WHY SAY ANYTHING?

  Arsenal

The Gunners have finally won a game under Unai Emery at the third attempt. Having lost at home to Manchester City then away to Chelsea, not necessarily games from which they would be expected to pick up points at any stage of their evolution, they managed to overcome another side with another new manager who were also pointless from their opening games.

The difference is that West Ham’s aims for the season probably include a top half finish whereas this would represent a disappointing campaign for Arsenal who will be looking at top six, if not top four.

Emery’s players still need to adapt to his way of playing the game but his past record doesn’t particularly suggest that the next few seasons will be trophy-laden.

  Chelsea

The Blues have started life under Maurizio Sarri very well although they have been very lucky. After a respunding 3-0 win at Huddersfield they then looked as thought they would dish out the same treatment to Arsenal but didn’t. They allowed the Gunners back into the game, letting slip a 2-0 lead, and were fortunate to score a winner in the dying minutes.

The same applied against Newcastle where, having taken the lead through a penalty that wasn’t, they then conceded and had a last minute own goal to thank for the points.

So, at present, Chelsea are flattering to deceive and winning games they haven’t deserved to win. When they play the better teams they will lose these games so Sarri still has some work to do.

  Liverpool

Touted as being the team who will run City closest for the title they have also started with three wins.

They are another who has been unconvincing despite their good start. A comfortable 4-0 home win against West Ham was followed by a 2-0 win away at Crystal Palace. The win in London was fortunate in that they were also given a penalty that wasn’t and only scored their second very late in the game when Palace were chasing an equaliser.

They then scraped a 1-0 home win against Brighton. So the only aspect of their game which would be pleasing to their manager at present is the fact that they haven’t conceded a goal. Mind you, with a £67 million goalkeeper and a £75 million centre back, they shouldn’t concede all season!

The problem is that they have played three teams who may be struggling at the wrong end of the table by the end of the season and they have struggled to beat two of them.

Tomorrow we will take a look at Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur who, at the time of writing, are about to play each other at Old Trafford and may give us a better idea of how their respective seasons are going to pan out.

We will also look at Manchester City who, unlike Chelsea and Liverpool, have dropped points but still look better than their two challengers.

And finally…..

Having mentioned in our earlier pieces on Liverpool and Chelsea the fact that a couple of dubious penalties were awarded the question arises, why was VAR not introduced in the Premier League this season.

Having been successful during the World Cup the only argument we can think that the FA may put forward is that they don’t think it’s ready yet.

That, of course, is all balderdash and piffle. It is a video system which allows referees to replay an important incident in order to bring about the correct decision. It is black or it is white. There is not, or shouldn’t be, any room for argument. Had the system been in use this season then Liverpool and Chelsea may not have 100% records having both been awarded penalties that VAR would have undoubtedly proven to be incorrect.

So the FA have decided that a system which consistently gets things right and was good enough for the World Cup isn’t good enough for the Premier League but referees, who consistently get things wrong, are good enough.

Yet another example of some forked tongues being allowed to flap and some little-used brain cells being given the tiniest amount of exercise.