A meeting between two Premier League sides trending in a dangerous direction proved as insipid as all that on Sunday afternoon at St James’ Park in Newcastle. A quality finish from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang following a pathetic Newcastle United turnover was the difference in a match that felt like preseason and was largely overshadowed by a foul mood permeating from the Gallowgate End of the ground.
Liverpool opened the Premier League season as we all expected: a runaway 4-1 rout of newly promoted Norwich City at Anfield.
The Champions League winners had little trouble with the Championship winners, with the lone downside being losing the clean sheet and goalkeeper Alisson to injury.
But one thing really stood out and bothered me deeply on Friday: those hideous Liverpool socks.
A couple weeks ago, Arsenal’s Mesut Özil and Sead Kolasinac were held at knife-point in an attempted carjacking. Kolasinac became an instant legend when he fought the attackers off with only his beefy fists.
Now the two Gunners are reportedly at further risk and will be held out of Arsenal’s Premier League opener against Newcastle at St. James’ Park on Sunday.
The 2019-20 Premier League season kicks off on Friday, Aug. 9, with a match between last season’s runner-up Liverpool and newly promoted Norwich City at Anfield. The title fight between Liverpool and Manchester City will again be epic, while the rest of the ‘Big Six’ attempts to close the gap. Here are our Premier League predictions 19/20, including reasons why each club could win it all or get relegated to the Championship.
Arsenal
The Premier League is almost 15 years late to the YouTube party, but the world’s most-watched domestic competition is making up for lost time by starting things off with some damn fine content over on its newly christened YouTube channel.
Who else is counting down the days until the Premier League begins? I know I am. With a wealth of talent in the league, it’s hard to know which Premier League players to focus on.
Some players on this list of those to watch are newcomers to the league, others are looking to follow up breakout seasons. Here are the Premier League players you should watch this season.
Arsenal: Nicolas Pepe
If you’ve enjoyed the entertaining Wayne Rooney MLS stint so far, savor these last few months of the season.
Rooney, the iconic Manchester United and Everton striker who joined D.C. United in 2018, will leave the club following the 2019 season.
Wayne Rooney announced Tuesday morning he’ll become a player-coach of Derby County in January.
As Arsenal and Manchester United’s recent dominance of the FA Community Shield shows (the two clubs had combined to win the event on five of the past six occasions prior to today’s match), England’s annual curtain-raiser is a sign of very little to come in the season ahead.
We here at The18 are all for clubs doing goofy, weird, absurd and just strange things in the spirit of differentiating themselves, so we were excited to see this new Wigan mascot unveiled Friday.
And yet, I can’t help but think this anthropomorphic pie will haunt my dreams for years to come.
Introducing, Crusty the Pie!#wafc
England’s best non-top-six club is through to the Europa League third qualifying round thanks to a standout performance from Mexico international Raúl Jiménez on Thursday. The El Tri star scored a brace in Wolves’ 4-1 demolition of Northern Ireland’s Crusaders FC, easing the Premier League side into the next round 6-1 on aggregate.