Julius Okorie
Everton’s Ashley Young and Newcastle’s Fabian Schär opened the referees red book on Saturday in their club’s opening matches of the new season.
You might consider it too early to bag a red in the first match of the season but it also suggests that it is serious business from the first blast of the whistle.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelNewly promoted Ipswich were handed a welcome defeat by visiting Liverpool with Diogo Jotta and Mohammed Salah on target in the 60th and 65th minutes respectively.
Southampton and Super Eagles forward Joe Aribo saw 30 minutes action against Newcastle who were happy to pocket three points with 2-0 victory at the St. James’s Park.
In other matches played Saturday, Arsenal began on a victorious note with a 2-0 win over Wolves. Ashley Young’s red was an added pain for Everton who lost the encounter 3-0 to visiting Brighton, while Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth made a no victor no vanquished affair. Super Eagles and Nottingham Forest duo Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi were in action for 54 and 18 minutes action respectively.
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Star match of the weekend will see Chelsea welcome league champions Manchester City on Sunday.
Manchester City began a defence of their Premier League title for a fourth successive season at Stamford Bridge.
The Citizens beat their West London counterparts 4-2 in a pre-season friendly held in the United States earlier this month and will be hoping to maintain the tempo.
In the same vien Brentford welcome local rivals Crystal Palace to the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
While Thomas Frank’s side survived a slight relegation scare last season, the Eagles soared in the closing stages of the campaign.
Sneaking into the top half in 10th spot and achieving a respectable 49 points, Palace equalled both their highest-ever Premier League finish and highest Premier League points total in 2023-24, and surpassing the half-century mark in the latter category this year is not beyond the realm of possibility.
Taking 19 points from the last 21 on offer in 2023-24, Palace posted many a sensational result in that sequence – 5-0 versus Aston Villa, 4-0 versus Manchester United and 1-0 against Liverpool are the standout ones – thanks in no small part to the terrific trio of Eberechi Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Michael Olise.
Palace will be hoping that Michael Olise who was in terrific form for France at the just concluded Olympics continues with super form this season.
The Nigeria born France junior international is a proud Silver medalist after France lost 5-3 to Spain in the final of the men’s football event in Paris.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
