Premier League Winners and Losers: Gameweek 1

So there it is, the first Premier League week is over with and only once have we seen a higher amount of goals on an opening weekend. 34 goals were scored in total with the 2003/04 season being the only to have higher (36). It felt somewhat refreshing to have a string of 3pm kick-offs on Saturday and with referees letting the game flow a lot more after seeing the positive impact it can bring at the Euros, this weekend felt like a win for football!

However, football can’t always be the winner, and we’ve taken a look at which teams and players were winners and losers on the first weekend of the 2021/2022 campaign.

Winners

Bruno Fernandes

Scoring your first hat-trick for a club is always special, but to do so on the opening day, as part of a 5-1 demolition job of rivals Leeds United, was a perfect start to the campaign for Bruno Fernandes. 

The Manchester United man completed his hat-trick after 60 minutes on Saturday, becoming the first player to score three goals on the opening day inside 60 minutes since Kevin Cambell did so for Nottingham Forest against Coventry City in 1996.

Only Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah scored more goals than Fernandes in the league last term with 18 to his name. As a result of his three goals the Portuguese midfielder’s odds have been cut from 25/1 to 8/1 in this season’s top goalscorer market.

Chelsea

The Blues have been a popular pick by pundits across the land to claim the Premier League title this season and it’s been a solid start after lifting the Super Cup, before a comfortable 3-0 win over Crystal Palace to give them three points on Saturday.

Goals from Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic and Trevoh Chalobah gave Thomas Tuchel’s side the perfect start at The Bridge. Add into that the addition of Romelu Lukaku, who resigned for a club record fee of £97.5m, and it’s been a really positive week for Chelsea. After the opening fixtures, the Blues have been clipped in from 9/2 to around 7/2 for the title with most firms.

Brentford

The Bees became the 50th team to play in the Premier League and the 10th from London when they played the first top flight fixture for 47 years on Friday.  Brentford took on Arsenal for the top flight’s curtain-raiser, where a total of 15 players made their Premier League debuts; 12 for Brentford and three for Arsenal. That’s the joint most of any game since 1993, but it was Brentford who came out on top with an excellent 2-0 victory.

Sergi Canos opened the scoring with Christian Norgaard adding a second with 17 minutes remaining to give Brentford a memorable win, priced at 3/1 pre kick off. Heading into the weekend Brentford had been 11/8 to be relegated this term, however after stinging the Gunners, they can now be backed at 5/2.

Paul Pogba

There’s been plenty of speculation this summer over the future of Paul Pogba but the World Cup winner put in a magnificent performance for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side in their 5-1 win over Leeds United on Saturday lunchtime. 

Pogba managed just three assists in the entire 2020/2021 campaign and bettered this figure on Gameweek 1, creating a remarkable four goals against Leeds. Paddy Power had the Frenchman priced at 50/1 to be the player with the most assists this season in their ante-post special market before this weekend, with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah being the only other player to create more than one goal this weekend.

Watford

The Hornets had been odds-on at 5/6 heading into the weekend to face relegation this season but three points against Aston Villa at Vicarage Road have given Xisco Munoz’s side a lovely start to the campaign.

Watford managed three goals before the 68th minute in their 3-2 win over Villa which included goals from Ismaila Sarr, Emmanuel Dennis and Cucho Hernandez. Bookmakers have since eased them in the relegation market out to around 13/8 which is a 38.1% implied chance.

Losers

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola’s side were priced odds-on at 8/11 before a ball was kicked to reclaim their Premier League title this season, but after a 1-0 defeat on Sunday to Spurs in the capital, they’ve been pushed out to 6/5.

Yesterday’s defeat was the fourth time that Manchester City have been beaten in Tottenham’s new stadium with the champions failing to score in each of those. Harry Kane did not feature in the matchday squad for Spurs, with a transfer to the Etihad now priced at 4/9 to happen before 3 September.

Burnley

One of the main reasons for Burnley remaining in the Premier League under Sean Dyche for all these years is by winning their home games against the sides around you in the table. This wasn’t the case on Saturday at Turf Moor with the Clarets throwing away a 1-0 lead to Brighton eventually going down 2-1. 

This is Burnley’s sixth consecutive season in the top flight and in that period they’ve recorded finishes of 16th, 7th, 15th, 10th and most recently 17th. Dyche’s side have spent just £12m this summer and are now as short as 13/10 with Paddy Power to drop down to the Championship and taste relegation this term.

Aston Villa

Despite the loss of Jack Grealish, Aston Villa fans have had plenty to be hopeful about this season after splashing the cash on Danny Ings, Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey. Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Watford had not been in the script and the way the newly promoted side cut through Villa could be a cause for concern.

Anwar El Ghazi was awarded the lowest WhoScored rating (5.53) of any of the 280 players who played this weekend with Matt Target (5.75) ranking 5th lowest after having a torrid time up against Ismaila Sarr. Dean Smith’s side do have home fixtures coming up next though against Newcastle and Brentford with Sky Bet going 10/1 for a top-six finish after being 5/1 before the weekend.