The second weekend of the new Premier League season provided plenty of talking points.
Manchester United’s second impressive victory, Jese’s starring role for Stoke against Arsenal and Chelsea’s Wembley success over Tottenham Hotspur were amongst the week two highlights.
Sportslens takes a look at five big talking points from this week’s Premier League games.
Pull the other one Jose
Jose Mourinho played down talk of Manchester United being title favourites or “the dream team” ahead of their visit to Swansea City, but they looked just that after ruthlessly dismantling Paul Clement’s side.
Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba were particularly impressive, weighing in with a goal apiece, while Anthony Martial crowned his excellent late cameo with a cool finish.
Romelu Lukaku was also in good form, keeping Swansea’s three centre-backs busy and capping his display with a goal.
United have regained some of the swagger they possessed under Sir Alex Ferguson and, while there are plenty of tougher tests ahead, Mourinho has assembled a formidable team. Time to start dreaming, Jose?
Burnley down to earth with a bump
Sean Dyche’s side grabbed the headlines with their victory at Chelsea last weekend, but they were quickly brought down to earth as West Brom secured a 1-0 win at Turf Moor.
Burnley took full advantage of Gary Cahill’s red card at Stamford Bridge, but they found the Baggies’ defence far more difficult to break down.
Dyche has been desperate to add to his striking options this summer, but spending £15 million on Chris Wood seems a major gamble for a player unproven in the Premier League.
For all the talk about “fortress Turf Moor” the Clarets have won just once at home since the end of January, and without big improvements up front the Chelsea result could soon become a distant memory.
Jese dazzles as Arsenal strike bum note
Having got out of jail against Leicester last weekend, Arsenal reverted to type by failing to follow up at Stoke.
Despite enjoying the majority of possession, Arsene Wenger’s team fell to a solitary goal by Stoke’s new signing Jese.
Mesut Ozil was ineffective, while Stoke’s defence kept Alexandre Lacazette fairly quiet. Danny Welbeck’s wastefulness in front of goal also highlighted how much Arsenal rely on Alexis Sanchez.
Wenger is likely to find himself under pressure pretty quickly if Arsenal don’t get their act together soon.
Change the record Shane
A feature of Shane Duffy’s spell at Blackburn Rovers was the number of times he took to social media to post senseless waffle after yet another defeat.
He was at it again after Brighton’s 2-0 loss at Leicester over the weekend with the usual “Disappointing day today, not at our best” blah blah blah that some Albion fans are already seeing through.
Duffy was slow to react for Shinji Okazaki’s opener and he was comprehensively out-jumped by Harry Maguire for Leicester’s second.
The Irish defender spends a lot of time trying to talk a good game. He’d be better served trying to play one now he’s in amongst the big boys.
Reports of Chelsea’s demise were greatly exaggerated
Antonio Conte hasn’t had much to smile about over the last week – Diego Costa aside – but Sunday’s deserved victory against Spurs will certainly have cheered him up.
Marcos Alonso’s double secured a deserved 2-1 success for Conte’s side, with the result comprehensively ending any crazy mentions of an early-season crisis at Stamford Bridge.
With reinforcements to their squad almost certain to happen over the next couple of weeks, anyone writing off Chelsea for this season’s title might want to have a rethink.
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