If Saturday was sedate, Sunday definitely was more exciting as Arsenal and Liverpool got the Premier League action machine rolling. The two teams played out a thrilling goal-fest, the latter winning by the odd goal in seven, at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal took the lead early on, but lost it on the stroke of half time courtesy of a brilliant free kick from Phillipe Coutinho. Liverpool then had a blinder of a 20-minute spell after the break, making it 4-1 with three quick goals. Arsenal hit back with Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and Calum Chambers to set up a nervy finish for Jurgen Klopp and his men, but it wasn’t enough as the Gunners suffered successive opening day defeats at home.

Over at the Vitality Stadium, Jose Mourinho and Manchester United notched up a 3-1 away win over Bournemouth. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored on his debut to round off a game which also saw Juan Mata start as well as open the scoring.

Away from the sluggish starts on Saturday, the spotlight was firmly on Arsene Wenger and his plans for the rest of the transfer window as the fans made their displeasure evident at the full time whistle.

New season, old story for Arsenal

As Peter Schmeichel pointed out at full-time, it is perhaps a bit unfair to insinuate that Wenger hadn’t spent money at all. After all, this was the man who had signed Granit Xhaka, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil for sums exceeding £ 30 million pounds each. But that is only one side of the story.

Of the defenders in Arsenal’s squad, Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista are injured and six and three months away, respectively, from returning to first team action. Laurent Koscielny, fresh from his exploits with France in the Euro understandably needs more time to regain match fitness.

Admittedly, there was some individual brilliance from Liverpool, but it was a tough ask of the makeshift pairing of Rob Holding and Calum Chambers to contain the likes of Coutinho and Sadio Mane for 90 minutes. Last summer, Wenger was widely ridiculed for being the only club in the top five leagues to not sign an outfield player in the summer transfer window.

The impending arrival of Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia may ease the pain but yet again, Wenger is faced with the painfully familiar question: Has he done enough in the transfer window?

Klopp must rightly take the plaudits

There is no doubt that Coutinho’s well-struck free-kick made Klopp’s half-time team talk a whole lot easier, but Liverpool’s performance after the break was a delight to watch. It was incisive and it was quick. They cut through a ponderous Arsenal defence at will and could have inflicted more misery on the home team.

As Mohamed Elneny faded after the break and Francis Coquelin was pulled wide, Liverpool’s wingers stretched the play, especially on Arsenal’s left flank, all three of their goals coming from the same side.

While Arsenal’s right-back Hector Bellerin was successful in nullifying the threat of pace, Nacho Monreal was culpable for Arsenal’s third and fourth goals, getting beaten by a lack of pace on both occasions. It was a simple tactical switch. Nevertheless, the Kloppmeister got it right this time.

Alberto Moreno is a liability

Liverpool’s left-back position has been a conundrum that began when Moreno was entrusted with the position in 2014. The diminutive Spaniard has not always stuck to his primary task – that of defending.

Moreno’s lack of positional discipline, combined with his wide forays forward, was the source of many an Arsenal attack in the first half. He had a nightmare, conceding a penalty for a reckless challenge and was lucky that Theo Walcott missed the spot-kick, for that could have changed the complexion of the game.

It didn’t take long for Moreno to turn things from bad to worse – 68 seconds later, he was not in his position as Theo Walcott slotted home the opening goal for Arsenal.

The question is not if, but when Klopp shuts down the Moreno project. The difference between doing it now and doing it in January could be the difference between European qualification and 8th place again.

Ramsey’s misery is Cazorla’s gain

Coming off the back of a superb Euro, Aaron Ramsey would have been distraught at having to be subbed with a hamstring twang in the 61st minute of the first game of the season. Santi Cazorla, somewhat of a forgotten man after the arrival of Mohamed Elneny and especially that of Granit Xhaka, was Arsenal’s best attacking player for the 29 minutes that he was present on the pitch.

Cazorla combined well with fellow substitute Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and provided the pass for the Ox, who went on to beat two Liverpool defenders before reducing the deficit to two.

Minutes later, it was his delightfully struck dead ball from the left that found Calum Chambers, who brought Arsenal within one goal of the visitors. It was a timely reminder to his manager, and to Cazorla himself, of what he brings to the table as the orchestrator of Arsenal’s attacking play, bagging two assists on an otherwise torrid night for the home team.

Mourinho has some defensive reshuffling to do

As for the other game, while the United attack didn’t have much trouble as defensive errors by Bournemouth, coupled with Ibrahimovic’s brilliance for the third, ensured that United went 3-0 up easily, the response of the defence to Bournemouth’s attack would not have impressed the manager.

Dominant for a long period, the defence sold themselves short on a couple of occasions, Daley Blind getting beaten twice in the build-up to Adam Smith’s goal. Bournemouth did get another chance at the end of 90 minutes, courtesy of Blind’s weak clearance from a cross, but goalkeeper David De Gea did enough to ensure that the scoreline stayed at 3-1 in favour of the visitors.

While Blind is a converted centre back, it is expected that Mourinho will pair Chris Smalling with new signing Eric Bailly on the former’s return to full fitness. With Blind, the erratic Marcos Rojo and the injury-prone Phil Jones the other options at centre-back, United need a better option as a reliable back-up to Smalling and Bailly.

The results

  • AFC Bournemouth 1 (Adam Smith) lose to Manchester United 3 (Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic)
  • Arsenal 3 (Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Calum Chambers) lose to Liverpool 4 (Philip Coutinho – 2, Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane)