Ok, its back. Official. Started. The football. We’re there. After the inevitable summer 8 weeks of hell, the premiership started again last weekend. And it started on a Friday night. That’s a first. There used to be a big fanfare, now there’s a big payoff. The quid pro quo being; we need to put more matches on tv. So Arsenal played Leicester and even beat them. Eventually. 4-3. What’s known as ‘a great score for the neutrals’. But the Arse don’t win their opening matches very often so is this 3 points in the bag, or 3 goals stupidly conceded? Doesn’t really matter either way because if you can defend that badly and still win then that’s fine.

Saturday brought more mayhem. Chelsea, the champions, played a ‘nice, safe’ home game against Burnley who last season managed one away win out of 19 and consider themselves very lucky indeed to still be in the top flight for another year. And they were 3-0 up at the Bridge. Or 0-3 really, properly. Chelsea were down to 10 men after just 14 minutes though. Gary Cayhill sent off for a basically clumsy, but illegal, studs-up, off the ground tackle. Manager Conte went immediately into Wenger-mode and blamed all his teams woes on the fact that they keep getting players sent off. Thus its a conspiracy by the union of football referees. So the manager has put in requests to Abramovich to immediately buy 4 more players. All expensive. All experienced. All old enough to never be able to recoup their money if sold. Spending your way out of trouble. Someone should tell Antonio that it doesn’t matter how many players you own, you’re only allowed 11 on the pitch, and if one of them (or, as on Saturday, 2 of them) are stupid enough to get a red card, the three coach-loads of reserves can’t help you at all.

Brighton and Hove Albion were given the traditional ‘welcome’ to big-time football. They played the second most stupidly over-funded team in the world and got beat. No surprise there. But big surprise at Vicarage Lane as Watford held Liverpool to a 3-all draw. Great one for the fans, abomination for Jurgen Klopp.

Spurs went to Newcastle and were beneficiaries of the single most stupid act of madness ever seen. When Jonjo Shelvey, ‘winding up’ Dele Alli, as was obviously their game plan, knowing of Dele’s famously ‘short fuse’, decided to tread on his ankle. 3 yards in front of the ref. Spurs played much better against 10 than they had been against 11 and had a pretty easy win.

Man United thrashed West Ham. Who were awful. Toothless. Second best everywhere on the pitch. Lukaku scored twice, his real skill being to do such a thing whilst at no time looking anything like a ‘quality footballer’, let alone a 75 million pound striker. But you just can’t argue with goals. Even Pogba has started to look a bit more useful than he was last year. Not quite up to the 89 million they paid for him, but he’s up to about 7 now. A vast improvement from last season.

Early days. All to play for. Everything’s still… everything. And we play Chelsea on Sunday.

Welcome back

A xxxx