Picks from the Premier League : Gameweek 1

The Premier League kicked off with its 26th season on Friday night when Arsenal hosted Leicester City in a stunning 4-3 thriller. The games which followed were equally enthralling, and Calcio Insider looks into two games which reminded us why we all love the Premier League;

Arsenal 4-3 Leicester City: The change of atmosphere at the Emirates was something you could sense from your TV sets. Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring with the joint fastest debut goal in just 91 seconds. From there, the Gunners faithful would have expected a clean victory but it was not to be with Shinji Okazaki levelling things just a few minutes later. Jamie Vardy put the Foxes ahead 2-1 before Danny Welbeck made it 2-2 seconds before the half-time whistle. Granit Xhaka had a poor night as his poor marking and foul pass led to the Foxes’ first two goals, and his day would only get miserable as his lack of concentration allowed Vardy to bag his second with a straight header from the corner. Eventually, it was left for Aaron Ramsey to pull things level in the 83rd minute while Olivier Giroud once again stole the headlines from the bench as he bagged the winner in the 85th minute. Arsenal were typically playing with no central defenders for the most of the second period, but they kept pushing to avoid a potential embarrassment in another curtain raiser.

Crystal Palace 0-3 Huddersfield Town: Huddersfield Town made their first appearance in the top-flight since 1972, and boy did they prove their mettle. The Terriers dropped off during the backend of the Championship season, but David Wagner made sure his team earned a long-awaited following successive penalty shootout wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Reading in the playoffs. Palace were one of the in-form teams in the second half of last term with victories over Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, and the Terriers would probably have thought a draw would be the perfect result. However, what happened on Saturday was a momentous occasion as a brace from Steve Mounie coupled with an early own goal from Joel Ward earned the Terriers all three points. Wagner’s team momentarily celebrated being at the top of the league standings before United usurped them following their 4-0 thumping of West Ham United on Sunday.

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