenkovic might change all that. With Murillo as the ball player, dribbler and occasionally shoot-from-his-own-halfer, he needs a no-nonsense partner who will organise that back line and also offer a presence at set pieces – attacking and defending. Milenkovic is massive and he is dominant.
For the first time since those early weeks of 2022-23, Forest have a first-choice central defensive partnership written in pen. Now to see how long they both stay fit for.
Chelsea
Cole Palmer to Noni Madueke; the new computer code for goals at Chelsea.
In the space of 15 second-half minutes the pair transformed an afternoon that at half-time appeared to be anything but straightforward for a team seemingly programmed to fail by a chaotic transfer policy.
The headlines settle easily on Madueke after a bizarre start to the Sabbath that began with an insult to the city of Wolverhampton, it’s s**t according to his world view, and ended with him falling in love with the place. Well, he was given the freedom of Molineux by the Wolves defence.
Though he finished competently enough, albeit with the help of a deflection for the first of his three goals, it was the poise and passing of Palmer that took the complexity out of a difficult business. Or as Madueke put it: “He is cold, and I am fire.”
In keeping with a motif characteristic of the best left-footed, inside forwards, Palmer glides across the turf rather than pounds it. The ball is always on the toe of his boot until it too skates across the grass, impelled at just the right speed into the path of its target.
Madueke, booed throughout for his earlier observation, barely broke step as he swept the ball and match beyond the reach of Wolves.
“He has got the ability to play the right pass at the right time. All I had to do was step onto it and score,” Madueke said.
Palmer was also central to the move that led to a sixth goal by the returning Joao Felix, who sent one into the roof of the net like a cricketer going to his century with a six.
Mystifyingly Palmer made neither the Premier League team of last year, despite being voted the young player of the year, nor Gareth Southgate’s starting XI at Euro 2024.
If Lee Carsley wants an easy route to acceptance in the caretaker role when England take on the Republic of Ireland and Finland in the Nations League next month he might make Palmer central to his design.
Enzo Maresca has had his hands full just whittling the Chelsea roster into a matchday squad. The rejection of Raheem Sterling among others has crystallised the anger and frustration of Chelsea fans who no longer recognise their club. Days like this will help them reconnect, especially if Palmer continues to forge a new Chelsea identity like this. By Kevin Garside
Read more: The Chelsea duo who can restore the link with fans after summer of upheaval
West Ham
It’s going to take a while for us to know exactly what Julen Lopetegui wants from West Ham, but it’s fascinating to see what goes on with their central midfield. I don’t think we’ve had much of a clue yet.
On Saturday, West Ham started with Guido Rodriguez as the most defensive midfielder. Next to him, nominally, was Lucas Paqueta, although we know how much he likes pushing forward. That left Mohammed Kudus on the left, which doesn’t really suit him, Michail Antonio up front and Tomas Soucek as a battering ram attacking midfielder there basically to cause problems when West Ham went direct (which they did quite a lot).
In an ideal world, you’d have another central midfielder on there and would also manage to get Kudus more central (probably to accommodate Crysencio Summerville on the left wing). The return to fitness of Edson Alvarez, superb as a replacement for Declan Rice last season, is going to cause a reshuffle. You could try to play him and Rodriguez next to each other and let Kudus and Paqueta stay high and central, but that probably necessitates Jarrod Bowen playing as a striker to stay in the team.
The reality is that Lopetegui will nip and tuck, opting for more security in the tougher fixtures and allowing others off the leash at home. But add in two new central defenders and the option to play three at the back, and there is suddenly an enormous competition for places and roles in this team. They’re going to be fun.
Brentford
It would be somewhere between overly critical and disingenuous to take too much from Brentford’s defeat to Liverpool, a game where they held their own but were always second favourites.
Yet while all the recent talk around west London has surrounded Ivan Toney’s impending Saudi exit, perhaps more focus should be put on their recent £52.5m outlay to Liverpool for Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg.
Since their promotion three years ago, Brentford have repeatedly struggled to integrate and develop new signings. Mikkel Damsgaard is the poster boy of this toil, the £16.7m buy who hasn’t scored a competitive goal in his 54 appearances for the club. His injury woes are well-documented but don’t make this transfer any less of a failure.
And while it would be very harsh to say the likes of Keane Lewis-Potter (£16m), Nathan Collins (£23m) or even Kevin Schade (£22m) have been flops, all are yet to impress themselves as key members of Thomas Frank’s side given their price tags. It’s unfortunate that Toney replacement Igor Thiago (£30m) injured his knee, but it fits into a wider trend of players who just cannot hit the ground running. While Mark Flekken was excellent in his six saves against Liverpool, he conceded nearly eight more goals than he was expected to last season.
Six of the 11 Brentford starters against Liverpool also played in their 2021 play-off final win, while two more joined in the summer directly after. Since then, it’s hard to point to any signing who has been an unqualified success for the Bees.
Carvalho and Van den Berg need to buck that trend. Brentford should have no great reason to fear relegation, but for every new addition which goes wrong, their on-field quality and financial standing worsens. Almost every club which has punched above their weight in the past 20 years has eventually declined due to too many deals which didn’t work. Frank needs to be very careful he’s not gradually condemning his side to the same fate. By George Simms
Fulham
I think you’d struggle to describe Fulham as the most fascinating Premier League team since promotion, and I mean that as a compliment. If you can consolidate yourself through being effective, compact and efficient in the final third, sharing out your goals following the departure of your best forward, all the better.
But Fulham are very interesting this season, because they have lost the most all-action midfielder in the country. Last season, Joao Palhinha made 198 tackles and interceptions in the Premier League. The next non-Fulham player made 157. Palhinha’s move to Bayern Munich leaves a gaping hole.
One theory is that Sander Berge has been signed as a replacement, but that doesn’t quite work because the Norwegian is more of a passer, despite his frame, and failed to reach triple figures for the same measure last season. Another option is Sasa Lukic stepping into the role, but he also doesn’t quite have the intensity of Palhinha.
Instead, I wonder if Marco Silva might be trying something else. Rather than aiming to gobble up the ball in midfield, with Palhinha creating two-on-one situations without the ball, Fulham seem to be shuttling opponents down the flanks where they have Antonee Robinson and Kenny Tete, two of the most improved full-backs in the league over the last two years, to manage the threat.
Manchester United
Every club talks up the importance of a fast start to a season, but it matters more at Manchester United than at most this season. Because of the way in which Erik ten Hag’s new contract was managed, with most supporters expecting a parting of ways until the FA Cup final victory changed the game, it’s abundantly clear that United are not starting with a clean slate. What happened before matters now.
United conceded 30 away goals last season and lost eight away league games. They conceded 11 times in three Champions League away games, a chronic inability to stop opponents building pressure and creating chances. In only one away game last season did Ten Hag’s team allow an xG figure of lower than 1.0 (and they lost that game 2-1 anyway). More of the same at Brighton.
But the most frustrating issue of all defensively last season was the number of times that United conceded late goals. They managed 14 in the last 10 minutes of their league games last season, more than only Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Sheffield United. They conceded 11 goals in the 90th minute or later, including losing five matches in injury time (more than any other team).
Cut to this season, when United have played three games in all competitions, conceded two goals after the 90th minute and lost a league game on Saturday because of it. What if this isn’t some weird statistical freak and more an inherent feature of a side that never quite looks to be in control of themselves and the match?
Aston Villa
No footballer wants to be the best player on the pitch and end up on the losing side, but Morgan Rogers should take plenty of encouragement from an outstanding performance against one of the best two teams in the country.
When Aston Villa bought Rogers from Middlesbrough in January the main discussion point was the £15m transfer fee which was 15 times what Boro had paid Manchester City for him just seven months before. It looked like the type of project signing that Premier League clubs make from time to time, an opportunistic swoop for an up-and-coming talent catching the eye in the Championship. A prospect with potential, purchased at a low-risk price. A win-win for all involved.
With Villa heading upstream under Emery, the expectation was that Rogers would be an impact option off the bench. He’s rapidly establishing himself as a key player instead. The 22-year-old forced himself into Unai Emery’s starting XI in the final few weeks of last season and is in no danger of losing it now despite Villa adding Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley and Jaden Philogene to their squad as part of a £100m plus spending spree over the summer.
Rogers nominally plays as a second striker off Ollie Watkins, but he has an unusual physique and skillset for a player deployed in a No 10 position. He’s tall, can burst away from defenders and has the upper body strength to hold them off even if they catch him. At times against Arsenal, he was a one-man counter-attack, dragging his team from their own third to Arsenal’s in a matter of seconds. He bullied Declan Rice and Thomas Partey with his powerful surges. It’s no wonder his manager loves him; he’s built for Emery-ball.
Eric Dier once likened his former Tottenham teammate Mousa Dembele as a “monster with ballerina feet”. Rogers is not in Dembele’s class just yet, but that’s an apt description of his style too. He has the nimble touches and spatial awareness to go with the physical gifts.
Rogers earned both of his England U21 caps in March scoring twice in a 7-0 rout of Luxembourg under Lee Carsley. The acting senior manager might feel compelled to give him a promotion for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against the Republic of Ireland and Greece next month given how well he’s started this season.
Bournemouth
Two 1-1 draws from two matches isn’t particularly eye-catching, but Bournemouth are a fascinating proposition if they can avoid last season’s streakiness. You could split their 2023-24 into four bouts of feast and famine, but if they can ensure more of the former than the latter this term then a European push is not farfetched.
Losing Dominic Solanke is a blow, but Evanilson indicated he will be a perfectly capable replacement in his first Premier League game with two shots on target and a missed big chance in his 72 minutes. If Andoni Iraola can hold onto the rest of his first XI for the next week, there’s more than enough game-changing talent to cause opposition serious damage.
Antoine Semenyo is the headline name among this hipster’s dream squad. Against Newcastle he created two big chances, made three key passes, hit the crossbar with a rifling shot from distance and set up Marcus Tavernier’s goal. After scoring the equaliser against Nottingham Forest last weekend, it’s clear he’s assuming greater responsibility for Andoni Iraola’s side.
Semenyo got eight Premier League goals and two assists in 25 starts last season, and while he can be inconsistent and often takes too many risks with his passes, he continues to improve and grow. He works hard off the ball too – in the past year he’s in the top three per cent of all wingers in Europe’s top five leagues for blocks and aerial duels won per 90 minutes.
Bournemouth won possession six times in the final third throughout the first half – the joint-most across any 45-minute period this season. This is how they created both their goal and most of their chances against Newcastle. Credit for those turnovers should largely go to Semenyo.
Despite him signing a five-year contract just last month, it’s mildly surprising more clubs haven’t been linked with the Ghanaian. Provided his early performances this season haven’t reminded scouts of his capabilities, this could be the season the footballing world falls in love with Semenyo. By George Simms
Leicester City
Leicester may be the only promoted team with a single point on the board, but they are already producing defensive numbers to be worried about and we’ve only had two matches.
Steve Cooper’s team have allowed their opponents to take 33 shots, more than any other team. Only Wolves have allowed more shots on target, and they have faced Arsenal and Chelsea rather than Tottenham and Fulham. Their non-penalty xG (expected goals) faced is at least lower than a few clubs, but then the sheer volume of chances is alarming in itself. Leicester’s opponents have crossed the ball into the box 50 times already.
The obvious explanation, and it’s hardly reassuring, is that the first-choice defenders aren’t good enough. Wout Faes is an attacking threat but one who makes sloppy decisions with his passing. Jannik Vestergaard struggled at Southampton and, at 32, lacks recovery pace. Poor James Justin was forced to cover behind but then that meant he was out of position too. Victor Kristiansen was loaned out last season and has struggled to establish himself in the Premier League.
We know how Cooper likes to play as an underdog, soaking up pressure and then trying to counter at pace. Between Abdul Fatawu, Facundo Buonanotte and Bobby Decordova-Reid, he has the players in attack to service Jamie Vardy.
But for that to work, you have to learn to suffer successfully and that means defending your ground. At Forest, there was gradual investment from high-end Championship defenders and defensive midfielders to better options. Due to Leicester’s financial constraints, that hasn’t happened here.
Southampton
After Southampton beat Leeds United in the Championship play-off final at Wembley in May, Russell Martin spoke about possession and why he believed that his way would still be the best way in the Premier League. It felt relevant because of how Burnley had been relegated under Vincent Kompany, sticking to a philosophy that was far too easily undone.
“I know possession won’t win you games,” Martin said. “But it is a vehicle for us to give ourselves the best opportunity to show the best version of ourselves, I really believe that. If you win this way, to me it is the best way, not the right or wrong way but it’s the best.”
We’re only two league games into a new season, and there is plenty of time for Martin and Southampton to adapt and adjust, but it has been a troubling start for anyone who believes that they can flourish exactly like this.
Nobody doubts that Martin’s team can pass the ball. They have had 77 per cent possession against Newcastle and 64 per cent against Nottingham Forest. But they played for three-quarters of the game against Newcastle with ten men, faced one of last season’s weakest away sides in the division and have had four shots on target. Against Forest, it became parody: the away team had 23 shots to five and generated more than ten times Southampton’s xG figure despite having far less of the ball.
In the Championship, it is a feasible strategy to keep the ball and wait for a lapse in concentration, preserving your physical energy for pressing with a high chance of success. In the Premier League, it is more likely that you make the mistakes, not your opponents. Without a prolific striker at this level, Southampton are going to struggle if they are not converting passes into chances more regularly.
Crystal Palace
Two weeks ago, no Crystal Palace supporter had cause or desire to panic. They had sold Michael Olise, a brilliant attacking midfielder, but Olise had gone to an elite European club because his release clause had been met. Their team had excelled so emphatically under Oliver Glasner towards the end of last season that there were whispers of a push for Europe. A reminder: Palace have finished between 10th and 15th in each of the last 11 seasons.
To an extent, the transfer market situation remains under their own control. Marc Guehi captained Palace against West Ham and will only leave for Newcastle if a heavy price is paid in return. Joachim Anderson’s fee to join Fulham was also large given his age; the same is true of Jordan Ayew and Leicester. Sensible clubs sell assets at their highest price and reinvest. That may still happen.
And perhaps the transfer situation has had no bearing on Palace’s two results so far. They were probably worthy of a point against Brentford last weekend and they had chances to score at 0-0 against West Ham, including Eberechi Eze hitting the bar.
But so much of a football team’s fortune relies upon momentum and, right now, there is worry amongst the support that the club is wasting their strongest platform – and their best manager – in years because they are reacting to events rather than proactively commanding them. Palace finished three points ahead of Wolves in 14th last season; it would be silly to allow peers to steal a march.
Ipswich Town
Arijanet Muric did just fine for Burnley last season, replacing James Trafford mid-season, but by then the pressure was off because his team were already slipping into the Championship. He’s now getting another crack at it with Ipswich. Let’s call it an inauspicious start, at fault for two goals as a lead fell into an unassailable deficit in nine minutes.
If Muric recovers, this need not be a long-term issue, but confidence is everything with goalkeepers. Opposition teams know that they must hound down Ipswich’s goalkeeper, to pressure his kicks and block down his passing lanes. That makes everything doubly hard and mistakes more likely.
Muric, Ipswich and Kieran McKenna also knew that the first two weekends of this season were shots to nothing, free hits at top-class opponents with any goal, let alone a point, a bonus. Fulham home, Brighton away, Southampton away; only they matter. And to pray that Muric gets a couple of quiet games under his belt. It’s a long season for a goalkeeper lacking in self-assurance.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
A moment to take stock, says Gary O’Neil. The Wolves coach thinks there were positives but wisely declined to discuss them in light of a 6-2 home defeat. This he said was a time for honesty. The fans don’t want to hear about positives after a result like this.
O’Neil is working with the economic reality that forced Wolves to sell their best defender, captain Max Kilman, and their best attacker, Pedro Neto for a combined £95m to ease any PSR concerns. But the absence of the former hurt most in a match in which Wolves gifted Chelsea the win in mad 15-minutes at the start of the second half.
After falling behind in the second minute Wolves fought back well to reach half-time level at 2-2 leaving most fans anticipating a big finale. They got it, but not in the way any expected. Indeed, O’Neil said he had never seen defending like it from his team.
“Crazy game,” he said. “We were the better side after first goal. To get back to 2-2 then come out and let them pass a free-kick straight to the No 9. And for the fourth and fifth goals we have no left-back in place. These were things I have never seen before on the training pitch. Every time they had an opportunity it ended in the back of the net.”
Arsenal and Chelsea proved a rude reminder of the demands of the Premier League. “It shows how difficult it can be when you fall below the levels and standards you set,” O’Neil said. A home game in the Carabao Cup against Burnley on Wednesday and a trip to Forest on Saturday have suddenly acquired a significance O’Neil could have done without. By Kevin Garside
Everton
For the second consecutive season, Everton have lost their first away game of a Premier League campaign 4-0 and are propping up the table after two matches.
I wrote of last year’s drubbing that Sean Dyche’s side were “utterly dire” at Villa Park, but they descended into a new circle of footballing hell against Tottenham. This was toothless, aimless, meaningless, a waxwork impression of a Dyche team without any of its requisite strength or substance.
On Saturday, Everton had just 29 per cent possession and completed fewer than 75 per cent of their passes. Their 10 shots may appear a mildly positive figure, but these were almost exclusively speculative or pitiful bar Jesper Lindstrom’s rasping effort, saved well by Guglielmo Vicario as the Toffees’ only shot on target.
The flaws were almost identical to that Villa defeat a year prior – Dominic Calvert-Lewin ambled somewhere near the two Spurs centre-backs while James Tarkowski and Michael Keane were too static and cumbersome to curtail a dynamic and varied opposition attack.
Poor 19-year-old debutant Roman Dixon was harassed and harried by Wilson Odobert as Moussa Diaby had done to Nathan Patterson. Even Jordan Pickford, often Everton’s last bastion of sanity, was caught dawdling with the ball by Son Heung-min after conceding a cheap penalty to Ollie Watkins in 2023-24.
Dyche spoke after the game about the cycle Everton appear trapped in, saying: “We build something, then we have to go back down the hill again to remind ourselves of the challenge, and then we pull together and do it again.” He pointed to the reaction to the 6-0 defeat to Chelsea late last season, when the Toffees then won four of their next five matches to comfortably avoid relegation.
Yes, Everton have injury problems, but those alone cannot explain their continued regression. They are still only fourth favourites for relegation, behind the three promoted teams, but those odds will significantly shorten if they play like this for too much longer. By George Simms
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