Overreaction Mondays: A look back at the weekend’s Premier League action
Welcome to the first installment of Overreaction Mondays, a weekly column where I’ll go through the weekend’s Premier League action and talk about a few things that I observed or thought were interesting. As the name suggests, with the season just beginning, I’ll be looking to extrapolate data from a very small data set of 90-minutes (14 if you’re Gary Cahill but more on that later). Without further ado, let’s get down to business.
More than half of the top seven has new strikers and they made their presence known:
Sandro Ramirez, Wayne Rooney, Romelu Lukaku, Alvaro Morata, Alexandre Lacazette. These are all strikers that either found new homes in the Premier League or became high priced imports in the league and they made their presence known. Rooney was at the center of everything for Everton and his play leading up to his headed goal is something that hasn’t been seen from Rooney in years. He looks rejuvenated at Everton and it is mighty fun to watch. His partner Ramirez will take some time to find his feet in the Premier League but with a steady Rooney next to him, that transition will be much easier.
Lukaku showed every reason why United wanted him so badly and then some. He led the line for United and was pure class running into channels to get in on goal. More of this during the season and United may be proper title contenders. Staying with title contenders, Morata curiously started the match on the bench for the defending champions due to ‘fitness issues’ but when he came on, even more questions were asked about why Antonio Conte left him on the bench. Chelsea looked like a different team with Morata leading the line as he is a complete striker capable of contributing in all facets of the game.
For Arsenal, their game left people with many questions but that’s pretty normal for the Gunners at this point. But one question that was answered was if they have a striker capible of propelling them to the title. Lacazette’s headed goal on his first touch of the game was the perfect way of announcing, “I’m here, now what are you gonna do about it.” to the Premier League. And the answer for most teams is that they won’t be able to do much about him as his physicality and speed will give teams absolute fits.
Shelvey gonna Shelvey and Gary Cahill is an idiot:
Oh how we’ve missed you Lord Voldemort! After a year away from the Premier League while helping Newcastle earn promotion back into the top flight, Shelvey has picked up right where he left off. Always one to wind someone up, Shelvey was locked in battle with Dele Alli for most of the game but Alli got the best of him. When Alli was called for a foul on Shelvey that should have been the other way around, Alli held the ball in order for his team to get into position and Shelvey didn’t like it one bit. After trying to get the ball away from Alli, Shelvey intentionally walked over his ankle getting a straight red card and killing his team’s good performance in the process.
Another guy who killed his team and ruined Boga’s debut that was 10 years in the making was Gary Cahill. He saw red 14 minutes into the Chelsea match and the back line looked beyond lost without their skipper. It was a disappointing loss all around that saw Burnley pick up all three points at the bridge when they mustered seven points away from home all of last season. Seven Measly Points!
Sam Vokes, Golden Boot winner:
Sticking with the Clarets, people questioned where their goals would come from with Andre Gray moving to Watford. But what you may have forgotten is that Sam Vokes outscored Andre Gray last season and that Vokes was more effective without Gray on the field with him. The sale is more of Sean Dyche handing the reigns of the Burnley attack to the human battering ram Sam Vokes than anything. Vokes responded by banging in two goals against Chelsea. Will he keep up the pace? That remains to be seen but it’s quite the start to the season for Vokes.
The promoted teams may not be half bad:
While Huddersfield won the day with an impressive 3–0 win over Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Brighton didn’t look out of their depth. Both of them faced off against top sides in the Premier League and held their own for large portions of the game. Newcastle ended the first half with the score tied at 0–0 against Tottenham and if it wasn’t for Jonjo Shelvey, who know’s what would have happened in that game.
Brighton hung with one of the top teams in the league, Manchester City, for almost 70 minutes before City pounced on a mistake to break the game open. For a newly promoted team, it means a lot to keep up with a team with as much talent as City because most teams don’t possess that kind of talent. If you can almost get points off of a City side, winning on a rainy night at Stoke should be no problem.
Huddersfield accomplished a lot but in a different way. If you want to stay up in the Premier League, he first place to start is by beating the teams below you in the table. Crystal Palace should be in the relegation fight so getting points off of them in convincing fashion will mean a lot for David Wagner’s side.
