Manchester City top the English Premier League table after the first round of fixtures with a very convincing performance against West Bromwich Albion.

After Chelsea drew against Swansea and Arsenal lost at home to West Ham, City were afforded the freedom to play their opening fixture without any pressure. This is when the sky blues are at their devastating best. Toward the end of last season when Chelsea were too far out of reach, City started to play without pressure, and this is when they looked most dangerous.

Yaya Toure could well be about to hit that blistering form he showed two seasons ago, where his goals and presence were pivotal to City’s league title win. Against West Brom he totally commanded the midfield and passed the ball around at leisure. His two thunderous strikes gave his team an unassailable lead. Vincent Kompany’s precision header from David Silva’s corner was the icing on the cake. This was a promising start against a team that were very good defensively last season. This season City are chasing the title rather than trying to defend it, which should see them play without restrictions and hit their very best form.

Elsewhere it wasn’t quite the start that Arsene Wenger or Jose Mourinho had been hoping for, and it’s looking as though they may both yet dip into the transfer market before the window closes at the end of the month.

Chelsea, a team who had the best defensive record last season, were far from solid against a lively and energetic Swansea City attack. Mourinho is looking to freshen up in this area with the possible acquisition of John Stones from Everton. Though at the time of writing, bookies favour the young defender to stay on Merseyside.

With Arsenal once again there is talk of them requiring an out and out striker, with Karim Benzema’s name being thrown about a lot in recent weeks. Last weekend both Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott played but couldn’t break through the West Ham defence. Though it could have been a different story had Walcott been allowed a starting berth. A good note for Arsenal fans to take from this match is that when Alexis Sanchez came on he looked very threatening, if a bit sluggish – but his match sharpness will only arrive with full match fitness.

It’s still early days but the signs point to a very exciting season ahead.

Posted on August 13th, 2015 by scott
Filed under: Article