Paul Merson gives his opinion on the opening weekend of the season, including a “vital” victory for Arsenal at Man Utd and the “impressive” routes of the wolves of Man Utd and Man City.
In his exclusive column for Skyssports.com, the Magic Man also gives his thoughts about the goalkeeper problems of United, the start of Tottenham under Thomas Frank and Chelsea's lack of advanced lead for the goal …
'Advantage Arsenal? Huge victory for Arteta in the midst of difficult luminaires'
The name of the game is winning.
Old Trafford is a difficult place to go, especially during the opening weekend, but Arsenal found a way to win.
They will have to improve because this was not the best displays. They had to trust a set again, but they got their goal and the defense was firm. They got over the line for a vital three points, especially with the match against Liverpool that soon emerged.
It was a must-win game with Liverpool away, Man City at home and Newcastle get away, but they will have to play better to get results in those games.
But advantage arsenal. The way I see it now is Liverpool and Man City to go to Old Trafford to win to match Arsenal, and that is a very positive at such an early stage of the season.
Special mention for Martin Odegaard. I thought he was back at his best.
There were a few times that he did not have the options on the countertop, and he also made a few wrong decisions, but he was so much better than last season.
If he can maintain those levels, that is a big plus for Arsenal.
'Impressive city steering warning'
Nobody even mentioned Man City in the run -up to the season.
It is as if nobody knew what to expect from Pep Guardiola and his side, but they really made an impression on me. It is as if we have forgotten how good they can be because of how bad they were last season. However, people are now starting to notice.
The victory at Wolves was a warning for the other parties who wanted to win the title.
I know it wasn't the most difficult game in Wolves, but on the opening day of the Premier League of the Premier League did not win from home.
It was the result of the weekend for me because nobody on football on Saturday called them as title winners. Everyone is on Liverpool or Arsenal, but the performance of City was a wake-up call for everyone.
There will be larger tests for them, that is certainly, starting on Saturday against Spurs, but they were very impressive.
'You can't win things without a good keeper'
It is rare in football that a club wins a league title, a Champions League, a euro or a world cup without a solid goalkeeper.
You have to have a good keeper because they save your points. David Raya won Arsenal -Points on Sunday, Alisson Becker is constantly doing it for Liverpool and Niererson has done it over the years in Man City.
Altay Bayindir has already lost the man Utd points with that mistake against Arsenal. It was a big mistake, ultimately a critical mistake.
I cannot emphasize how important a top goalkeeper is for a football club and Man Utd must now respond before the transfer window closes.
Apart from that mistake, Man Utd did well against Arsenal.
I was impressed by Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, but there are still enough that they have to work on to improve as a coherent unity.
Add a fit and fire from Benjamin Sesko and they will certainly cause a lot of team problems, but there is still enough to solve for Ruben Amorim.
They played as well as they could against Arsenal, but still lost the game. That is not the best sign for a team.
I still can't see them that they are not in the middle of the table, the end of the season without further improvement before the transfer window closes.
Stop Palmer, Stop Chelsea? “He needs help”
Chelsea was not good against Crystal Palace. The draw was worrying.
If Cole Palmer will not break down a team, I am not sure who is for Chelsea.
Palmer is now the city's conversation in a team talking to Chelsea. Teams try to stop him because they think he is stopping him, stop Chelsea. Stop Cole Palmer will be the message for West Ham on Friday. That's just how it is.
He needs some support. If opposition teams pick him up and mark him well, I am not sure what Chelsea has. Pedro Neto and Jamie Gittens have pace, but they struggled to beat their defenders on Sunday.
But he must also have a little faith in the team. He must stay as high as possible on the field, because when he gets frustrated, it becomes deeper and deeper. He becomes shorter and shorter to get the ball and it is so difficult to hurt a team from his own half.
It is difficult for Palmer. You have runners in the neighborhood if you get the ball and for me he doesn't have it.
It is not only everything on Palmer because Enzo Maresca also has to come up with solutions. He has to work out a way to get him the ball in areas where he can hurt teams. But for Palmer, patience is the key. He has to wait a little more for the ball instead of falling deep to come and get him.
You can't hurt anyone on the half line. He needs the ball in and around the box where it is special.
'You don't have to be Einstein to know how to play against PSG and Burnley'
I don't buy it with traces yet.
That was a must-win match against Burnley. I expected that it would be a bit tighter, so the honor for that, but it would have been a shock if they had not received all three points during the weekend.
It was a good result, but the acid test is yet to come. Let's see how they perform in Man City on the weekend and then we can start with a judgment.
People fell crazy about the PSG version, but there is still a long way to go for traces.
It was not difficult for Thomas Frank to change things, given what came earlier. The traces of Ange Postecoglou were so open, as open as you can ever look like from a football manager and team, so it would not need much to adjust.
You don't have to be Albert Einstein to find out how you can play against PSG. You need as many defenders as possible on the field. Then, against Burnley, you need as many attackers as possible on the field to continue to cause problems.
Many fans of Tottenham can already be said that it is, but the sour test is against Man City this weekend and he can set up to stop Pep Guardiola's game.