Category: English Premier League

Víctor Muñoz struck an 82nd-minute equaliser for Liverpool against Nottingham Forest in an entertaining Premier League draw at Anfield

The teams are out! Liverpool all in red, Forest wearing a third-choice shirt that looks awfully like a recent Manchester City number. You’ll Never Walk Alone rings out, as Liverpool principal owner John Henry and the new vice-chairman Amit Bhatia watch from the stand. We’ll be off in a minute … and that minute will see fans remember the legendary Kevin Keegan, the star of Bill Shankly’s second great team, who recently passed. The warmest applause from all four corners of the ground, a mosaic on the Kop that reads KEVIN 7, and a chant of One Kevin Keegan.

On the subject of Forest and big-money transfers … David Ornstein of the Athletic was on TNT Sports earlier, reporting the possibility of their buying 19-year-old midfield prospect Harrison Armstrong from Everton for £40m. Should that come to pass, it’ll probably result in the Hill Dickinson toppling into the Mersey, but only after the whole structure is launched a couple of miles into the air by the steam from Everton supporters’ lugs. Armstrong is extremely highly rated, but Forest have pockets full of cash after selling Elliot Anderson to Manchester City, so this one is worth keeping an eye on.

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Tottenham host Newcastle on Saturday while champions Arsenal face a trip to Aston Villa on Monday night

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Anfield

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Liverpool need midfield nous, Michael Carrick is already under pressure and Villa can bid farewell to Enzi Konsa

Enzo Maresca has a shiny new £85m midfielder he could select for a debut but, at 18 years old, he may want Ayyoub Bouaddi to have a bit of time watching on from the bench to learn about the Premier League from his elders. The Moroccan may not have anticipated one of those to be a centre-back by trade. Marc Guéhi will be eager to make a triumphant return to Crystal Palace and may well have the opportunity to do so from central midfield, where he played last weekend in the victory over Bournemouth, scoring the equaliser. The centre-back was a surprise selection in the blocker role next to Elliot Anderson, but equipped himself admirably and was not limited to the dirty work, often being found in more advanced positions in open play and happy to have the ball at his feet. His long-term future is unlikely to be outside of defence but further proof of Guéhi’s adaptability will be a positive for Maresca, as a long season awaits. Will Unwin

Crystal Palace v Manchester City, Friday 8pm (all times BST)

Liverpool v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 12.30pm

Bournemouth v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Coventry v Hull, Saturday 3pm

Tottenham v Newcastle, Saturday 5.30pm

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Possession numbers, the intense physicality and the pure rhythm of games all felt noticeably new as the season began

There has been something oddly narcotic and moreish about the drip‑drip of fresh Pep Guardiola content either side of the start of the new Premier League season. Eras come and go. Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact. But four‑part Amazon Prime documentaries make angels of us all.

So we have continued to feast on the Pep-at-City visuals: dead jeopardy, reheated beefs, the uplifting team talks of a departed manager to the departed players of a departed team, and moments that often feel far more gripping than the daily churn of what we must, out of habit, call the real world.

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Cole Palmer capped a majestic performance with the decisive third goal as Chelsea edged Fulham in a brilliant game

Joao Pedro, Chelsea’s new No9, has scored after 30 seconds. Cuenca’s driven ball out of defence was headed whence it came by one of the Chelsea centre-backs. Palmer slipped a simple* first-time pass through to Joao Pedro, who dinked the ball decisively over Leno.

* For him.

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Sunday’s draw with Newcastle shows Andoni Iraola’s new ideas as manager will need to overcome the squad’s lack of balance

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The good news for Liverpool is that, Arsenal aside, every other team with vague title aspirations who played over the weekend looked undercooked, and that Andoni Iraola’s men did, in the end, come away from Newcastle with a point. But the vulnerability to the counter that undermined them so often last season has not gone away, and nor have they suddenly found a new creativity under Iraola.

The main theme of the first three days of the new season was the value of stability. Manchester City under a new manager were poor and fortunate to overcome Bournemouth. Aston Villa, after big changes of players and backroom staff, were hammered at Brighton. Tottenham, midway through yet another overhaul, were dismal in losing at Brentford. Manchester United at least provided a degree of stability by looking very much like the United of the past decade in their defeat to Hull.

This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here.

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Manchester United’s under-powered attack, Brentford’s £39m bargain and Dewsbury-Hall delivers for Everton

Arsenal’s treatment of Gabriel Martinelli has been questioned by Ian Wright after the Brazil forward was left out of their squad for Friday’s opening game against Coventry. Martinelli turned down a move to Galatasaray last week after Arsenal had agreed a fee with the Turkish club and the former striker Wright revealed on Sky Sports after the Coventry game that no one at the club has spoken to the 25-year-old to discuss his future. “I know they might want him out, and a lot of people might say, ‘yeah, it’s time for him to move him on’. But there’s ways of doing that and it should suit him as well, how he wants to leave,” said Wright. “He’s done enough with this squad to be treated with a little bit more respect than he’s being treated with at the moment.” Ed Aarons

Match report: Arsenal 3-0 Coventry

Match report: Brighton 4-0 Aston Villa

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Before kick-off a banner was raised in the Gallowgate End inscribed with a quotation from the late Kevin Keegan. “I want people to dream about their football,” it read. “We should all be dreamers at heart.”

Out on the pitch it swiftly became apparent that both Matthias Jaissle, Keegan’s latest successor in the Newcastle dugout, and Liverpool’s new manager Andoni Iraola are on individual missions to create forms of organised chaos capable of subjecting the best opponents to torrid nightmares.

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“WELCOME BACK ENZO” read the tifo beforehand and by the breathless close this was a joyous return for Manchester City’s new manager, Enzo Maresca, as a damaging loss became a memorable win due to Marc Guéhi’s 84th-minute equaliser and Josko Gvardiol’s added-time winner.

Until then, Marco Rose had been closing in on leading Bournemouth to a first ever away victory at City. But two lapses in defence and suddenly City were the ruthless proposition they had failed to be before.

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• ‘You need to be good at recruiting the next one’

• Maresca’s City take on Bournemouth on Sunday

Enzo Maresca has brushed off the loss of Rodri to Barcelona for £65m by stating Manchester City will search for the “new Rodri” in the same way Sergio Agüero was replaced by Erling Haaland.

Rodri’s departure is a sizable blow to the club’s new manager as he embarks on a first season in charge. Yet the Italian is not fazed by the absence of a player considered one of the world’s best No 6s.

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New-look Spurs were outclassed by Brentford, for whom Mamadou Sangaré had a debut to remember

The teams are out! Brentford wear their red and white stripes, while Spurs are in their blue, pink, purple and many more colours away kit. According to the marketing blurb, which presumably took upwards of 30 seconds to write, these are “never-before-seen visuals inspired by never-before-seen destinations”. They haven’t even tried to make anything up. No spurious allusions to local industry, significant figures, bus routes? Proper feet-on-the-desk vibes there. Anyway, we’ll be off in a minute.

Roberto De Zerbi speaks to Sky. “We have big confidence because all three [debut defenders] are very important players with experience and qualities … we have no problem with them … [Archie Gray, stand-in captain for the day] is very young but has a big personality … he deserves to be captain today … we do not have the complete squad today … but no excuses … the quality is enough to complete … [Brentford] have a clear style … very strong … we have to adapt … the Premier League is a very tough competition and we have to play in our way.”

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There were victories for newly promoted Hull City and Ipswich Town, while Leeds United and Everton also got their campaigns off to winning starts

Championship: Millwall have doubled their lead against Norwich, with Tairyk Arconte scoring his second goal of the game from a Jake Cooper knockdown at a set-piece. It’s 2-0 at the Den and hapless Norwich are staring down the barrel of their second league defeat of the season in two games.

Manchester United: The club has agreed a deal worth an initial £65m for Carlos Baleba and the 22-year-old Brighton midfielder will have his medical this weekend, writes Jamie Jackson.

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⚽ Live updates on the 12.30pm (BST) kick-off at the MKM Stadium
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Hull, naturally, are in orange too, with black stripes. United are in ivory as Bruno Fernandes gathers them for a pep talk.

The teams come out, and so do the fireworks. The MKM Stadium is a happy swirl of orange smoke.

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Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard were all on target as Arsenal began their title defence in style

Plenty of debutants in the cast tonight. Every single one of them will have been dreaming of something like this …

Mikel Arteta’s turn to talk pitchside to Sky. “The players need that desire to go again … I certainly have it … we have to create an opportunity … we don’t know what other clubs are going to do … we have to be the best version of ourselves … we have to deliver our game for 96 minutes every three days … if you are not capable of doing that, you are in trouble … we have to get better … we are trying to improve the team [in the transfer window] … but so far I am very happy.”

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New-look Tottenham head to Brentford on Saturday while Newcastle v Liverpool is the headline fixture on Sunday

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue MKM Stadium

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