Good ebening!

Credit: GIPHY

What an entertaining match week!! (44 goals in total, a record in a 20 team PL gameweek)

Fun fact: we’ve still not witnessed a single draw in the first 2 weeks of the season. Not sure when that happened last and since we are happy about this, we leave it up to you (our readers) to help us with this information. Kindly do enlighten us with this information in the comments section. Chumma!

Bawa is more than a little disappointed with the result against Crystal Palace to the extent that he was wondering if life is worth living anymore. Victor Sellhimoff!!

With the mid-week Carabao Cup matches, managers and players are already voicing their concerns over the fixture pile up so early into the season and this might impact their selection in the upcoming PL match week so expect rotation especially if you are one of the seven million playing FPL. Fixture congestion? COVID says hold my beer…

Brighton – Manchester United

A few expected United to lose against Woy’s Crystal Palace but that’s exactly why we love the PL, anything can happen! The lack of a proper pre-season might have been the case but United players seemed sluggish and off the pace. Ed Woodward seems to be well on his way to knocking United off its fucking perch!

Brighton on the other side played well against Chelsea and lost and were mightily impressive at Tyneside. Tariq Lamptey, the little pocket rocket; take a bow. So effective that some say that Maximin feigned an injury to try his luck some other time. With a solid backline, Potter has assembled a squad that can compete with the big boys by playing an exciting brand of Quidditch and cause a few upsets in the PL along the way.

A fixture so important, that we get it twice in two weeks now!

Bawa’s Verdict: Expect United to sneak a win in an exciting match!

Crystal Palace – Everton

The two unlikely teams so far with a perfect record face off at Selhurst Park. With another cracking performance, Zaha is channeling his idol (Ronnie) to secure transfer in this window (hopefully not to a guarded facility in Sudamericana).

With new signings settling in like fish to water, the Everton team looks as solid as ever. Carlo will want to use the West Brom performance to kick on and maintain their fine form. If you haven’t got your Everton FPL cover yet, you have a long season ahead.

Bawa’s Verdict: A comfortable win for Everton.

West Brom – Chelsea

As mentioned in our first post, West Brom lack the quality to trouble Premier League teams and this one should be a walk in the park for Chelsea unless Kepa plays or another player decides to mix things up and resort to Kabaddi.

Werner would thrive in a counter attacking set up, however, Brighton and Liverpool denied him the chance, thanks to Kepa! Now that Havertz has come into his own with a hat-trick against the mighty Barnsley, will anyone be able to stop the Chelsea juggernaut.

Bawa’s Verdict: Expect Werner to score his first PL goal in a big Chelsea win.

Burnley – Southampton

Burnley unsurprisingly lost to Leicester and it is baffling that Sean Dyche has only recently made his first signing, the uninspiring Dale Stephens while releasing Jeff Hendrick, Aaron Lennon and Joe Hart in addition to a long injury list.

Danny Ings got off the mark in fine style but playing a high line with a dodgy defense and keeper cost the Saints dearly against Spurs. Saints seem hell bent on playing this system, so expect Wood and Co. to take advantage.

Bawa’s Verdict: Expect a first draw of the season.

Sheffield – Leeds

Bielsa and his Leeds United team are the most exciting team to watch as a neutral. With two successive PL games with a 4-3 score line, what a return it has been. They have signed Diego Llorente from Sociedad but will he be the answer to their leaky defense? For the sake of our entertainment, we hope not!

Sheffield on the other hand have been a little underwhelming so far and it doesn’t help matters when one of top players gets sent off while another misses from the penalty spot. Wilder’s team could head into tough run of fixtures in October with zero points if they don’t get a favourable result in this fixture.

Bawa’s Verdict: Leeds to win another entertaining match!

Spurs – Newcastle

This fixture might come too early for Gareth Bale’s reintroduction to the Premier League but it would be fair to say that Spurs have had a stellar transfer window so far. With Kane playing provider with four assists and Son reminding everyone of his quality, undermine this Spurs attack at your own risk.

In true Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde fashion, no one can predict which Newcastle team will show up on Sunday. The Toon were poor against Brighton and will need to be on their “A” game if they want to get something out of this game.

Bawa’s Verdict: Kane and Son to take Newcastle to the cleaners.

Man City – Leicester

Wolves were a potential banana skin for City but Pep’s team came through with a positive result from the Molineux (also the case with Gundogan but with respect to Covid). If there is any criticism about City, it’s with their defense and Ake on his debut partnering Stones did not do much to instill much confidence.

The same can be said of Leicester, as without Evans and now Ndidi, they are defensively suspect. Harvey Barnes and Castagne impressed again going forward and this sets us up for an entertaining match of possession vs. counter attacking football. The last time Leicester were top of the table, they had pipped Spurs to the title, 5000-1 anyone?

Bawa’s Verdict: City to canter to a victory!

West Ham – Wolves

West Ham were unlucky to come away empty handed from the Emirates. On paper they have some very good players but time and again they forget to bring their talents to the field. Moyes seems to be finally getting some positive results, although in the COVID testing facilities, unfortunately!.

Wolves tormented the City defense in the second half and gave them a proper game. Nuno will ensure that against West Ham they maintain the intensity for the entire 90+ minutes. Jimenez has started where he left off last season and in Podence they have a ready-made replacement for the Liverpool bound Jota.

Bawa’s Verdict: A straightforward win for Wolves.

Fulham – Aston Villa

Martinez had a memorable debut and saved a penalty to keep a clean sheet and get the Villans off to a winning start (First of many Bawa told you so moments!).

Fulham were good going forward but their defense is too porous at the moment. Scott Parker needs to sign a commanding center back in the remaining two weeks else they will return to the Championship in a jiffy.

Bawa’s Verdict: Watkins to score his first in a boring 1-0 to the Villans!

Liverpool – Arsenal

There is a sense of optimism amongst Arsenal fans coming on the back of two positive results against Klopp’s men but isn’t that the case every season, come on, be honest, you Gooners! Auba could pull a stunner and punish everyone who sold him – which is basically everybody on FPL.

Liverpool controlled the game against a 10 man Chelsea and were only further helped by Kepa’s generosity. With both Salah and Mane up and running for the season, expect the usual suspects to haunt the Arsenal defense.

Bawa’s Verdict: Liverpool to win this comfortably

The FPL Corner: Ones to watch

Goalkeeper: Ryan/Leno

Defender: Reece James

Midfielders: Son/Sterling

Strikers: Werner/Kane

From the Leagues of Yonder…..

UEFA Super Cup was held at the Puskas Arena with 15,000 fans in attendance despite the growing fear of a second wave of Covid-19 in Hungary’s capital. On the field, Bayern Munich completed the quadruple, beating Sevilla 2 – 1 in extra time thanks to a rare Javi Martinez goal in the 104th minute.

In typical Zlatan fashion, Ibra scored a brace against Bologna on opening day to yet again prove that he doesn’t age (Zlatan things).

Luis Suarez will probably go down in history as the most controversial player to ever play the beautiful game. Considered surplus to Koeman’s revolution at the Nou Camp, a move to Juventus was widely reported but in an interesting turn of events, officials in Italy have alleged that Suarez cheated on his language test to obtain Italian citizenship to complete his move. While his move to Juventus has failed and he has instead signed for Atletico Madrid, a full investigation and severe repercussions can be expected.

On another note, the Rojiblancos frontline suddenly seem brand ambassadors for shithousery with the union of Suarez and Costa under the able guidance of Simeone.

Image Credit: B/R Football

COVID seems to be affecting football closer to home as well, with players from three ISL teams testing positive – casting a question mark over what has been silent and steady preparations for a closed-door season of top division football in India.

To end on a happy note though, Bundesliga returned to action and is one of the first leagues to allow 10 – 25% of home fans back into the stadium in regions where the infection rates are low. Thankfully everything went without a hitch as the fans showed tremendous discipline and a probable way for other leagues to follow.