The 2024/25 Premier League season kicked off this past weekend, and it’s fair to say that gameweek one was absolutely everything we hoped it would be.
We enjoyed late drama at Old Trafford, a shockingly comfortable win at Goodison Park, a Chelsea implosion at Stamford Bridge and plenty more up and down the country.
Here’s the five things we at 90min learned from the weekend’s action.
On his Premier League debut, Joshua Zirkzee came off the bench to net the winning goal for Manchester United in the final few minutes of the clash with Fulham.
What a way to introduce yourself to the Old Trafford faithful, eh?
And while we got a glimpse of his goalscoring prowess on Friday evening, it’s going to be his ability to link-up play which will really endear him to Red Devils fans.
The Dutch forward could be the man who makes United’s forward line tick throughout the 2024/25 season, with his playmaking capacity helping get the best out of the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and the underperforming Marcus Rashford.
They’re still being heavily linked with a move for Victor Osimhen, but one can’t help but feel that Kai Havertz has earned the number nine role at Arsenal for the 2024/25 season.
Having end 2023/24 with a spate of 15 goal contributions in 14 games, Havertz kickstarted the new season with poacher’s header to set Arsenal on their way to a gameweek one win over Wolves.
That form is nothing to be sniffed at, and certainly nothing to try and replace before the summer transfer window closes.
After a season of being kind of sad to watch after selling their entire midfield, Brighton look like they’re going be fun again in 2024/25.
The south coast side have been busy throughout the summer finally rebuilding their midfield by bringing in the talented Mats Wieffer to hold down the fort in the middle and Yankuba Minteh to add a bit of creativity on the right – both of whom bagged assists on Saturday – the Seagulls looked like a much more dynamic team under new boss Fabian Hurzeler in gameweek one.
Their 3-0 away win over an Everton side who hadn’t dropped a point or even conceded at Goodison Park since 2 March was one of the most impressive performance of the weekend across Europe.
Look a win’s a win, but it was painfully clear – in the first half in particular – during Liverpool’s clash with Ipswich Town that Arne Slot is in dire need of some squad reinforcements.
The midfield is a weak point that has already been identified by the club heading into the campaign, and the lack of control asserted by the trio on Saturday against a newly-promoted side should mean that the Reds push even harder to get a quality ‘number six’ through the door very, very soon.
Without it, it’s hard to imagine the Reds competing effectively against the likes of Man City and Arsenal this season.
Yeah, this a pretty obvious one.
But it’s worth mentioning in this list because the state of disarray that Chelsea are in after just one weekend of football is genuinely staggering.
From Raheem Sterling’s statement after not being included in the matchday squad on Sunday, to Conor Gallagher still being on the books despite doing a medical at Atletico Madrid, to the 40+ man senior squad assembled for a ridiculous amount of money, to the defeat against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge…it’s all just a bit of a disaster.
And it’s hard to see things getting much better any time soon either.
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