With the second weekend of Premier League football on the horizon there has been plenty learned so far. Arsenal need more signings, Manchester United are still very impressive and for Stoke City, even armed with a new manager in Mark Hughes, goals remain hard to come by.
Most of the teams that were away last weekend will now play in front of their own fans, which will offer a better insights as to how the season might pan out. Sports Mole picks out some interesting clashes from the coming weekend to see where games might be won or lost.
Fulham vs. Arsenal: Bacary Sagna against Dimitar Berbatov/Darren Bent
Last week in Fulham's opening-day 1-0 win over Sunderland, Martin Jol chose not to use recent loan signing Darren Bent. His decision to play Dimitar Berbatov with an attacking three in behind was justified as the Whites escaped the North East with the three points.
However, up against an Arsenal side with known issues in their defence, Jol could now opt for Bent or a combination of the Englishman and Berbatov. The Gunners are likely to line up with Bacary Sagna at centre-back to stand in for Laurent Koscielny, who is suspended following his red card against Aston Villa. The Villans showed last weekend the sort of damage that pace can do to Arsenal, so the thought of Bent creating space for Berbatov to utilise might well give Arsene Wenger a sleepless night.
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Arsenal, of course, were much better in the Champions league playoff against Fenerbahce and looked compact at the back. Sagna had a good game on the right, but playing in the middle will be a different story and he will need to play well to stay on top of the differing threat that one, the other, or both of Bent and Berbatov provide.
Stoke City vs. Crystal Palace: the battle of who can score
Stoke were not known as the most free-flowing, creative attacking force in the Premier League last season. In fact, quite the opposite. However, with their new manager Hughes, the aim this season is to score more goals with the attacking style of play the former Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Fulham boss prefers.
On Saturday Hughes's charges are at home to Palace at the ground on which they lost just five times in the league last term. They, as many other teams will against Palace at home, will be targeting the three points, but in order to do that they simply must start scoring goals. Even with a penalty against Liverpool they were unable to find the net, but there were encouraging signs of more passing football, which they will look to build on.
Palace, on paper, have one of the weakest strike forces in the Premier League this season, but of course the game is not played on paper. Palace's first league game was a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, from which not a lot can really be learned.
Ian Holloway has Kevin Phillips, Dwight Gayle and Marouane Chamakh to choose from up front. With those options, combined with the form of Asmir Begovic, the Eagles have a big ask to score at the Britannia, but it will be a game in which we learn a lot about their chances of staying in the Premier League.
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Southampton vs. Sunderland: Paulo Di Canio vs. his players
Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio is nothing if not passionate. His love for the game and own personal standards have led to many people falling out with the Italian during his time in football and he has taken on a complete overhaul at the Stadium of Light this season. In total, he has signed 10 players this summer and needs them to gel quickly to get the top-10 position he expects.
It did not start well for Di Canio, with his side undone by a smash-and-grab Fulham last weekend. There might have been a gameplan, but it certainly was not played out as intended. They won the battle on shots attempted but with the vast majority of these being from distance it showed a worrying lack of a cutting edge from a Sunderland point of view.
The key for Di Canio is to get his group of player in tune with his idea of how football should be played. Presumably the signings he made are the sort of player he requires, so they will get another shot at it on Saturday against Southampton. Mauricio Pochettino's side are looking strong this year and being at home they will provide Sunderland with a stern test.
If it begins to gel for Di Canio and his players they could have a successful season, but the understanding needs to show signs of happening sooner rather than later.
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Matt Domm
