WATFORD 3-2 ASTON VILLA
- Goals: Emmanuel Dennis (£5.0m), Ismaila Sarr (£6.0m), Cucho Hernández (£5.0m) | John McGinn (£6.0m), Danny Ings (£8.0m)
- Assists: Dennis, Tom Cleverley (£5.0m) | Leon Bailey (£6.5m), Bertrand Traoré (£6.0m)
- Bonus: Dennis x3, Sarr x2, Cucho x1, Ings x1
Watford marked their Premier League return with a comfortable 3-2 win over an out of sorts Aston Villa.
Emmanuel Dennis (£5.0m) and Ismaila Sarr (£6.0m) struck in the first-half before substitute Cucho Hernández (£5.0m) added a third with just over 20 minutes to go.
John McGinn (£6.0m) pulled one back for Villa before Danny Ings (£8.0m) at least made it respectable with a stoppage-time penalty. However, in reality, the 3-2 scoreline made the contest look much closer than it actually was.
DIFFERENTIAL SUPER SARR
As Watford dominated the opening 45 minutes, Villa struggled to cope with the impressive Sarr as Dean Smith’s side were caught out on the counter-attack time and time again, a weakness which was also apparent in their recent pre-season friendly against Salernitana.
As a result, Matt Targett (£5.0m) was hooked with Ashley Young (£5.0m) moving to left-back in the second-half, when Villa coped much better.
For Sarr, he created a match-high four chances, was Watford’s most advanced player and posed a constant threat with his 10 penalty area touches (see below). He ended the match with a goal, two bonus and nine FPL points, but it should have been more, which is encouraging for his small army of owners.
Debutant Dennis also deserves a mention, as his physicality and hold-up play impressed, though it’s worth noting that he did come off with a knock on 65 minutes.
VILLA STRUGGLES
Although Villa saw plenty of the ball they struggled to create any real clear-cut chances, which suggests the team needs to evolve quickly without Jack Grealish (£8.0m) around.
Emiliano Buendía (£6.5m), the man signed to replace him, started as a no. 10 but shifted out to the right in the second-half. However, in both roles he struggled to get on the ball and offered very little in the final-third.
Post-match, Smith was quick to reference the absence of last season’s top-scorer Ollie Watkins (£7.5m), who’s pressing from the front often sets the tone for his team-mates. Without him in the starting XI, Villa only won possession in the final third five times.
“I’m hopeful Ollie will be back for Newcastle [in Gameweek 2]. We missed him on Saturday.
“He naturally plays with an intensity and stretches the backline. He certainly wouldn’t have given the Watford back four as much time on the ball as they had.” – Dean Smith
INGS OFF THE MARK AS SUBS MAKE AN IMPACT
Throughout the match, Ings often looked isolated, though to be fair to him, he was starved of good chances and as a result failed to register a single goal attempt until his late penalty.
However, things did improve in the second-half when Villa switched to a 4-3-3 formation, with Leon Bailey (£6.5m), Bertrand Traoré (£6.0m) and Jacob Ramsey (£4.5m) arriving from the bench.
All three made an impact, though it was Bailey who impressed most as he looked a real threat from the left-wing. Traoré, meanwhile, regularly burst into the box, with his driving runs causing Watford’s backline problems.
The impact of those subs does suggest we might see a shake-up in Villa’s frontline next weekend, with Bailey and Traoré pushing for starts and Watkins set to return.
Watford XI: Bachmann, Cathcart, Troost-Ekong, Kabasele, Masina, Etebo, Cleverley (Deeney 79), Kucka (Gosling 69), Sarr, Sema, Dennis (Cucho 66)
Aston Villa XI: Martínez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett (J Ramsey 45), McGinn, Nakamba, El Ghazi (Bailey 60), Buendía (Traoré 72), Young, Ings
CHELSEA 3-0 CRYSTAL PALACE
- Goals: Marcus Alonso (£5.5m), Christian Pulisic (£8.0m), Trevoh Chalobah (£5.0m)
- Assists: Mason Mount (£7.5m), Mateo Kovacic (£5.0m)
- Bonus: Alonso x3, Chalobah x2, Andreas Christensen (£5.0m) x1
European champions Chelsea opened their 2021/22 Premier League campaign with a routine 3-0 win over Crystal Palace, who underwhelmed in Patrick Vieira’s first match in charge.
Goals from Marcus Alonso (£5.5m), Christian Pulisic (£8.0m) and a memorable strike from debutant Trevoh Chalobah (£5.0m) sealed the win in a one-sided encounter which suggests that Thomas Tuchel’s side have the ability and belief to mount a serious title challenge.
As for Palace, it was a disappointing start to the season, but they should at least have more of an opportunity to show what they are capable of at home to Brentford in Gameweek 2.
CHELSEA’S FRINGE PLAYERS IMPRESS
Defensively, Chelsea continued from where they left off last season, restricting their opponents to just one shot on target throughout the entire 90 minutes.
Alonso and Chalobah added goals and bonus to their clean sheets, and as a result, hauled with 15 and 14 FPL points respectively.
Despite being linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge for much of the summer, Alonso was handed his second start of the week as he retained the left-sided wing-back role in place of Ben Chilwell (£6.0m).
And as is usually the case when on the pitch, he was heavily involved in the final-third, as evidenced by his touch heatmap:
Above: Marcos Alonso’s touch heatmap v Crystal Palace
At the back, Chalobah performed as a right-sided centre-half in Tuchel’s 3-4-2-1 formation with his passing ability standing out from the off.
Further forward, Mason Mount (£7.5m) impressed with everything progressive going through him. He also took all five of the Blues corners and shared direct free-kick duties with Alonso.
Following his 120-minute UEFA Super Cup run-out, Kai Havertz (£8.5m) only featured as a late substitute, though questions remain over his role in the starting XI following the arrival of Romelu Lukaku (£11.5m).
However, Chelsea boss Tuchel has hinted at a possible change of system to accommodate the Belgian, which would perhaps boost the German international’s prospects:
“With the addition of Romelu. We get the number-one striker and we want to have him on the pitch. This is very clear.
I think we have now with Romelu the chance also to play with two strikers, like they did at Inter with him, or to continue with three strikers. We will see now how this works out and we will find a solution for the players around him”
“We expect Romelu to finish quarantine in time to be able to join team training on Tuesday, because Monday is our day off. So we will try to prepare him to play against Arsenal and hopefully he can be on the pitch.” – Thomas Tuchel
PALACE UNDERWHELM
After four seasons of Roy Hodgson and a host of new signings arriving during the summer, Vieira’s first match in charge of Palace was always going to be tough ask.
However, the Eagles were completely outplayed and failed to show any real ambition in the final third.
Palace did not have a single shot in the first-half with Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m), no. 11 below, isolated.
It would be unfair to jump to too many early conclusions after just one match, especially given their Gameweek 1 opponents, but much improvement is needed at home to Brentford next weekend.
Post-match, Patrick Vieira discussed his team’s performance, while emphasising the need to strengthen his squad in the coming weeks:
“My goal was to manage a team in the Premier League and today Crystal Palace gave me that opportunity and that was a big moment for me. Obviously, the result was not what I was expecting but when you play against Chelsea – who I believe is one of the best teams in Europe – it’s quite difficult.
It was a really tough start for us but we have to play them (at some point). Chelsea with the squad they have and the money they spent, they will be there fighting for the titles.
To be honest, I didn’t learn very much because I knew what we were missing. We are short and we will work hard to improve the squad.”
Chelsea XI: Mendy, Chalobah, Christensen, Rüdiger, Azpilicueta (James 67), Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso (Emerson 86), Mount, Pulisic (Havertz 82), Werner
Crystal Palace XI: Guaita, Ward, Guehi, Kouyate, Mitchell, Riedewald (Rak-Sakyi 76), McArthur, Schlupp (Andersen 57), Ayew, Zaha, Mateta (Benteke 57)
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW FROM GAMEWEEK 1
