Arsenal faces its stiffest test of the young season when high rolling Chelsea pays a visit to the Emirates on Sunday. After swatting Coventry in the league’s opener two weeks ago, Arsenal was businesslike, if less than impressive, against an Aston Villa side reeling from transfer window departures. Now undefeated Chelsea under new manager Xabi Alonso arrives for a London derby against the Gunners.
Chelsea has been living dangerously, bagging two wins despite allowing five goals over the first two matches. Only Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace have conceded more goals than Chelsea. Meanwhile, there is still some question as to whether Arsenal has enough firepower to successfully defend its title after winning the Premier League last season on the strength of its defense and set piece proficiency. Deals for Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior and Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez failed to reach the finish line. Leonardo Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri left the club while Christos Tzolis, formerly of Belgian side Brugge is the only addition of note. Chelsea midfielder Morgan Rogers was another player that Arsenal was rumored to covet but the attacking midfielder instead departed Aston Villa for the Blues. Rogers and best mate Cole Palmer will need to be at their best to deliver a first win for Chelsea over Arsenal in twelve meetings. Preparing for Sunday's challenge. ✊ pic.twitter.com/vLj9mFY0fM
While Arsenal and Chelsea have both won their two matches to date so far, Liverpool is yet to edge into the win column, drawing both league matches under new manager Andoni Iraola. The former Bournemouth manager should have a good chance at that elusive first league win when his Reds visit Ipswich Town to begin the Premier League match weekend schedule on Friday.
Frank Lampard is also looking for his first win this season but is far less likely to find it when Coventry City, which was hammered by Arsenal in the league opener and then tripped up by fellow newcomer Hull last week, must now travel to the Etihad to face Manchester City and its galaxy of stars led by striker Erling Haaland.
Unbeaten and untied Hull, meanwhile, will try to keep the party going in front of its home fans versus Aston Villa on Saturday. A high scoring match should not be expected. Hull has yet to allow a goal this season. Aston Villa is yet to land a shot on target.
Nottingham Forest Manager Oliver Glasner gets a second chance to deliver a first win in front of the Tricky Trees home supporters when Forest welcomes Tottenham Hotspur. Like Coventry and Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur is yet to put a ball past an opposing goalkeeper this season, noteworthy in that Spurs had never before failed to score in the opening two matches of a Premier League season. This weekend Spurs could make more history as the north London club has never before lost the first three matches of a Premier League campaign.
Fulham and Crystal Palace are two other struggling London sides. The good news is that one of them is guaranteed their first point of the season when the two clash on Saturday.
No club, meanwhile, has been involved in matches with more aggregate scoring than the twelve goals recorded during Brighton’s first two matches. Interestingly, the Seagulls now host Leeds on Saturday with the Whites having scored just twice while conceding just once in their two prior outings.
Everton, despite a seemingly thin squad, are unbeaten after two weeks. The collapse of the deal to bring USMNT and Monaco striker Folarin Balogun to Merseyside leaves the Toffees seriously short of attacking quality. Everton was one of only three clubs last season to have a leading goal scorer with fewer than ten goals. That leading scorer for the Toffees, Beto, is now playing for Serie A side Fiorentina while Balogun was supposed to be the medicine for the Toffees’ ailing attack. Everton has failed to score in five of its last eight matches versus Manchester United which visits Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday.
Other Premier League matches this weekend include Newcastle United trying to snap an eight-match winless run in Premier League matches versus Bournemouth while their northeast neighbor Sunderland heads to Brentford where the Black Cats have failed to win in their last four visits to Gtech Community Stadium.
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