Winners and Losers: Premier League Gameweek 2

After another enthralling weekend of the premier league action, it’s time to dissect the action and see who potentially turned a corner and who’s had a time forget in this week’s winners and losers.

Also read: Winners and Losers: Premier League GW1

Winners

We, the fans

What a weekend of football, especially the Chelsea vs Spurs game. The needle and the animosity between the managers added another layer to the game. It’s been a while since we’ve seen two managers from the top teams have a proper go at it.

While I am not condoning violence, the desire to win that both the managers showed was something that the Premier League has missed. The Wenger- Ferguson rivalry and Wenger-Mourinho rivalry are iconic, and Conte-Tuchel could be the next iconic rivalry.

The cheeky Instagram story that Conte came up with after the match, Tuchel flexing his biceps in the post-match press conference, is just fantastic. This is why we love the Premier League.

Dean Henderson

What a performance from young Henderson. After being lied to by Manchester United and made to warm the bench for an entire season, Dean has joined Nottingham with a point to prove, and till now, he’s been immaculate.

Granted, he was rescued by the crossbar twice, he did also save a penalty and make a plethora of saves to keep a clean sheet on his home debut. His performance helped Nottingham Forrest to their first win in the Premier League win in 23 years.

Gabriel Jesus

Arsenal may have just found the perfect striker to lead their line. On his home debut, Gabi Jesus lit the Emirates up with 2 goals and 2 assists. We all knew Jesus had the potential to be a top striker, and he looks like he is reaching his prime.

A menace in the box, he was causing the Leicester backline all sorts of problems with his movement. He makes it possible to make the front three fluid as he is comfortable drifting wide, allowing Martinelli to play centrally and create problems for the opposition. A great start for Arsenal, and this could be the start of something special.

Losers

Chelsea

The Chelsea players would be disappointed to have dropped two points against Tottenham. They were clearly the better team and outplayed their rivals for most of the game. Tuchel’s tactics of playing Loftus-Cheek as a wing-back and him tucking in basically nullified Tottenham’s double pivot.

Reece James had a really good game covering almost the entire right flank, playing as CB, then a wing-back and even got himself a goal. But in spite of this, there is one clear missing piece in this Chelsea side, and that’s a striker, once again. They should take positives from this game and find a solution for this as soon as possible.

Darwin Nunez

Well, that didn’t go to plan. After scoring on his debut, Darwin has only gotten himself sent off in his first full start. Liverpool seems to be off the boil, the loss of Mane and Thiago’s injury has meant this team lacks creativity. Trent is still not back to his best, and Van Dijk is making mistakes, something unseen in the past.

In a heated moment, Darwin headbutted Palace defender Anderson after the Dane pushed the Uruguayan after a tackle. Darwin lost his head in the moment, something he shouldn’t have done, leading to his team dropping points.

Liverpool are already 4 points being Man City, yes, there is a long time to go, but this certainly is not a position Klopp would have expected his team to be in after the first two games.

Erik Ten Hag

We may be two games in, but things aren’t looking good at Manchester United. All the hope that Ten Hag brought with him and nurtured through pre-season is already gone. The players seem to give up as soon as they concede and goal and revert to playing how they did under Ole.

At this point, I feel bad for Ten Hag, I’m sure he was made promises when he came regarding the signings, they chased Frenkie all summer and failed. The Ronaldo situation is complicated, but for the team to progress, they need to resolve it as soon as possible.

The team on the field is a mess of players signed under different managers from the past that Ten Hag now has to fit into a team. To top this all off, they face Liverpool next. It’s going to get worse before it gets better, that’s all we can expect for sure.