Chelsea 2 – Burnley 3

What a roller coaster of a game this was. The champions going 3-0 down on the first day of the new season, with media chaos ensuing. Words including “crisis” and “meltdown” have been thrown about when describing the London club. I would not be so quick to write Chelsea off though. Ultimately they did play 67 minutes of the game with 10 men and then a further 10 minutes with 9 men. Despite this they managed to stage an attempt at a comeback and were actually unlucky not to nick an equaliser. It must be acknowledged how well Burnley played as well. Sam Vokes was the key player scoring twice, with defender Stephen Ward also scoring a wonder goal. In defense they did look fragile at times, however, highlighted by their woeful attempt at an offside trap for Morata’s goal. For Chelsea there were still some promising performances for us draft fantasy managers. The Chelsea defenders proved attacking threats as they so often did last season. David Luiz scored, while Marcos Alonso forced a very good save from a free kick. Alvaro Morata was the real highlight though, coming off the bench to score the first goal and assist the second on his Premier League debut. Ultimately it is difficult to take a lot out of this game given the sending offs and starting lineup missing Hazard, Morata, Pedro and Moses. Chelsea’s lack of depth could come back to bite them in the next few weeks though, with suspensions to Cahill and Fabregas and tough fixtures to come. I wouldn’t go trading away Chelsea player too hastily though.

Arsenal 4 – Leicester 3

The Premier League opener for the season produced an absolute cracker of a game, reminding us why we missed the Premier League so much. The term ‘end to end’ doesn’t quite do this game justice. Both defenses looked shaky all game with Arsenal being particularly vulnerable to crosses. It should be recognised that Arsenal were missing Koscielny, Mustafi, and Mertesacker, which explains their lack of power in the air. Jamie Vardy was brilliant in exploiting the makeshift back line though, scoring twice, and he was looking more like the 24 goal striker we saw the season before last. At the other end of the pitch Arsenal also looked creative and capable of opening up the Leicester defense. Ozil and Lacazette’s partnership appears to be budding and I would expect both to be high point scorers this season. The unexpected star of the show, however, turned out to be Granit Xhaka, who bagged himself two assists. This performance may not necessarily provide an accurate picture of who is going to perform well for Arsenal this season, and with Mustafi and Koscielny returning to the starting lineup you expect them to be tighter at the back. Of course draft fantasy player of the season for 16/17, Alexis Sanchez, looks likely to stay at the Emirates and will soon be returning to the lineup as well. It will be interesting to see how Wenger sets up to accommodate all of his attacking options. You might well see the attacking threat of Xhaka diminished as a result, just due to the shear number of pointscorers in the team, so I probably wouldn’t be too hasty to take him from the waivers. Both Arsenal and Leicester looked bright though, and expect them to score a fair few goals over the course of this season.

Manchester United 4 – West Ham 0

What a statement this was from Jose Mourinho’s side. Prior to the game there were a few murmurs from pundits that Manchester United could mount a serious title challenge this season. After this performance the Red Devils have to be included in any discussion over who will win the title. New signings Matic and Lukaku sparkled in this emphatic victory. While Matic is not likely a great pick up due to his limited attacking threat, he did allow United to dominate and they conceded very few chances. The clean sheet never looked in doubt and with Matic in the team it would be of little surprise to see the spaniard between the sticks pick up the Golden Glove award. Going forward they attacked with pace that has seldom been seen at Old Trafford in recent years. Lukaku was the biggest danger man, scoring twice and seemingly often in the right place at the right time. There were a number of good attacking performances with Mkhitaryan getting two assists and Martial coming off the bench to get a goal and assist. Given the quality of Rashford’s performance it would be a surprise to see the frenchman start at the weekend though. I have very little to say about West Ham’s performance really. Their defence was ripped apart with relative ease and the forwards had no service whatsoever. They do have Lanzini and Antonio out injured and of course they will face easier opponents, so we shouldn’t place too much emphasis on this outing.

Newcastle 0 – Tottenham 2

A good opening day performance and a relatively comfortable win for Tottenham. Newcastle looked resilient in the first half, sitting deep and offering Spurs few chances. The game was obviously changed by the stupid sending off to Newcastle captain Shelvey in what turned out to be a feisty game, with Kane lucky to escape with just a yellow for a bad tackle earlier on in the game. The North London club exploited their man advantage and Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen ran the show, demonstrated perfectly by the Dane’s chip to the back post for Alli to volley in. Harry Kane was unlucky not to score as well, hitting the post in injury time, but he was unable to break his August curse. Newcastle weren’t a push over though and could prove a surprise package this season. While playing with 11 men they looked solid and compact at the back and Dwight Gayle looked menacing. There could be a few players in this Magpies team that could be valuable pick ups if you choose right. The next few games will give us a much better idea of who will successfully make the step up to the Premier League.

West Brom 1 – Bournemouth 0

This was not the most exciting game I’ve ever seen to be perfectly honest. It very much looked like first day jitters and neither team looked willing to really throw men forward and let the game open up. Bournemouth had 71% of possession but looked pedestrian and lacking ideas. West Brom should be commended for the defensive shift they put in and they sat deep for long sections of the game and frustrated the Cherries. Perhaps that says a lot about their tactical mindset, and so we would expect a fair few dull games, but for us draft fantasy managers that means a gold mine of clean sheets. Jay Rodriguez was the stand out attacking performer in this game, and his pace and trickery looked a danger all game. The Baggies’ other new signing, Ahmed Hegazi, also looked dangerous from set pieces and bagged himself 12 points after getting a clean sheet and the solitary goal in the game, making him the highest scorer of the week when you don’t include bonus points. He looks like he could be a smart waiver pick up given the tactics of the mastermind that is Tony Pulis on the sidelines.