The talk of an under-spending and underperforming Arsenal was quickly blown out of the water as the Gunners took a six-goal lead away from home at Goodison Park before winning 6–1 on Saturday against Everton, last season’s fifth-place finisher.
Denilson gave the Gunners the lead with a 25-yard blast. New Belgian signing Thomas Vermaelen, who was not properly marked by a shaky Everton defense, headed home a cross for Arsenal’s second goal after 37 minutes.
Everton looked like a team that were out of sorts and were continuing from their dip in form the end of the last season. Joleon Lescott’s allegations of not being in the right frame of mind to play looked evident and likely added to a lack of team unity.
Lescott being prized away from Everton to join the big spenders Manchester City looks to be unstoppable, even if it is against the wishes of Everton manager David Moyes.
William Gallas added a third and Cesc Fabregas scored two to make it 5–0.
Arsenal substitute Eduardo joined in the rout, tapping in the sixth before Louis Saha slotted one in for consolation in injury time, and the home crowd cheered.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told the BBC: “You have to accept that one game is only one game, what is important is that we have the desire and believe in our qualities.
“Everybody in our team can score goals and everybody likes to go forward so when things go for us like today, anyone can score.”
Everton manager David Moyes told the BBC: “You deal with it and you move on so we’ll look it at it and try to do better next time.
“We have to pick ourselves up quickly. There’s no positives you can take out. We didn’t play well today and we have to take the blame.
“We’ve had pre-season problems but mainly because we haven’t been able to get players playing.”
New Gunners center back Vermaelen performed well and partnered well with Gallas at the heart of their defense. So far, there seems to be no visible loss with Kolo Toure out of the picture now.
“The Champions League [against Celtic on Tuesday] is a big game for us and we know we need a positive performance,” said Wenger, whose team finished fourth last season and thus does not get an automatic entry to the lucrative group stage of Europe’s premier club competition.
An injury time winner from Didier Drogba helped ease the pressure on the new Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti and left Hull with zero points after a sprightly performance.
New Tigers signing Stephen Hunt gave Hull the lead just prior to the half-hour mark to stun the home crowd but it wasn’t long after that that Drogba blasted a free kick in from 25 yards over a defensive wall.
Chelsea had plenty of chances in the match to make the game safe and did dominate thoroughly, as one would expect. If it were not for an excellent display from Hull keeper Boaz Myhill, denying Nicolas Anelka and Jose Bosingwa, the points would have been secured for the home side early on.
Hull looked to have made it once the 90 minutes were up, but when the fourth official raised the board for six minutes of extra time the home crowd spurred on their team with extra vigor.
The break-through came when Drogba initiated a one-two combination with Deco, asking for the ball back and drawing Myhill out from the goal. Drogba then chipped Myhill with what looked like a cross toward the far post. The ball found the back of the net to make the home crowd go wild.
Emmanuel Adebayor kick started his and Man City’s Premiership campaign by finishing off a nice move in the third minute with a well-executed drive.
City keeper Shay Given was in prime form producing good saves to deny a header from Chris Samba and Benny McCarthy as the home team pushed to get back in the game.
Blackburn kept on pushing to get into the game but the chances were harder to come by as the Man City defense managed to tighten things up.
Rovers had a penalty claim when Keith Andrews’ volley hit Richard Dunne’s arm but the spot kick was not given and it would have been harsh if it were.
Robinho had a couple of shots on target for City but did not really get into the game. He came off in the second half for Carlos Tevez, who made his Man City debut.
The Argentine almost followed suit with Adebayor’s example by scoring in his first game but was foiled by Robinson.
Despite all the money at City going into building a new team, it was the homegrown talent of Stephen Ireland who coolly made Robinson and Blackburn’s defense look silly as he slotted one in at the near post in injury time.
“I think it [the final score] was very harsh,” Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce said. “Our failing today was in the poor quality of our finishing.
“But their goalkeeper Shay Given also made one brilliant save after another and that kept them in the game.
“We should have gone in at half-time in front. In the second half we couldn’t quite manage to achieve the same tempo. It is very disappointing.”
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes told the BBC: “Many people might have been looking to see if we were going to fall flat on our face today and I thought we gave a great response.
“You saw great character from City today. If we continue to play with the character we showed today, then we will keep progressing.
“We stood up to the challenge and we showed the qualities we will need.”
Saturday’s start to the new Premier League campaign was a good one for the road teams as the visitors won six out of eight games.
Defending champion Manchester United kicked off the new season with a 1–0 win over newly promoted Birmingham. Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the game.
In North London, Tottenham Hotspur upset Liverpool 2–1. Benoit Assou-Ekotto gave the home team the lead just before half time but Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard equalized from the penalty spot in the 56th minute.
French defender Sebastien Bassong scored the winner for Spurs in just three minutes later. Bassong was picked up from relegated Newcastle earlier this month.
The Premier League will feature games this Tuesday and Wednesday.
Denilson gave the Gunners the lead with a 25-yard blast. New Belgian signing Thomas Vermaelen, who was not properly marked by a shaky Everton defense, headed home a cross for Arsenal’s second goal after 37 minutes.
Everton looked like a team that were out of sorts and were continuing from their dip in form the end of the last season. Joleon Lescott’s allegations of not being in the right frame of mind to play looked evident and likely added to a lack of team unity.
Lescott being prized away from Everton to join the big spenders Manchester City looks to be unstoppable, even if it is against the wishes of Everton manager David Moyes.
William Gallas added a third and Cesc Fabregas scored two to make it 5–0.
Arsenal substitute Eduardo joined in the rout, tapping in the sixth before Louis Saha slotted one in for consolation in injury time, and the home crowd cheered.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told the BBC: “You have to accept that one game is only one game, what is important is that we have the desire and believe in our qualities.
“Everybody in our team can score goals and everybody likes to go forward so when things go for us like today, anyone can score.”
Everton manager David Moyes told the BBC: “You deal with it and you move on so we’ll look it at it and try to do better next time.
“We have to pick ourselves up quickly. There’s no positives you can take out. We didn’t play well today and we have to take the blame.
“We’ve had pre-season problems but mainly because we haven’t been able to get players playing.”
New Gunners center back Vermaelen performed well and partnered well with Gallas at the heart of their defense. So far, there seems to be no visible loss with Kolo Toure out of the picture now.
“The Champions League [against Celtic on Tuesday] is a big game for us and we know we need a positive performance,” said Wenger, whose team finished fourth last season and thus does not get an automatic entry to the lucrative group stage of Europe’s premier club competition.
Chelsea 2, Hull 1
An injury time winner from Didier Drogba helped ease the pressure on the new Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti and left Hull with zero points after a sprightly performance.
New Tigers signing Stephen Hunt gave Hull the lead just prior to the half-hour mark to stun the home crowd but it wasn’t long after that that Drogba blasted a free kick in from 25 yards over a defensive wall.
Chelsea had plenty of chances in the match to make the game safe and did dominate thoroughly, as one would expect. If it were not for an excellent display from Hull keeper Boaz Myhill, denying Nicolas Anelka and Jose Bosingwa, the points would have been secured for the home side early on.
Hull looked to have made it once the 90 minutes were up, but when the fourth official raised the board for six minutes of extra time the home crowd spurred on their team with extra vigor.
The break-through came when Drogba initiated a one-two combination with Deco, asking for the ball back and drawing Myhill out from the goal. Drogba then chipped Myhill with what looked like a cross toward the far post. The ball found the back of the net to make the home crowd go wild.
Blackburn 0, Manchester City 2
Emmanuel Adebayor kick started his and Man City’s Premiership campaign by finishing off a nice move in the third minute with a well-executed drive.
City keeper Shay Given was in prime form producing good saves to deny a header from Chris Samba and Benny McCarthy as the home team pushed to get back in the game.
Blackburn kept on pushing to get into the game but the chances were harder to come by as the Man City defense managed to tighten things up.
Rovers had a penalty claim when Keith Andrews’ volley hit Richard Dunne’s arm but the spot kick was not given and it would have been harsh if it were.
Robinho had a couple of shots on target for City but did not really get into the game. He came off in the second half for Carlos Tevez, who made his Man City debut.
The Argentine almost followed suit with Adebayor’s example by scoring in his first game but was foiled by Robinson.
Despite all the money at City going into building a new team, it was the homegrown talent of Stephen Ireland who coolly made Robinson and Blackburn’s defense look silly as he slotted one in at the near post in injury time.
“I think it [the final score] was very harsh,” Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce said. “Our failing today was in the poor quality of our finishing.
“But their goalkeeper Shay Given also made one brilliant save after another and that kept them in the game.
“We should have gone in at half-time in front. In the second half we couldn’t quite manage to achieve the same tempo. It is very disappointing.”
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes told the BBC: “Many people might have been looking to see if we were going to fall flat on our face today and I thought we gave a great response.
“You saw great character from City today. If we continue to play with the character we showed today, then we will keep progressing.
“We stood up to the challenge and we showed the qualities we will need.”
Saturday’s start to the new Premier League campaign was a good one for the road teams as the visitors won six out of eight games.
Sunday Action
Defending champion Manchester United kicked off the new season with a 1–0 win over newly promoted Birmingham. Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the game.
In North London, Tottenham Hotspur upset Liverpool 2–1. Benoit Assou-Ekotto gave the home team the lead just before half time but Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard equalized from the penalty spot in the 56th minute.
French defender Sebastien Bassong scored the winner for Spurs in just three minutes later. Bassong was picked up from relegated Newcastle earlier this month.
The Premier League will feature games this Tuesday and Wednesday.
