MATCH REPORT: Arsenal vs Liverpool

It was another Premier League weekend that was marked with a clash between two of the heavy weights in the league. Liverpool sit the highest of the two in the table at the beginning of the night and would be looking to record their third consecutive win to maintain their 100% start to the campaign and sitting level with Manchester City with 9 points at the top of the table. Arsenal would be looking to build on last weekend's win and register their first home win of the season after a horrible start to the League against West Ham on the opening weekend. However, both teams were forced into making changes that affected their normal set ups, so the game was nicely poised between the two.

Liverpool certainly saw the better of the chances in the first half and looked increasingly dangerous as the half went on. In the early moments of the game, Emre Can set up Christian Benteke on the edge of Arsenal's 18 yard box, but his shot was narrowly wide of the near post. Only a minute later, the team was presented with another golden opportunity and this time it was Benteke who set up the chance. Philippe Coutinho took on the shot with his first touch and swerved it around, aiming for the far netting, but instead saw it bounce off the post before rebounding into play and getting cleared by Arsenal. 

Arsenal did get a couple of chances in front of goal, but they were wasteful. Nacho Monreal put a great cross in from the left to the far post where Alexis Sanchez tries to turn his header towards the goal, but he sent it just wide of the post. His second chance came within minutes after Liverpool failed to clear their lines. Martin Skrtel and James Milner both had their chances and it almost came back to them, but Sanchez missed the first attempt and was swiftly judged offside. It was another offside decision that stopped Arsenal from taking the lead as well. Santi Cazorla played a brilliant through ball to Aaron Ramsey on the edge of the 6 yard box who then slipped the ball under the keeper just before the flag went up. However, he was wrongly judged offside, and Arsenal fans weren't too happy about that decision. 

Arsenal's defence looked extremely shaky throughout the rest of the first half without Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny. 15 minutes in, Calum Chamber gave the ball away inside his own penalty area instead of clearing the ball, but Francis Coquelin made a good tackle which prevented the shot being taken. None of the Arsenal defenders were closing down the ball either which allowed Milner to make a run into the box where Coutinho played him in after being gifted the ball. Milner's first attempt at a square ball to his team-mate was cut out but he got a second chance but saw it turned off the near post by Petr Cech.

Benteke had another good chance as the half came to a close as well. Roberto Firmino, in his first start for the club, squared the ball across the box in a dangerous position that prevented the Arsenal defender from a sliding clearance at the risk of an own goal, and Benteke came onto the ball at the far post and almost got the better of Cech, but the keeper did well to get down and turn the ball away. Coutinho pulled off some fancy footwork to work his way into space and took on the shot from close range, but for the second time in the half saw the woodwork come to Arsenal's rescue after a fingertips save from Cech.

It was Arsenal who saw the best of the second half though. Their defensive frailties seemed to have been left behind, and they looked a lot brighter, and it looked as though they might just be able to steal this came out from underneath Liverpool. Something that certainly seemed to have changed was the speed of Arsenal's play as they pushed the Liverpool defence back. Olivier Giroud alone had a lot of good chances. The first of these was only a half chance though, as the ball came across to the forward, but Skrtel had matched him and beat him to stop the danger and the second was an attempted first touch finish that ended wide of the far post.

On the hour mark, Sanchez had a great chance following a set-up from Mesut Ozil, and he took the shot from a very close, tight angle which almost came off for him, but instead the woodwork of the goal got in the way of yet another chance and the danger passed. Giroud racked up another chance after this when he was left in a lot of space in the Liverpool area after the defenders had been led away. He slipped as he took on the shot, but still managed to poke it towards the goal, but Mignolet's brilliant reaction save prevented him from getting his goal. 

Ramsey also got a couple of chances towards the end of the half, and he was desperate to score after having his earlier effort ruled out. His first shot was a curled effort around the defender (the initial pass to play him in was from Giroud), but Mignolet was left with a comfortable save in the end. His second chance did cause the Liverpool keeper some problems though. Ramsey carried the ball through a good run, and took on the long-range shot which was low. Mignolet needed two attempts, but managed to hold onto it before any of the Arsenal players could collect the rebound. 

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain proved to be a handful for Joe Gomez when he came onto the pitch, and one of his first contributions was a whipped cross into the box which Skrtel got his boot to in a clearance, and although he cleared it, it was almost at the expense of an own goal. Oxlade-Chamberlain also had a long-range shot that curled round towards the far post turned away by Mignolet deep into added time which marked the end of the match.

In the end, a draw probably served as the right result between the two teams. Both had their own dominant half in the game, and although there definitely should have been more goals if either team had taken their chances, it was a strong display overall, especially defensively from Liverpool's points of view. This means the away side continue their unbeaten run at the beginning of the season, not quite level with Man City's record, but they are still sitting pretty at the top of the table for the time being. However, Arsenal's home form might be a slight worry for Arsene Wenger, but this early on in the season, there is still a lot of time for things to improve.

MATCH REPORT: Man City vs Chelsea

It's the first big battle between two of the heavy weights in the Premier League as the last season's runners-up welcome the Champions. Chelsea didn't have a great run out last week after losing their goalkeeper and dropping 2 points, while Manchester City certainly started with style. They dominated their opening game and came out with a 3-0 to show for it. It will still be an interesting game judging by these games last season which showed off both team's attacking and defensive qualities. In a game like this though, anything could happen.

It was City who came out of the blocks flying and they certainly took the game by the scruff of the neck within the opening minutes of the game. Sergio Aguero, especially, proved to be a big threat to the visitors from the very beginning. Within the first minute, David Silva had slipped a ball through to him, and he got in between the two defenders before forcing Asmir Begovic to make himself big to stop him from scoring. Shortly after, Aleksander Kolarov swings his free kick round to the near post where Aguero almost managed to get his boot to it, but Begovic was placed well to catch the ball anyway. 

In the 15th minute, Aguero had another chance in front of goal. His shot was powerful and was heading towards the bottom left corner before Begovic got down to block the shot with his arm. Not even a minute later, Aguero had a similar chance. This time he was on the left corner of the six-yard box and hit the shot with just as much power and Begovic pulled off a similar save to deny him again. Five minutes after this one, Aguero had his fifth chance of the first half after John Terry couldn't deal with a cross into the box at the risk of him scoring an own goal. Aguero failed to sort his feet out quick enough though and the scuffed shot went wide of the post as Begovic closed him down. Aguero even applauded the keeper for his many successful saves against him. 

Somewhere between Aguero's quick hat-trick of chances, Chelsea managed to find a foothold in the game. They finally had their first big chance of the game following a Cesc Fabregas free kick which on its first go didn't cause any problems, but City couldn't close the Chelsea players down quick enough. Eden Hazard eventually managed to chip the ball towards Nemanja Matic at the near post, but the midfielder could only direct his header wide of the post. They also had a few long range efforts from outside the box, but it looked like they were finally going to prove a threat to their opposition. 

However, even though they had started to look good when moving forward. It was a different story when they came to defending. It took until just after the half hour mark for Aguero to finally get the better of the Chelsea defence. No pressure was put on him from the Chelsea defenders until it was too late, and even then he managed to turn three of the defenders before he calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left of the goal. The goal certainly unsettled Chelsea and they almost came unstuck again just before half time when Kolarov put a brilliant free kick into the box which Eliaquim Mangala got his head to. He chose to just glance the ball onto the target though, not putting enough power behind it, meaning the ball ended wide of the post. 

Chelsea did come out for the second half looking like a more confident team. Ramires had an early goal wrongly disallowed after some good build-up play from Chelsea that finally took them past the City defence. Hazard switched the play from right to left before coming in to the centre of the field to slip the ball through to Ramires in the middle of the 18 yard box. He lifted the ball past Hart, but it was quickly disallowed to keep City in the lead. Chelsea had another chance to pull a goal back on the counter attack after City committed too many men forward. Diego Costa lead the attack and almost lost the ball before he pulled it back to Hazard who hit the ball hard, but straight at the keeper and Joe Hart pulls off a great save to prevent the goal. 

10 minutes later, the City captain made Chelsea rue the chances that they missed. Silva floated a corner into the near post where Vincent Kompany got the better of Branislav Ivanovic and headed the ball against the inside of the far post to help the ball into the back of the net. It was another poor goal for Chelsea to let in, especially as this goal was extremely similar to the one he scored in his last game. Yaya Toure followed this up a few minutes later with a shot from the edge of the box that curved round as he sent it towards the goal, but Begovic was in the right place to turn the ball away.

Minutes after this, Chelsea defence was given the run around once again as Fernandinho finished off the game for City. It was a City counter attack led by Samir Nasri that started it, but the initial cross into the box was turned away by Juan Cuadrado, who had drifted into the left back position. After a few half chances, the ball landed to Fernandinho outside the box and he hit the ball sweetly and the power of the shot carried it into the bottom left corner of the net. The goal might have been prevented though if Cuadrado had stayed in his defensive position instead of drifting off, and Chelsea fans would argue that Fernandinho was lucky to still be on the pitch after he only saw a yellow card for an elbow on Costa at the end of the first half. 

The game ended with Chelsea attacking the City goal in the hopes of simply getting a consolation goal. Costa had his go first but could only direct his shot against the near post, and Radamel Falcao followed this up, but Hart came out of his goal quickly to smother the shot and keep his clean sheet. 

So, the defending champions new title challenge has gotten off to a pretty dismal start, and Jose Mourinho will need to think about improving his side's defence if they want to catch up to City in the coming matches. However, it is looking good for City as they challenge for the title this time out after moving 5 points ahead of Chelsea and recording two very convincing, consecutive 3-0 wins. It is still early on though, and anything could happen over the course of the season knowing the Premier League...

Premier League: Opening Weekend

The new Premier League season was kicked off with a big fixture as Manchester United faced off against Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs were particularly dominant in the opening exchanges of the match, and had two chances from Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane to prove this. However, they didn't make the most of this period and they came to regret it after a sloppy piece of play by Nabil Bentaleb which gave the ball to Juan Mata. He played the ball across to Matteo Darmian on the right, and he put a brilliant cross into Wayne Rooney in the six yard box. He hesitated to take the chance, and Kyle Walker tried to clear the ball out from behind, but instead saw the ball nestle neatly into the corner of his own net. United grew in confidence following this, but didn't create any more clear cut chances until the second half. Spurs did have the chance to possibly snatch a late goal, but their pressure came too late, and United secured all three points thanks to debutant goalkeeper, Sergio Romero. 

Leicester seemed to pick up exactly where they left off. Even though Sunderland had the better chances early on, it was the home side that recorded the first goal through Jamie Vardy after he flicked the ball in off the inside of the post from a free kick. Riyad Mahrez followed this with two goals in quite quick succession. The first was a header flicked into the side netting from a Marc Albrighton cross and the second was from the spot after Lee Cattermole gave away the penalty kick. He sent the keeper the wrong way and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner. Sunderland had a reply though; Adam Johnson slipped the ball into the box where Jermain Defoe was in place to slot the ball under the keeper. Leicester weren't done yet though. After a number of failed attempts, Albrighton eventually managed to deflect his shot off Younes Kaboul which took it past the keeper. Steven Fletcher added another goal for Sunderland, but it came too late for them to mount a successful comeback.

Another team to pick up where they left off was Crystal Palace. Early in the first half, Wilfried Zaha had already put his team ahead. Jason Puncheon came down the right and put a brilliant cross into the box, which missed all the other players and landed to Zaha, in space, who turned the ball into the goal off the keeper. Damien Delaney followed this up from a Palace corner. Pape Souare made a last second run into the box, so wasn't picked up and headed it to Delaney on the post who calmly nudged it over the line. Norwich had a lot of chances in the game, but they didn't take any of them until the second half. Nathan Redmond managed to create something out of nothing as he took on the shot from outside the box and caught the keeper of guard as it hit the net. Cameron Jerome also had a great volleyed goal wrongly disallowed, as the referee pulled play back for a high boot. Yohan Cabaye rounded it all off for Palace though as he timed his run perfectly before he tucked the ball under the keeper.

On paper, it looked like new boys Watford would have a tough game against Everton as their first, but they made quick work of the match. They settled into Premier League life relatively quickly, and looked confident on the ball. Miguel Layun was in the right place on the penalty spot to lift the ball up and over the keeper to settle in the goal when Everton failed to clear their lines. Everton didn't have many good chances until midway through the second half. Seamus Coleman crossed the ball into Arouna Kone on the edge of the box, who had his back to goal, so he teed up Ross Barkley who put some power behind his shot and watched it pinball through the players before it flew over the keeper. Watford took the lead again though when Odion Ighalo took the ball past John Stones and curled the ball around the defender and the keeper. However, it was Kone who had the last say in the match when he converted his late goal from a tight angle on the right side of the box. 

Bournemouth also looked comfortable in their first half against Aston Villa, and they created a lot of chances that would have allowed them to take a foothold in the game. Villa did well to defend against these chances though and came out for the second half looking like a different team. It was new boy Rudy Gestede who proved to be the difference between the two sides. From a Villa corner, he rose above everyone else in the box and powered his header past the keeper and into the back of the net. Bournemouth just couldn't get past the defence though, and they learnt the hard way that they need to take their chances to go further in the Premier League. 

The defending champions faced off against Swansea as they mounted their challenge to retain their trophy. Swansea came closest to scoring at the beginning of the match, but it was Oscar who put his name on the score-sheet. A free kick taken from outside the left side of the box was whipped across the front of the crowd of players and settled into the side netting. Swansea had a reply for this shortly after though. Swansea had a number of chances before Andre Ayew eventually slotted the ball under Thibaut Courtois following this. They weren't level for long however, after Willian went up the other end and crossed the ball into the box, but it looped off Federico Fernandez and over his keeper. However, the game was flipped on its head when Courtois saw red and gave away a penalty for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity. Gomis sent the keeper the wrong way and the goal gave Swansea a new sense of confidence. Chelsea did rally towards the end, but it was too late to get anything. 

Arsenal were looking confident at the beginning of their match after last week's Community Shield win over Chelsea. They had a particularly good spell at the beginning of the half, one in which they didn't take their chances, which allowed West Ham to really come into the game. Both teams had half chances in the lead up to half time, but this was when West Ham found their breakthrough. A free kick is looped into the box and Petr Cech came flying out of his goal to punch the ball away, but Cheikhou Kouyate beat him to it and powered his header into the empty net. Arsenal looked clumsy and laboured after this goal, and it carried on into the second half. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain couldn't clear his lines and was dispossessed by Mauro Zarate on the edge of the box. He turned and fired the shot into the bottom corner past a wrong-footed Cech. Although Arsenal had more chances towards the edge of the game, West Ham did well to defend their lead. 

Newcastle under their new manager in this game looked a completely different side to the one that finished last season. They made a bright start to the match and confidence flowed through them as they registered the better chances of the two teams. Against the run of play though, it was Graziano Pelle that put the visitors ahead. Cedric Soares put a brilliant ball into the box and Pelle got up well and had no trouble powering his header past the defenders and Tim Krul. Just before half time, Newcastle fought back. Massadio Haidara's cross looped up off Sadio Mane and Papisse Cisse simply had to chest the ball over the line from close range. Newcastle took the lead through a counter-attacking goal when Gabriel Obertan whipped his cross into the box where Georginio Wijnaldum guided the ball into the net past the stranded keeper. Shane Long finished the game off with another perfectly placed header when he beat his defender to the ball at the far post.

Fans had high hopes for the match between Stoke City and Liverpool after Stoke recorded a 6-1 thrashing over their visitors. This match couldn't have been more of an opposite from that one though. The beginning of the game was extremely cagey and very lacklustre compared to that game when Stoke were 5-0 ahead by half time. The home team did have the better of the first half chances though, the best of which came from ex-Liverpool defender Glen Johnson when he hit the ball over the crossbar. The second half saw Liverpool grow into the game though, but Stoke were still managing to contain them and turn away the chances. Late in the game, Liverpool picked the ball up midway through the Stoke half and Philippe Coutinho turned past Steve Sidwell and sent his long-range strike into the top of the net and over Jack Butland. Stoke had a few late chances, but were ultimately unlucky not to get anything out of the game. 

The opening weekend ended at the Hawthorns with a first half that was dominated by City, and although Tony Pulis set his team up in a defensive set-up, it just didn't work. Yaya Toure got two goals within a short period in the first half. His first is a slight doubt between him and David Silva. Toure scuffed his initial shot and it took a deflection off Silva and Craig Dawson before nestling into the bottom of the net. The second certainly had no doubt over it though. From the edge of the box, he found the top of the net with a brilliantly struck shot that just cemented City's dominance in the game. West Brom were a lot better at the beginning of the second half, and managed to create a few chances which the City defence turned away. It was all over from a Silva corner though. Vincent Kompany made a run towards the near post and ended up turning the ball into the net using a mixture of his head and his shoulder. Even though it seemed like the visitor eased off after their third goal, West Brom just couldn't get past their defence to get their goal. 

MATCH REPORT: FA Community Shield

Less than a week before the new season truly begins, last season's Champions face off against the FA Cup winners of last season. This time out in the FA Community Shield, Chelsea faced off against Arsenal, who listed this Shield a year ago. Chelsea were without Diego Costa in this game due to injury and Petr Cech faced off against his old team after leaving them earlier in the summer, but would he get the better of his old team so early into the season? If the stats were anything to go by, it looked unlikely as Arsene Wenger had never been able to beat Jose Mourinho before.

Arsenal came out of the blocks extremely quickly in the game. Within the first minute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had crossed the ball into a dangerous position from the right, but Thibaut Courtois came out of his goal to get to the ball before Theo Walcott could cause any problems. Both teams were pushing forward when they got the chance with the ball meaning that there was a quick pace to the game in the opening minutes. Chelsea put together their first good opportunity on the 11th minute when Willian forced his way through the Arsenal midfield and passed the ball to Cesar Azpilicueta down the left wing. He put in a good cross, trying to find Loic Remy, but Hector Bellerin got across well to put the ball out for a corner. 

It was Arsenal who looked the more dangerous of the two teams in the first half though. The Chelsea defence did well to deal with the quick pace of the Arsenal front players and the short passes that they tried to play in between the defenders. Arsenal had a good chance from a free kick which was whipped into the box. Walcott got his head to the ball and flicked it on towards goal, but Courtois was in place to easily catch the ball and prevent the goal. Only a minute later though, Courtois had no chance of preventing what happened. Walcott got the ball in the middle of the field and passed the ball onto Oxlade-Chamberlain down the right. He was left one-on-one with Azpilicueta and got around him to create enough room to curl his shot around the defender and into the top corner with his left foot. 

Chelsea seemed to come to their senses following the goal and began to press forward with more intent. Just after the half hour mark, they almost got the better of Arsenal as the ball was slipped into Willian, who didn't have any players around him, on the left wing and his cross was put into a crowd of players in the middle of the box, but Arsenal cleared it. Ramires also had two good chances not long after this. For his first, he got past the 4 Arsenal defenders around him and tried to curl his shot around them, but it ended up wide of the far post. The second came from a Cesc Fabregas cross which Ramires got his head to, but again, he couldn't direct his shot on target. 

It was Arsenal who finished the half with good chances. Aaron Ramsey hit the side netting from close range, but it was close enough to the goal that it forced Courtois to dive low if he needed to prevent a goal. Oxlade-Chamberlain set up another chance as well after getting around two Chelsea defenders. It looked for a second as though he might have taken the ball too far, but he cut it back as Courtois came out to him. Good defending by Branislav Ivanovic meant that the danger was cleared after he put his head on the line. 

Chelsea started the second half brightly and looked like they may be able to get a goal back. However, even though they created some half chances, none of them looked like they were causing too much trouble for the Arsenal defence until the hour mark. First, a long ball over the top of the Arsenal defence caught them out, but Radamel Falcao couldn't get his boot to the ball. This was shortly followed by Fabregas putting a great ball into Eden Hazard on the edge of the box. He had a free run into the box, but he just couldn't make the most of the chance as the ball went wide of the target.

The introduction of Olivier Giroud was good for Arsenal, as the momentum swung back their way when he came onto the field. Another good cross from Oxlade-Chamberlain aimed towards the near post where Giroud had pulled away from Ivanovic, and he stretched his left leg out, but could only direct the shot over the crossbar. Not long after, Santi Cazorla wriggled himself away from his defender on the right of the six yard box and cut the ball back to Giroud, who again couldn't keep the ball down. 

Chelsea weren't finished yet though. From a free kick, Fabregas put the ball into a good area of the box where Kurt Zouma got up above his defender to direct his header. It was aimed towards the centre of the goal and Cech made a straightforward catch to prevent the goal. Another free kick minutes later was whipped in behind the defence was met by Ivanovic, who didn't get picked up for being offside, but he couldn't direct his header onto the target. 

In the last minute of added time, Kieran Gibbs had the chance to double Arsenal's lead and double Chelsea's misery. The ball was slipped through the defence and the defenders didn't stick to Gibbs as he tried to poke the goal towards goal. Courtois did really well to get down and smother the shot.

The result of this match means that Arsenal won the Community Shield for the second time in a row, and Wenger has finally gotten the better of Mourinho on the football field. Arsenal are certainly looking a strong and confident side on the pitch, and will be feeling confident going into the new season, especially with a win like this under their belt. Chelsea will also be feeling confident though as they await the return of Costa in the near future and they are, of course, the defending Champions and favourites to retain their trophy. It's going to be a very interesting season...