Manchester City saw their main Premier League title rivals get off to a flying start on Saturday before the champions stumbled upon Tottenham on Sunday.
Son Heung-min continued his phenomenal recent record against City with a single goal, while Pep Guardiola’s men drew for a third straight game in all competitions. Maybe there is someone in North London who could help them with this?
Manchester United and European champions Chelsea enjoyed themselves in front of a full house and Liverpool gave the reality of newly promoted Norwich City a check.
But these are the bare facts. Let’s dig in a bit to look at some of the more bizarre events of the Premier League opening weekend.
3 – Manchester City have lost three consecutive games in all competitions without scoring a single goal for the first time since March 2007 under Stuart Pearce. Alarming. pic.twitter.com/kWdvobiOEJ
– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 15, 2021
Uncertain start for the City
Guardiola hinted that his returning stars from Euro 2020 and Copa America may be underdone and they did. The 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium puts City in territory they are not used to.
We must go back to 2008-09 and the 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa for the first time that City had lost their first Premier League game.
That same season, Guardiola’s newborn tenure at Barcelona got off to an ominous start with a defeat to Numancia that indicated little of the upcoming treble victory. Since then, the Catalan had racked up 11 consecutive victories on matchday one.
Perhaps Spurs would always have stopped his run, Guardiola has now lost more away games to Tottenham (five) in all competitions than any other opponent in his career.
It’s also worth considering if he’s chasing the wrong Spurs forward. Only Jamie Vardy (nine) has more than seven Son goals against City since Guardiola took over in 2016.
7 – Son Heung-Min has scored more goals against Southampton alone (11) than against Manchester City (7) in all competitions for Tottenham, while only Jamie Vardy (9) has scored more goals in all competitions against Tottenham. South Korean Pep Guardiola’s Man City (7). Breakthrough pic.twitter.com/QMAyhRsegh
– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 15, 2021
Home comfort for United
Starting with a win is usually a habit on the other side of Manchester as well and United’s 5-1 scrapping of Leeds United marked the 20th time in the Premier League that the 20-time English champions had started with a win.
However, you have to go back to an August 2006 win against Fulham for the previous time they had scored five.
Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick and you have to go even further back for the last time it happened in the first week – all the way to Lou Macari who claimed the matchball against Birmingham City in 1977-78.
Fernandes may be United’s king of assists, but Paul Pogba has stolen the way by scoring four of five goals, surpassing the three Premier League assists he has managed all last season.
10 – Bruno Fernandes’ hat-trick is the tenth opening weekend in Premier League history, with Leeds the first club to concede two such hat-tricks in the competition (including Mo Salah last season). Magic. #MUNLEE pic.twitter.com/GQRwGCUHWA
– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 14, 2021
Vieira’s Eagles ashore at Stamford Bridge
New manager Patrick Vieira failed to change Crystal Palace’s luck at Chelsea as a 3-0 loss meant they lost more often to the Blues (19) than any other team in the division.
If Vieira can improve Palace’s efforts in the London derbies, he could be up to something. In their last 14 away games in the capital they have kept only one clean sheet, conceding 32 goals at a rate of 2.5 per game in the other 13.
Marcos Alonso’s goal was Chelsea’s 50th direct free-kick win in the Premier League, putting him in second place overall after Manchester United (64). Call it a David Beckham variable.
Christian Pulisic certainly enjoys seeing Palace take the opposition. Of the US star’s 14 Premier League goals, five came against Palace, 36 percent of the total.
50 – Marcos Alonso’s goal was Chelsea’s 50th direct free-kick goal in Premier League history, with only Manchester United (64) scoring the most in the competition. nice. #CHECRY pic.twitter.com/vbRrioKPAN
– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 14, 2021
Liverpool gr-8 and feeling great
Roberto Firmino had the honor of scoring Liverpool’s 8,000th goal in the English league when he scored second in a 3-0 win at Norwich. Manchester United (8,089) are the only other team to breach that limit.
Norwich have no wins in any of their last five Premier League debut games (3N, 6P). It is the first time they have lost three in a row since 1976-77, in the heyday of Macari.
Mohamed Salah made history by scoring for the fifth consecutive opening weekend, although these exploits may divert attention from the fact that he is also one of the best creators in the division.
Since joining Liverpool in 2017, only Kevin De Bruyne (50) has managed more than the Egyptian Premier League star’s 35 assists.
8,000 – Roberto Firmino scored Liverpool’s 8,000th Football League / Premier League goal, becoming the second team to score that total, after Man Utd (8,089). Milestone. #NORLIV pic.twitter.com/eQxeqxermR
– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 14, 2021