Premier League Round Two: The good, the bad and the ugly
Two weeks into the Premier League season and the picture is slowly, but surely, taking shape. Manchester City’s destruction of defending champions Chelsea leave them top of the table for a second consecutive week. Leicester City, Liverpool and Manchester United join them as the only sides to claim all six available points.
Meanwhile, the misery continues for Sunderland as their supporters suffered through another subpar performance. Was it poor enough to earn The Black Cats a spot on this edition of the good, the bad and the ugly? In case you missed it, here is a link to the round one edition of the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good
Riyad Mahrez
The most dynamic player on the surprise team of the season through two weeks, Riyad Mahrez has been the driving force behind Leicester City’s perfect start to the league campaign. The Algerian national team winger scored a surprising brace during Leicester’s home victory against Sunderland to open the season and he scored what proved to be the winning goal away to West Ham this week.
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What makes his flying start to the season all the more surprising is that he has never been a prolific scorer during any other first-team league campaign. He scored seven goals in 49 league appearances for The Foxes during the previous two campaigns, while he contributed only six goals in 60 appearances for French side Le Havre.
Could The Foxes have found a diamond in the rough? Or is Mahrez simply experiencing a rich vein of form? He surely will not keep up his current rate of scoring, but that does not mean he won’t continue to play well for The Foxes. Whatever happens the rest of the season, it’s been a great start for the 24-year-old winger.
Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley
The young duo of Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley will be key to how Everton’s season plays out. If they can link up as well as they did during The Toffee’s 3-0 romp away to Southampton, then Everton will be a significant threat to qualify directly for the Europa League.
Lukaku scored a first-half brace, but his interesting day started before the opening whistle. Lukaku took an errant shot which struck a fan during pregame warm-ups. Here is what happened next.
He could have simply kept practicing and paid no mind to striking the fan, but he didn’t. Well done, Lukaku. Barkley added his name to the scoresheet once again with another curling shot. Off the heels of a subpar season from the talented Englishman, Barkley has done his best to atone for that so far. He will have to remain consistent if Everton are to climb up the table this season.
Adnan Januzaj
Adnan Januzaj scored what seemed like his first goal in ages when he took a touch past the sliding Micah Richards and placed a shot which deflected in off the post to give Manchester United a 1-0 victory away to Aston Villa.
Januzaj was the lone bright spot from the disastrous David Moyes season at Old Trafford, but he endured a tough 2014-15 campaign under Louis van Gaal. The young Belgian failed to score a goal during the whole of last season, but ensured that will not be the case this season. There is nothing quite like rumors of a loan move to Sunderland to bring out the best in a player.
Januzaj’s performance against The Villains will likely be enough to keep him at Old Trafford this campaign, which is exactly what he wants.
Next: The Bad