Premier League Week 1: Everton Beat Manchester United 1-0

Hodgson and Rodgers arrived at Liverpool with similar recent accomplishments, and public perception of both men was similar as well. Both are British, though neither is really thought of as an British-style manager. Though Hodgson has been around Europe and is extremely experienced as a coach outside of the British Isles, Rodgers is thought of as just as ‘continental’ of a manager as Hodgson, mostly due to the style of football his teams play.

As well-regarded continental-style British managers who had recently exceeded expectations with similarly average teams, possessing small grounds and weak finances, both had been pushed by fans and media as managers who could achieve something great if given some talent and money to spend. They both arrived at Liverpool, expected to help start a period of upward trajectory at Anfield like they did with their previous sides. Hodgson failed. No one will know whether or not Rodgers was a successful hire for Liverpool for a very long time.

It came as little surprise when Everton did take the lead on 57 minutes, and even less surprising was the fact it was Fellaini who did so. A routine goal for the big Belgian who simply powered in a close range header from Baines’ corner. A deserved lead for the home side, and for Fellaini who had been magnificent all game.

Van Persie’s first impactful piece of play came on 78 minutes when he skipped past Distin and played in a beauty of a ball to Kagawa in the area, but Howard got enough on the Japanese international’s dinked effort to deflect the ball away from danger.

In the 32nd minute it was Pienaar once more who tested De Gea in what was the best chance of the game to this point. Picking up the ball on the edge of the area from Baines, the South African took a touch out of his feet and curled the ball low through a crowd of bodies towards the bottom corner, De Gea doing very well to scramble away what looked like it could have been the opening goal.

As we rumbled though to half time both teams squandered chances. Yet more great interplay between Baines, Fellaini and Pienaar lead to Baines seeing a chance foiled. This triumvirate enjoyed themselves against United’s makeshift right-hand side of defence, and it was beginning to show.

Manchester United are looking to immediately follow up on cross-town rivals Manchester City’s win yesterday and in turn keep the pressure on from the off and lineup with a very interesting side.

For more in depth analysis on the game visit our Everton site Royal Blue Mersey, and our Manchester United site The Busby Babe.

Southampton acquitted themselves fairly well early in the first half, stationing themselves firmly in the City box and controlling play in the early stages. It was fairly obvious that that was something of a mirage, but for the first ten minutes the Saints showed that they could play with the big boys.

At any rate, City had to reply, and they did so more or less immediately. Dzeko managed to find some space on a corner kick, and the ball broke kindly for him to rocket a shot past Davis (the goalkeeper) to draw City level. Then Nasri capped off an excellent match by taking advantage of a really awful mistake from Danny Fox -- the left back turned a cross going out of play into a cushioned pass to the unmarked City man -- volleying into the top corner to give the hosts another lead.

Southampton starting lineup (4-5-1): Kelvin Davis; Danny Fox, Jos Hooiveld, Jose Fonte, Nathanial Clyne; Adam Lallana, Morgan Schneiderlin, Guly do Prado, James Ward-Prowse, Jason Puncheon; Jay Rodriguez.

Substitutes from: Paulo Gazzaniga, Rickie Lambert, Steven Davis, Billy Sharp, Frazer Richardson, Luke Shaw, Danny Seaborne.

Wigan were not the only team to spurn their opportunities either, as Chelsea had several chances to put the game beyond doubt, with Torres still looking somewhat out of sorts. The Chelsea number 9 did do well in the second half to poke the ball past Ali Al-Habsi, but he was denied by Ramis’ goal-line clearance, atoning for his earlier error. Hazard’s influence on the game began to wane during the second half, and he was eventually replaced for another Chelsea midfielder making his debut in Oscar.

Wigan: Al-Habsi, Caldwell, Alcaraz, Ramis, Boyce, Figueroa, McArthur, McCarthy, Moses, Maloney, Di Santo. Subs: Pollitt, Kone, Jones, Crusat, Watson, Gomez, Boselli.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Mikel, Hazard, Mata, Bertrand, Torres. Bench: Turnbull, Cahill, Ferreira, Essien, Meireles, Oscar, Sturridge.

Southampton have some decent midfield and attacking talent and could nick a goal, but it would be stunning to see them hold City at all. Hopefully for the neutrals, this match gets nice and open.

Game Date/Time: Saturday, 11 a.m. ET, 4 p.m. ET

Despite the reasonable question surrounding Chelsea, this is still the type of match you’d expect them to win and likely in a mostly painless fashion. History is on the Blues’s side as they have have not lost on the opening day of the season since 1998, a 2-1 loss at Coventry.

Match Date/Time: Sunday, August 19, 8:30 a.m. ET/1:30 p.m. local

In other words, it’s been just about what you’d expect from a van Persie-less Arsenal playing against Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland. There’s still not much defending to speak of and nothing in the way of a cutting edge so far. We’ll see if they can improve in the second half.

We’ll have live updates in our Premier League Week 1 StoryStream. You can read more about the Gunners at Arsenal blog The Short Fuse, and you can check out Sunderland blog Roker Report for more on the Black Cats.

We’ll have live updates in our Premier League Week 1 StoryStream. You can read more about the Reds at Liverpool blogs The Liverpool Offside and Anfield Asylum.

Game Date/Time: Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. local

Venue: St. James’ Park, Newcastle, England

“Last year our four strikers did better than other strikers, but we need to work harder than last year because this year United, with Van Persie, are better.”

Manchester City: Your Once And Future Champions

Arsenal begin the post-Robin van Persie era on Saturday, and they have plenty of experience in these matters. The first game of the post-Cesc Fabregas era was the first game of last season, and a few of these guys played in the first game of the post-Thierry Henry era. How one of England’s giants turned into a selling club, no one really knows, but they should still open their season with a win at home against Sunderland.

Olivier Giroud is going to be thrown into the fire and immediately expected to duplicate the success he had at Montpellier. Behind him will be another new acquisition, Santi Cazorla, who should be a massive upgrade over Aaron Ramsey. Behind him will be someone not named Alex Song, because he’s forcing his way out of the Emirates as well.

Here’s what Jol had to say today:

Sounds crystal clear and it can’t really come as a surprise to Fulham fans that Dempsey is on his way out of Craven Cottage. The American midfielder has been absent from the club’s pre-season matches and skipped out on the US Mens National Team’s friendly against Mexico on Wednesday.