Football Weekend Recap

Opening Weekend to the EPL

After three months away, the Premier League returned for another season. The game was between Liverpool and Norwich City at Anfield on Friday. The Reds laid down an early marker, winning the game 4-1 with Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Divock Origi all getting on the scoresheet. The victory was however soured with Alisson being forced out due to injury with Adrián making his debut in the process. Manchester started off their campaign with a 5-0 win away at West Ham with Raheem Sterling scoring a hat-trick with Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Agüero netting as well. It was also the first game where we saw the effect of VAR, which is introduced to the Premier League this season, as the defending champions had two decisions go against them during the game. Both Spurs and Arsenal started their campaigns with wins, Sheffield United earned a decent draw against Bournemouth, Brighton and Burnley got big wins while the games between Everton against Crystal Palace and Leicester City against Wolves ended in goalless draws.


Manchester United thrashed Chelsea

The biggest game from the opening weekend was the clash between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford in Sunday with both teams having former players now at the dugout in Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Frank Lampard. The Red Devils the lead as they were awarded a penalty with Kurt Zouma bringing down Marcus Rashford, who later scored the penalty spot. Chelsea had several chances to equalize with two of the chances coming from the left-back Emerson who had one shot hit the post and another being parried by David de Gea. The Blues will later come to pay from those missed chances as Anthony Martial made it 2-0. Two minutes after, United got a third goal with Paul Pogba giving a brilliant pass to find Rashford who slotted his second goal of the game. Daniel James, coming on for his debut, later scored to cap off a brilliant day for United winning the game 4-0 with Frank Lampard being a given a baptism of fire.


Ligue I has begun

Ligue I was underway as well with their first set of fixtures. Defending champions PSG started off their campaign with a 3-0 home win against Nîmes. Neymar was unavailable but the Parisians still did their business without the Brazilian with Kylian Mbappé, Edinson Cavani and Ángel Di María all on the scoresheet. Lille started life without Nicolas Pépé with a 2-1 win against Nantes. Victor Osimhen scored a brace on his debut with Tim Weah also making his debut. Lyon beat Monaco 3-0 at the Stade Louis II as Cesc Fabregas was sent off a tackle that he initially got a yellow card but became a straight red after a review from VAR. Things have not started off well from Marseille, losing 2-0 at home to Stade Reims. Angers, Nice, Rennes and Saint-Étienne started their seasons with wins while Strasbourg and Metz played to a 1-1 draw.


Other Football Stories:

• First Round of the DFB-Pokal took place this weekend with Mainz and Augsburg both being eliminated. 
• Both Derby County and Leeds United dropped points in the Championship. 

Player of the Weekend: Raheem Sterling 

Raheem Sterling has grown to be one of the best attackers in the Premier League over the past two seasons and it looks like this season with be no different. Netting a hat-trick against West Ham, he's the first player since Didier Drogba to score a hat-trick on the opening weekend. 49 touches, 4 shots (4 on target), 78.8 pass success rate, 3 through balls, the winger has started off with a bang.