Premier League 2018-19: 6 things we learned from matchday one

The first weekend of Premier League action was witnessed over the weekend, with Manchester United kicking off the season with a narrow 2-1 victory over Leicester City at Old Trafford.

Maurizio Sarri got his Chelsea managerial tenure off to a winning start, with an emphatic 3-0 victory away to Huddersfield at the John Smith Stadium, while Unai Emery became the first Arsenal manager in 31 years to lose his first league match. Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp also got matchday one victories.

We equally witnessed some amazing individual displays on an individual level, with Everton's record signing from Watford Richarlison being the pick of the lot, owing to his brace in the 2-2 draw against newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux. Sadio Mane also starred with two goals as Liverpool decimated West Ham 4-0 at Anfield, while Luke Shaw got the first goal of his professional career with an exquisite finish past Kasper Schmeichel of Leicester.

There were quite a number of observations from the first matchday of the 2018/2019 Premier League season, here are six of them.

#6 Manchester City are still the team to beat

Manchester City were utterly dominant in their Premier League title win last season, setting and breaking a plethora of Premier League records including most points in a Premier League season (100), most goals scored in a single Premier League season (109), largest goal difference (79), most victories in a Premier League season (32), most away victories in a single season (16), most away points (50), most points ahead of second (19), most consecutive victories (20) and most passes completed in a game (943).

As a result of this, they began this season as favorites to be the first club to successfully retain the Premier League since city rivals United in 2009. However, The Premier League boasts a lot of top quality teams, and clubs such as Liverpool and Chelsea have spent big to refurbish their squads and strengthen areas of weaknesses.

The strengthening by their rivals led many to suggest that City would not have such an easy stroll to the title again, and that Liverpool and Chelsea would give them a good run for their money. However, with their performance over the last week, the Cityzens have shown that they mean business once again this season.

They were exquisite in their 2-0 victory over Chelsea in the Community Shield last Sunday and followed that up with a very controlled victory over Arsenal by the same scoreline at the Emirates in the Premier League.

Arsenal are one of the strongest teams in the league at home, so Manchester City getting a victory away to them is no mean feat, especially coming in the manner in which it did.

Guardiola's men were totally in control from the blast of the referee's whistle, and at no time did Arsenal look like they were going to threaten Ederson in goal, as City dominated proceedings from start to finish.

Although Liverpool and Chelsea also had very convincing victories of their own, the calibre of opposition and manner in which Manchester City got their victory means that the Cityzens could very well hoist the EPL trophy once again come May next year.

#5 The big clubs are still in a league of their own

Chelsea recorded a 3-0 victory over Huddersfield Town

The difference in quality and financial might of some clubs at the top hierarchy of the Premier League led to the christening of the term 'the top six'. These clubs are so far ahead of the rest of the league that they almost have a mini-league among themselves, and are the favourites to secure top spots on the Premier League table come the end of the season.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham began this season with aspirations of finishing in the top four at least, and possibly winning the league. Despite huge outlays by some other clubs such as West Ham and Fulham, the status quo of these six sides finishing in the top six on the table come the end of the season is likely to remain unchanged.

Each of the six (bar Arsenal who lost to fellow big six member Manchester City) had opening day wins, with Liverpool and Chelsea in particular posting convincing victories following their 4-0 and 3-0 thrashing of West Ham and Huddersfield Town respectively.

No club outside this group has finished in the top six of the Premier League for the last two seasons, and on evidence of their performance on matchday one, that stat is unlikely to change.

#4 The big-spending mid-table teams might not make the impact sought

Fulham FC suffered a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace

Fulham were taken over by ambitious sports entrepreneur Shahid Khan, in July 2013 and since then the Pakistani-American has pumped massive amounts of money into the club as he seeks to revamp the club's fortunes and turn it into an English football heavyweight.

Fulham were the league's third biggest spenders in the just concluded window behind Liverpool and Chelsea, with a total spend of £105.3 million, becoming the first ever promoted club to spend in excess of £100 million in a transfer window.

The Cottagers brought in a total of 13 new players, with 7 of those on a permanent transfer including highly sought after record signing Jean Michael Seri and Aleksandr Mitrovic, while 6 others came in on loan including World Cup winner Andre Schurrle and Europa League-winning goalkeeper Sergio Rico.

With this heavy investment, Fulham would have sought to not only stave off relegation but challenge for a spot in the top half of the league table. However, the opening day humbling recorded by Slavisa Jokanovic's side would bring their hopes crashing back down to earth.

Fulham suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at the Craven Cottage, and their performance is a far cry from the optimism expressed by fans prior to the commencement of the league season.

Elsewhere also in London, West Ham also expended the cash, following clashes last season between fans and club owners David Gold and David Sullivan which escalated over protests of the lack of ambition of the club, leading to fans invading the pitch in a league match against Burnley asking the board to resign.

West Ham fans invaded the pitch against Burnley

The club responded to those demands, spending a total of £99 million (the 5th highest in the league) to bring players including Andriy Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson to the club. They also announced the appointment of Premier League winning manager Manuel Pellegrini as the man to lead the club to its new era.

However, their opening day fixture went horribly off script, as The Hammers suffered a debilitating 4-0 defeat to a Sadio Mane inspired Liverpool at Anfield, which would have the club going back to the drawing board.

Fulham and West Ham spent big in order to challenge for the top spots. However, as the opening day showed them, it requires much more than that to make an impact in the EPL, and instead of finding themselves in the top half of the table, both occupy the relegation spots, with Fulham 18th and West Ham 20th on the table.

#3 Still the same old story for Manchester United

Manchester United v Leicester City - Premier League

Manchester United kicked off the new Premier League campaign, hosting Leicester City at home on Friday at Old Trafford, and the Red Devils got off to the best possible start, winning and converting a penalty inside two minutes.

The early goal should have served as the catalyst for United to take the initiative, but true to form in typical Mourinho way, the club seemed content to sit back and protect its slender lead, handing all the attacking edge to the visiting team.

The match was characterized by all the complaints United fans have had since Fergie departed the club, with Manchester United engaging in a snoozefest of boring football, which lacked any sort of entertainment value.

Marcus Rashford cut a frustrated figure up front, as he found himself the furthest United player (mostly 10 yards into his own half) and was often on his own when a chance to break came up.

Manchester United were disconnected in their attacks, with Sanchez characteristically being dispossessed in a sloppy manner, as United struggled to create any worthy attacking threat to the Leicester goal. Indeed, when their second goal did arrive, it was as a result of individual brilliance by Luke Shaw and not any coherent attacking play.

Unsurprisingly, the only players who came out of the match with their reputations enhanced were defenders Eric Bailly, Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelof along with skipper for the night Paul Pogba.

#2 Despite Wenger's departure, it might be the same old story for Arsenal

Unai Emery suffered defeat in his opening competitive fixture as Arsenal manager

Arsene Wenger departed as Arsenal manager at the end of last season, with fans having grown agitated over the stagnation the club experienced under the Frenchman, starting numerous campaigns to get Arsene out including the #WengerOut hashtag.

A fresh direction was seemingly needed at the club, and with Unai Emery's appointment, Arsenal fans believed that the club will begin a new path of glory post-Wenger, as the Spaniard had proved his mettle as a winner in Spain with Sevilla and in France with PSG.

However, on account of their performance against Manchester City, that optimism could be a bit of a false start, as many of the deficiencies which characterized Wenger's Arsenal were still glaringly present, including sloppy defending, lack of belief or purpose, and disjointed play.

While it might be a tad unfair to judge any club by its performance against City, as the difference between the champions and the rest of the league is too vast, the performance showed by Arsenal players in the defeat means that Unai Emery still has his work cut out. He still has to address the issues left behind by Arsene Wenger if the club is to progress to the next level.

#1 Liverpool is the real deal

Mane was the two-goal hero as Liverpool thumped West Ham 4-0

In a huge show of intention, Liverpool spent a league-topping outlay of £177 million on new signings - shelling out £67 million on Roma stopper Alisson, in addition to adding Naby Keita (£52.8 million), Fabinho (£43.7 million) and Xherdan Shaqiri (£13.5 million) to their ranks.

Jurgen Klopp's side are set out for business and are favourites to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title this season.

They sent a real statement of intent with a comprehensive 4-0 rout of West Ham at Anfield, with the opening goal bagged by last season's Golden Boot winner Mohamed Salah, followed by a brace from Senegalese international Sadio Mane before Daniel Sturridge added the icing on the cake with a goal within 21 seconds of coming on.

Liverpool strengthened their ranks significantly, leading to high optimism among fans and rightly so, and though it might be too early to start making assumptions, based on their opening day performance against West Ham, The Reds just could end their 28-year wait for league glory.