What we learned from PL Week 1.
It's hard to believe - being Norwich City fan - that after a 4-1 defeat on the opening day of the new Premier League season, we are actually 16th in the table. And the Canaries showed some promise in winning the second half at least against a club that - I think - will take the title this year. Liverpool winning the Premier League will be a rite of passage for Jurgen Klopp as he rebuilds the legend created by Shankly and Paisley.
Manchester City were outstanding of course in demolishing West Ham 5-0 and Rodrigo looks to be an excellent acquisition for a team that was too reliant on Fernandinho's energy and defensive protection last year. Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire were among the Englishmen who seem to be getting better and that bodes well for Gareth Southgate as he builds towards a European Championship finals. On the subject of Maguire, I know ￡80 million is a lot of money to spend, but I was always convinced that a personality and ball player of his ilk would have the same effect at Manchester United as Virgil Van Djik had at Liverpool. He has started well.
Arsenal will be better as Unai Emery puts his own personality on that team and how refreshing that he has integrated youngsters like Willock and Nelson into a system that has Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the sharp end and I think he will go close to the Golden Boot this year with Harry Kane and Jesus, who will probably play more than Aguero this term.
The relegation situation will be hard to read from the opening day, but Sheffield United will be a tough nut to crack for anyone and Aston Villa have enough talent to survive. Norwich should score the goals they need as well. There were pre-season relegation votes for clubs like Brighton too, but they were outstanding under their fascinating new manager Graham Potter.
And what of VAR. Generally it worked well, decisions were speeded up and were almost universally correct and I saw great evidence of referees playing advantage effectively too which should mean the Premier League product will be enhanced.