Premier League 2024/25: 5 things we learnt from the first weekend of the new season

New Delhi: Despite a summer filled with international action and endless narratives, the world still bated its breath for the start of yet another English Premier League season. Three promoted teams, new players, new managers and several “changing of guards”—the new season is bound to provide new narratives, or prolong existing ones. Can, or at this point, will City win their fifth league title in a row? Can Chelsea stop dominating the headlines for the wrong reasons? Can Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal finally end their “projects” and mount a challenge to the incumbent champions? Here’s what we took away from the opening weekend of Premier League action.

Pep and Maresca, master and disciple

“115 PLAYERS VS 115 CHARGES”, written on a small blackboard placed outside a tavern in London, was perhaps a succinct summary of this week’s marquee Premier League fixture. In an age of social media and short-form entertainment, much of contemporary football discourse is submerged under a myriad of narratives and prime gossip-material.

Rodri hasn’t been spotted in training for weeks, while Manchester City also brace themselves for the upcoming court hearing in September, which would hand out a verdict on their alleged “115 charges”. On the other hand, the stories have mostly centred around the million-pound question of how Enzo Maresca aims to work with a 41-man squad. Several players have been told that they are not wanted anymore, while Raheem Sterling stoked controversy by publishing a public statement of discontent over being left out of the matchday squad.

Again, the pitch presented a different outlook altogether. Yes, Chelsea were decisively beaten 2-0 by a City team clearly not working with their best XI and at their highest level. But this cannot take away from Maresca’s ambitious vision peeking through in spells, when the Blues were able to navigate through City’s press and take the fight to the reigning champions.

Romeo Lavia, after spending nearly a year on the sidelines due to injury, possessed an air of calm and slick movement, acting as a funnel for everything Chelsea did well. However, questions must be asked of Nicholas Jackson’s ability in front of goal, with the striker’s equaliser ruled out for offside.

It was also not a good look for Boehly & Co., when their +£200 million midfield was sidestepped by Mateo Kovacic, sold for £25 million by Chelsea to Man City, for the second goal.

Zirkzee announces arrival and becomes overnight hero

Manchester United’s previous season in the Premier League was, and is still, widely mocked as one of the club’s worst in their +100 years of history. Such is the beauty and oddity of football, that this was counterbalanced by rare glimpses of pure joy and euphoria. Be it last-minute winners bookending limp displays, or the performance against their Manchester rivals in the FA Cup final, winning the trophy as consolation after a gruelling season.

An immediate parallel, thus, can be drawn between those moments and Joshua Zirkzee’s heroic, 87th minute winner against Fulham, lighting up Old Trafford and securing three crucial points with just his seventh touch of the ball. A more measured analysis would deem that to be harsh against the hosts, who certainly proved that they had improved in many departments over the summer. There was a coherence in their direct, fast-paced attacks, and if it were not for the outstanding saves from Fulham keeper Bernd Leno to deny Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount from close-range, United would’ve been comfortably ahead with two or three goals.

Instead, the home crowd experienced deja-vu as the home side let the game slip from their hands in moments, allowing Fulham to pose major threats in counter-attack, only for the visitors to fluff their lines in the final third and keep Andre Onana relatively untested. A final scare was delivered by Alejandro Garnacho, who missed an open-net after being set up by Marcus Rashford in the 90th minute, highlighting that the road to Premier League glory for the 20-time winners is still long and winding.

Saka and Arsenal reach for the stars

The Gunners’ journey with Mikel Arteta has the feel of a TV series, where at the end of each season, the protagonist is taught an important lesson, which is swiftly implemented at the start of the next season. Arsenal’s first seasons under the Basque manager were purely focussed on steadily improving the squad, both in terms of personnel and philosophy, attempting to create something coherent out of the post-Wenger chaos. Arsenal then wowed the world with their fast-flowing, direct football in the 2022/23 season, before crumbling in the run-in and criticised for their “naivety”.

In the season after that, the North-Londoners did show signs of maturity, digging deep and grinding out results, but ultimately overcompensated on that front, before paying dearly in the winter last year, and again missing out on the title.

This year, in the newest instalment of Arteta’s attempt to mould his side in the image of Pep Guardiola’s Man City, the narrative would probably revolve around Arsenal’s ability to control games and cruise past potential “banana peels”. Their opening day opponents in Wolves could have very well been that, considering a sizable chunk of Arsenal’s squad are still recovering from the toils of international duty. David Raya, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka were all at the Euros, but hardly showed signs of rust, and were crucial in a rather comfortable victory over their Black Country counterparts. 

Change and continuity in Slot’s Liverpool debut

Fifty years from the day when the legendary manager Bob Paisley took the mantle of Liverpool manager, Arne Slot heralded a new era for the Merseyside club with a win, becoming the only man to start his Liverpool career with a win in the 21st century. The ground reality, however, is much more nuanced than what that fact implies.

Slot’s Liverpool travelled to Portsmouth Road to face newly-promoted side Ipswich Town, and for the opening 45 minutes, were largely on the backfoot. In his post-match press conference, Slot alluded that Kieran McKenna, his Ipswich counterpart, had set up his team in a highly “aggressive” manner, and how Liverpool’s defence were being bullied by the opposition’s directness and physicality. The visitors looked stifled and static in buildup, with a Martin Zubimendi-shaped hole looking painfully apparent in the middle of the park.

All the signs pointed towards a famous win for Ipswich, but Slot, perhaps emulating his predecessor in Jürgen Klopp, made sure his side started the second half with an air of rejuvenation. The Dutch manager chose to fight fire with fire, ruthlessly swapping Jarell Quansah with Ibrahima Konate at half-time, whose physical presence laid the platform for Liverpool to turn the tie upside down within minutes. Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota were clinical in front of goal, while Ryan Graverberch showed great promise, starting in the much-debated no. 6 position. 

Is Hurzeler the next big thing?

With more than a 100 million euros spent, Brighton and West Ham United experienced contrasting fates in the opening weekend of the Premier League. The former, managed by 31 year-old debutant Fabian Hürzeler, cruised past a frustrated Everton, playing their last season at Goodison Park after calling it home for 132 years. On the other hand, Julen Lopetegui was handed a deflating loss in his West Ham debut when Jhon Duran scored in the dying moments.

So, what happened? Both clubs have been praised for their proactiveness and shrewdness in the transfer market this summer, but Brighton have been the one reaping the rewards first. This can perhaps be attributed to the careful, data-driven strategy that underlines nearly everything that Brighton does. Scouting, recruiting and developing young prospects from around the world is paired with a similar outlook applied when hiring managers. Graham Potter shot to fame when managing a group of exciting, young talent, and when he was nabbed by Chelsea, the club seamlessly replaced him with Roberto De Zerbi, who not only maintained Brighton’s front-footed football, but elevated it in the process.

Despite the question marks surrounding Hürzeler—his age and the fact that his past job was managing in the 2nd tier of German football—Brighton seemed to have knocked the ball out of the park, proving that they still remain a role model when nearly every other club wishes to emulate them.

In the latter stages of De Zerbi’s reign, the club seemed to be running into dead-ends, their revolutionary style of play seemingly being “found out”, before the Italian negotiating a tough, bitter break-up with Tony Bloom administration. Hürzeler’s Brighton seemed refreshed, playing without shackles and a dogmatic attachment to possession. To sweeten the deal, new signings in Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer also impressed.

On the other hand, West Ham hasn’t been able to generate the result accompanying the hype when it managed to seal exciting signings like Jean-Clair Todibo, Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Füllkrug, among others. As a matter of fact, only two of those new signings were selected by Lopetegui in his starting lineup. This could’ve been a factor in West Ham’s rather toothless display in the first half, where Villa had a vice-grip on the match and were overrunning the hosts’ defence. Even the equalizer came in the form of a penalty, highlighting the ineffectiveness of Michail Antonio in attack. Mohammed Kudus, and substitute Crysencio Summerville, were brief respites for West Ham’s attack, with the latter fashioning a chance for Danny Ings, who could only manage a feeble header at point-blank range, duly saved by the vigilant Emiliano Martinez. Considering this is a West Ham side largely inherited from David Moyes, a shift to a more “modern” football is going to be a tough task.

 Man Utd leave it late as Zirkzee scores on debut, Maresca’s Chelsea left powerless against Man City, and other exciting developments at the start of a new Premier League season. Read the article to catch up on the top stories from the weekend!  Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today