5 worst players from matchday 1 - Premier League 2018-19

The Premier League returned in resplendent fashion, providing us with goals, surprises, drama, and a whole lot of awe-inspiring action. While some sides like Liverpool and Manchester City announced themselves into the new season, Chelsea began their new 'Sarri era' in splendid fashion. On the contrary, West Ham and Arsenal's new eras didn't begin all that well.

Newly promoted sides Fulham and Cardiff were taken to the cleaners, whereas the Championship winners - Wolverhampton Wanderers, showed resilience and character to come from behind, not once but twice as they held Everton to a 2-2 draw.

Elsewhere, Manchester United beat Leicester City, Spurs pipped Rafa Benitez's Newcastle, Watford defeated The Seagulls, and Southampton vs Burnley ended in a nondescript draw.

At times, a team's system or tactics proved to be their undoing, but for some unfortunate sides, a few of their players cost them the match. One can't help but point fingers at them for their team's loss. Here, we learn the worst players from the opening weekend of the Premier League who unequivocally let their outfits down. Here are the 5 worst players from the first round of fixtures.

#5 Alexis Sanchez

Enter cap — Sanchez lost the ball many a time

Lets start off with Sanchez who was arguably Manchester United's worst player in the opening fixture against Leicester City. Although The Red Devils held their nerves to begin their league campaign with three points, the former Barcelona man couldn't quite find his feet.

The 29 year old lacked spark in his game. He wasn't agile and sharp with the ball as he gave away possession cheaply anytime Mourinho's side attacked. As a result, Sanchez started to over dribble, and didn't lift his head up to look for the right passes.

He lacked the cutting edge, and offered little threat down the left. Although he won the penalty, the rest of his performance was rather ordinary.

#4 Souleymane Bamba

Bamba had a tough game against The Cherries

Its safe to predict that Cardiff will be relegated. All the fans, experts, pundits and observers have placed their bet on The Bluebirds' relegation.

It didn't start well for them either, as they were mauled by another side expected to struggle this term - Bournemouth. The Cherries exploited both flanks and made full use of Cardiff's narrow back four.

In the 4-1-4-1 formation preferred by Neil Warnock, Sol Bamba was deployed as a lone holding midfielder.

He was often caught out of possession when Bournemouth committed more bodies forward. He lost the 50-50 battles, didn't tackle well enough, and left too much passing space at times. While in possession, he was safe but not productive.

#3 Phil Jagielka

Phil Jagielka was sent off in the 40th minute against newly promoted Wolves. They took full advantage of it by keeping the ball for longer, using the extra space in wider areas of midfield, and constantly knocking at The Toffees' back line.

If not for Richarlison, who scored a brace to spare Marco Silva's blushes, The Wanderers would have crushed their opponents.

Jagielka was doing just fine in the game as his side were defending well and enjoying their fair share of chances on the other side.

However, a back pass wasn't dealt with by him properly. He lunged in on Diogo Jota, it was quite a nasty tackle. Much to the veteran's despair, dead ball specialist and crowd favorite Ruben Neves stepped up to convert the free-kick.

First of all, keeping one's eyes on the ball is taught in school. Jagielka took his eyes off it whilst looking for a pass when the ball wasn't even under his foot. This incident impeded Everton's chances of winning the game, and brought all the pressure on the away side.

#2 Arthur Masuaku

Enter — Salah ran circles around Masuaku

The Hammers took a meaty blow when they faced title contenders Liverpool who were on their A-game on Sunday afternoon. One Hammer to take quite a blow was Arthur Masuaku.

The attack minded wing-back almost forgot about Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino's presence at times, often leaving too much space in behind him, and not tracking back in time. He darted forward and made a few significant runs down the pitch, but forced himself to making reckless challenges while back peddling in defence.

He was at fault for the first two goals. When Salah ran into the six-yard box to meet a cross from the left, Masuaku completely switched off, and you know what happens next! Salah opened his and Liverpool's account for the season.

The left-back then left Milner unmarked when Robertson whipped one in from the left flank. Milner eventually ended up being a good five yards away from him, before delivering an assist to Mane.

#1 Granit Xhaka

A scoreline of 2-0 might suggest how comfortable the victory was, but Manchester City's 2-0 victory over Arsenal was a sheer display of dominance.

Pep Guardiola's side yet again proved that they are the team to beat this season, as they outplayed The Gunners in every department, and totally controlled the tempo of the game.

One failed tactic of Unai Emery's was that of playing the ball out from the back, this cannot be expected from the likes of Mustafi, Bellerin and Petr Cech. When they tried to do so, they were surrounded by energetic players in Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero, and Bernardo Silva.

One man who certainly didn't support this style of play was Granit Xhaka, he never started from a deep position to pick up the ball - that is a must for a holding midfielder if his side is playing a possession based game.

Even when Bernardo scored, Xhaka was found aimlessly jogging back into the box, this meant his defensive contribution was useless as well. Some of his attempted long balls were too heavy, and overall his passing was rather average. The Swiss international certainly did not hold it together in midfield.

Edited by Anthony Akatugba Jr.