Sunday's EPL Roundup

The Premier League continued today as Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City all kicked off their Premier League campaigns today. Liverpool played against West Ham at Anfield and it was light work from the Reds as they beat the Hammers with a comprehensive 4-0 win with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Daniel Sturridge getting into the scoresheet. Arsenal started off their league campaign with a 2-0 defeat against Manchester City. Raheem Sterling and Bernando Silva were the goal-scorers for the Citizens as Guardiola is looking to back-to-back league titles; the first since Manchester United between 2007 to 2009. Burnley and Southampton were also in action today with both sides sharing the points as the game ended goalless. The first round of games is now completed with 37 games still yet to be played. Here were the three main talking points for today’s games.

Naby is worth the wait

Naby Keita finally made his Premier League debut today. It was a year-long for the Guinean after staying at Leipzig for another season and it looks as if he’s been there for years. Immense for the Reds, Keita dominated play in midfield winning balls and starting attacks with majority of his passes going forward and making a lot of forward runs. His dribbling ability was too much for West Ham to handle enabling Liverpool to win fouls high up the pitch. He was critical in the build-up to Salah’s goal; receiving the ball from Alexander-Arnold before making the forward pass to Andrew Robertson who laid the ball which found Salah and he scored. The only thing missing from his performance was a goal having had chances during the goal. Was it worth a year wait for Naby Keita? The answer seems to be a big yes.

Emery Still Testing

Unai Emery was given a baptism of fire even before the season started learning that his first league game as Arsenal manager is against the defending champions Manchester City. The game itself shows that Emery still has a lot to do to get Arsenal back to where they what to be. The Gunners couldn’t handle the threat City had with both Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker pushing high up in the pitch as well as handling Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez. Arsenal caused a lot of trouble for themselves defensively as they tried to pass from the back. Petr Cech’s distribution was well below par putting a lot of pressure on the defenders to clear the ball out of trouble. Still early days for Emery as he’s still experimenting with his new side.

Champions still have the desire

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City are looking to defend their league title and questioned on whether they still have the desire to win it again this season. Short answer, they still do. The Citizens made a strong start to their title defence beating Arsenal 2-0 courtesy of goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernando Silva. The pick of the bunch was their left-back Benjamin Mendy. After missing out a large chunk of last season through injury, the French full-back returned for the Citizens following his success with France at the World Cup and arriving early for pre-season. A truck from the flanks, Mendy was adequate in defence and attack winning 2 tackles and blocking 2 shots as well as making 2 shots and 2 assists. City are favourites for a reason. The ammunition they have is just terrifying and still have the desire to compete in all fronts this season.