Top five talking points from Matchday One of Premier League

The 2021/22 season of the English Premier League got underway on Friday with Matchday One as newcomers Brentford shocked Arsenal 2-0 for a first top-flight win in 74 years. On Saturday, Manchester United hammered Leeds United 5-1, Chelsea thrashed Crystal Palace 3-0 in Patrick Vieira’s first game in charge of the Eagles, Watford defeated Aston Villa 3-2, Everton came back against Southampton to win 3-1. In Saturday’s other games, Leicester City defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0, Brighton and Hove Albion defeated Burnley 2-1 and Liverpool hammered Norwich City 3-0. On Sunday, West Ham defeated Newcastle 4-2 and Tottenham defeated Manchester City 1-0.

Here are the Top Five talking points from Matchday One of English Premier League football;
1. Salah reintroduces himself as a Premier League great: Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah scored for Liverpool in their 3-0 win over Norwich City on the opening day of the season. The Egyptian scored one and assisted two goals for the Reds in the win over the newly-promoted Canaries. He set up Diogo Jota for the opener and Roberto Firmino for the second goal before scoring a fine effort for the third goal. His goal for Liverpool made him the first man in Premier League history to score on the opening day of five consecutive seasons, after goals against Leeds United in 2020/21, Norwich City in 2019/20, West Ham United in 2018/19 and Watford in 2017/18.

2. Brentford bully soft Arsenal into submission: Brentford fans could not have dreamt of a better way to start life in the English topflight than the one they got. Their side absolutely bullied and battered Arsenal in a well-deserved 2-0 win at home. A good example of the forceful Brentford display resulted in the second goal. Captain Pontus Jansson pinned down a weak Bernd Leno on his goal line, preventing the goalkeeper from claiming the throw-in that led to Christian Norgaard heading the ball into an unguarded net. It was stuff of dreams for the Bees.

3. Pogba delivers a timely reminder of his class: Paul Pogba was unplayable for Manchester United in their opening day thrashing of Leeds United at Old Trafford, delivering four assists in the Red Devils’ win over Leeds. Pogba’s haul of four assists against Leeds United surpassed his grand total of three assists in the entirety of the 2020/21 Premier League season. With only one year left on the Frenchman’s contract at Old Trafford, he showed everyone why Manchester United paid £89 million to get him from Juventus in the first place.

4. Bruno sets the pace: While his midfield partner and teammate Pogba delivered a masterclass from midfield, Bruno Fernandes delivered his further forward with a well-taken hat trick to open his account for the season and show that his performance for the club last season was no fluke.

5. No Kane, no problem for Spurs: While much of the pre-match talk was about Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son quickly reminded Spurs faithful that he could be counted on in their 1-0 win against City. His brilliant strike against Manchester City, his seventh against the champions, settled a contest that proved that Tottenham might not be pushovers in the season, even without Kane.