Manchester City & Liverpool Make A Statement

The brand new Premier League season is up and running, with all twenty teams getting a chance to show what they’re made of as we look ahead to the next nine months of action. As you can probably expect, most of the attention was focused on what was happening towards the top of the table with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.

Once again it’s looking pretty likely that these two will be the ones contesting the title race, with the ‘best of the rest’ being Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotpsur. As reported by BBC (and BBC again), both clubs got off to a pretty confident start in their mission to claim the title.

Baby steps

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool were first up, as they hosted new boys Norwich City at Anfield. The clash on Merseyside was the first of the brand new season, taking place on Friday night. From the word go it was clear to see Liverpool meant business, and by half time, that was painfully evident for Canaries fans.

A Grant Hanley own goal opened the scoring after just seven minutes, before Salah, van Dijk and Origi all ensured that the three points were wrapped up before the whistle blew for half time. Credit to Norwich, though, as they came out fighting in the second half, with Pukki scoring a nice consolation goal in what was far from an embarrassing display from them.

On the other hand, we had Manchester City. They travelled down to East London in order to take on West Ham United, who are hoping to break into the top eight – if not top seven – this season. The Hammers started off really brightly and showed themselves to be more than capable of holding City at bay, but once Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring after 25 minutes, the floodgates eventually opened.

Raheem Sterling wound up scoring a hat trick with Sergio Aguero netting a penalty, and in the middle of all that, a handful of important VAR decisions gave us a glimpse into what it’s going to be like for Premier League clubs this season. For better or worse, it certainly adds an element of ‘surprise’.

Going in for the kill

Based on what fans saw in these two games, it seems almost obvious to suggest that Manchester City are going to be the favourites to take home the crown once again. However, one thing we have come to learn over the course of history is that you should never rule out Liverpool Football Club.

There’s still a long way to go before we crown the champion of English football for 2019/20, but based on the early evidence, we’d say that we’re in for one hell of a ride.

Will any other sides spoil the party and enter the title race? It’s certainly plausible, but for the time being, we’re happy to see two of Europe’s finest going toe to toe as they attempt to keep up this frantic pace.

After all, this is the best league in the world.