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The first round of Barclays Premier League is over and teams have given us a glimpse into how will their season look like. Let’s have a look at the title candidates and see how did they perform and what can we expect from them in the next 37 rounds.

Manchester United won 1-3 at Bournemouth and while they did play against minnows, they took care of that fixture with a good performance by the entire team, and a superb one by Zlatan Ibrahimović. And Paul Pogba didn’t even run out yet. United are playing Southampton next, in their first Old Trafford fixture of the season. United are priced at around 1/2 (1.50) to win the match.

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Manchester City are a work in progress, and Pep Guardiola will have to roll up his sleeves if he wants to make City a winning team. They won their opening match against Sunderland but only did so because McNair scored an own goal in the 87th minute. Perhaps City would benefit from a standard starting eleven, yet they have six expensive wingers and only two can play. Man City’s record against the top sides is awful since 2013 and Guardiola is expected to turn that around. Stocking up on wingers, relying on a 22-year-old defender and axing Joe Hart might not be the best moves. City are visiting Stoke next.

Arsenal are a team that always finishes in the top four, but in our season prediction we said this might not be the case this season. And they’ve quickly shown how much they are missing a proper defender and a proper striker. Arsene Wenger fielded Chambers and Holding in central defence and Alexis Sanchez on the striker position. That’s just embarassing for such a big club. And they lost the match too, conceding four goals in the process. Arsenal are visiting Leicester in the next round.

Chelsea are an improved team and yes, we would have said the same if the score against West Ham remained 1-1. Relying on John Terry could be a liability but as long as N’Golo Kante relieves the pressure on the back line, Chelsea should do well in the defensive department. Midfield is more creative than ever. Chelsea are visiting Watford next and are priced at around 4/5 (1.80) to win the game.

Liverpool might have won the match against Arsenal but instead of celebrating they should have noticed their defence conceded three and could have conceded three more. The visiting match against Burnley should say a lot about this team.

Leicester are leaking all over the place without N’Golo Kante as an anchor and will find it difficult to keep the games low-scoring like they did last season when one move by Mahrez or Vardy was enough to get three points. That system has now collapsed and Leicester need to sign a quality player. They’re hosting Arsenal in the next round.

Everton were a pleasant surprise as they look far more organised under Ronald Koeman than they did under Roberto Martinez. If they manage to keep Romelu Lukaku they could make a push for one of the Champions League spots. There are a lot of ifs, of course, but Everton are finally on the right track. They’re visiting WBA in the next round.

Tottenham faced a very good Everton side so it’s difficult to say how good they really are, and we’ll learn more as they host Crystal Palace in the next round. But what worked so well in the last season doesn’t have to work in this one. Tottenham are facing a big challenge as the youngsters are expected to replicate all the good things they’ve been doing so well in 2015-16.

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Barclays Premier League, Day 2, kick off times and betting odds

19.08. 21:00 no (-0.17%)
20.08. 13:30 YES +0.29%
20.08. 16:00 YES +0.18%
20.08. 16:00 no (0.00%)
20.08. 16:00 YES +0.52%
20.08. 16:00 YES +0.35%
20.08. 16:00 no (-0.17%)
20.08. 18:30 no (-0.03%)
21.08. 14:30 YES +0.63%
21.08. 17:00 YES +0.71%