Back in the swing of things

Week one of the 2012/13 Premier League season is over and it was a pretty decent start wasn't it?! Unless you're a fan of one of the sides that lost anyway...

Chelsea 4-2 Reading - Chelsea look good and Eden Hazard could be the star of the season having already racked up 5 assists in 2 games (if you count winning penalties - as Fantasy Premier League do!). Torres is off the mark even if it was in very dubious circumstances. Today Chelsea have also signed Cesar Azpilicueta today from Marseille. Right back was arguably their weakest position - although Branislav Ivanovic has made a pretty decent fist of it at that position in the first week! I, for one, can't wait for new Match Of The Day pundit Mick McCarthy to discuss Azpilicueta and try to pronounce that surname! Reading can feel pretty hard done by having essentially lost the game by the third goal which Torres converted from an offside position. But I'm sure Brian McDermott won't have expected anything from the game beforehand, and the spirit shown by the Royals in coming back to 2-1 from 1-0 down bodes well for them. If Adam Federici can discover some consistency they may start picking up results.

It's hard to draw good conclusions about the season from the first week but if the opening weekend suggests anything it is that there isn't a gulf in class between the promoted sides and the rest of the league and they will make a very decent go of it this season. Norwich and Aston Villa fans in particular must be worrying about what lies ahead this season now I imagine.

Some issues ahead of this weekend's games:

First of all, Wolverhampton Wanderers bank manager must be the happiest man in the Midlands at the moment having received just under £25million today for Steven Fletcher and Matt Jarvis. These were two players who had requested transfers and wanted to leave the club, yet both have fetched over £10million in transfer fees! Steven Fletcher was never going to realistically stay at Molineux in the Championship given he scored 12 league goals in a failing relegated side. He will flourish at Sunderland where they play a system based around wingers, given that his heading is second to none. However, £14m seems a lot of money especially considering Tottenham signed Emmanuel Adebayor for just £5m. There are differences, yes, but both players wanted to leave their respective club and both scored over 10 league goals last year, while Wolves weren't motivated to sell like City were the Fletcher deal seems a bit steep. Matt Jarvis seems like a good signing for West Ham but again it comes at a high price since Jarvis can't really be considered a young prospect anymore since he's 26. This move seems like it's his chance to finally prove he can live up to the big reputation he gained as a youngster. Compare Jarvis' price to the £7m Chelsea paid for the young German winger Marko Marin who is 23 years old and the old 'English players are more expensive than foreign talent' argument begins to rear its head again, and with reason. Time will tell if the deals are worth it for those clubs, I suspect that Fletcher will be and most probably Jarvis too whose crossing for the big West Ham strikers like Carlton Cole could be a good combination.

Liverpool v Man City - This weekend could also be a big one for Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool. Last week's defeat to West Brom brought back ugly memories of last season's struggle on Merseyside and the win at Hearts in the Europa League didn't exactly instill confidence in the side's ability to bounce back. Brendan Rodgers' philosophy and style of play was always going to take a while to get used to for players and success won't come over night. Players like Charlie Adam, Jay Spearing, Jamie Carragher and even Steven Gerrard don't really seem to be suited to the quick passing and slick movement of a Rodgers' team and signings like Joe Allen and the likely signing of Nuri Sahin will probably see players such as those mentioned above (probably excluding Gerrard) start to be phased out. But Sunday's game is a completely different proposition for everyone concerned. Anfield against the champions will be an electric atmosphere and you just wonder if this could inspire the players to put in a good performance and shock the champions and all their naysayers. Even if they don't get a result Liverpool's owners need to give the new regime time to bed in and the players time to adjust to the new system, then Liverpool might be able to turn a corner. A result on Sunday could help speed up that process, and it wouldn't shock me if they get one. City's defence looked less than rock solid against Southampton, and a good day for 'Pool's strikers could punish them.

Prediction: Liverpool 1-1 Man City

Southampton v Wigan - Southampton enjoyed an eventful return to the Premier League last weekend and their performance against Man City must have been incredibly heartening for Saints fans. Rickie Lambert started on the bench last week but it is difficult to imagine he will still be there against the Latics on Saturday given his goalscoring cameo from the bench at the Etihad. He looked like a man full of confidence from last term after finishing as the Championship's top scorer. On the other hand, at the heart of Wigan's defence Ivan Ramis endured one of the worst debut performances I can remember in the Premier League era, and Lambert must be rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of coming up against Ramis this weekend. Wigan played Chelsea granted but they offered little in reality once they were 2-0 down and I think that St Mary's will be rocking with excitement at being back on the big stage and that will catapult Southampton to the win.

Prediction: Southampton 3-1 Wigan

Chelsea v Newcastle - Who could forget last season's epic encounter between these two teams. This game was witness to two spectacular goals by Papiss Cisse and one which was undoubtedly goal of the season - his infamous 'banana' shot (credit Jacob Steinberg). Chelsea have started the season really well as mentioned above and Newcastle got a creditable win against Spurs last weekend so this is a tough one to call. Chelsea have been shaky at the back, especially against Reading, and with the Dembas up front for Newcastle any chances that come Newcastle's way will most likely be snapped up. New signing Vurnon Anita may be drafted in to replace the injured Check Tiote and he is a similarly combative midfielder/defender who will probably be a solid signing for Alan Pardew, so Tiote may be missed less than you'd expect. I think Newcastle can nick a point here as Chelsea bump back to reality.

Prediction: Chelsea 2-2 Newcastle

This weekend neither C nor J will be attending any matches unfortunately, but this weekend will see the much anticipated match reports from C's visit to Loftus Road on Saturday and then Dean Court on Tuesday!

Enjoy the weekend's football everyone, we will!

C&J