Key Points of the Opening Weekend

Can Sunderland buck the trend and are they the best equipped to stay up?

The last two seasons have seen all three of the newly promoted teams go straight back down and the three who came up this season have been tipped to have the same fate.

But Sunderland might have something to say about that after their impressing opening day win over West Ham where they put in an all-round very good display. Especially in the second half.

Can they buck the trend and could they be the best equipped newly promoted side to stay up?

Their performance against West Ham will certainly give them a lot of confidence and belief that they can stay up because of the manner of their performance overall.

They were good in defence as well as in attack and to stay in the Premier League, you need a mixture of both, something the last six newly promoted teams haven't had.

They have brought in a lot of players over the summer which can at times be seen as a risk as it could lead to a disjointed team. But the majority of the players they've brought in are proven top flight players and having these kind of players will improve their team and give them a good chance of staying up.

If they can play like they did against West Ham in most of their games this season and keep that balance of a strong attack and defence, they could buck the trend of newly promoted sides going straight back down.

Is Graham Potter under pressure at West Ham?

It is a bit premature for me to ask this question as we've just had one round of fixtures, but the signs are already looking worrying for Graham Potter and West Ham following their opening day defeat at Sunderland.

The Hammers didn't have a particularly good end to last season as they won just two of their final ten games.

Although the team they had last season wasn't Potter's, you would still have expected them to make a better start to this season as Potter just had a pre-season to get the player adjusted to his style of play, and a summer to bring in players who will fit his system.

The Hammers do have some tough fixtures coming up starting with Chelsea at home next weekend, and if they don't win at least two of their upcoming games, the pressure could be on Potter.

Is Tijjani Reijnders City's new De Bruyne?

Some Man City fans were probably wondering over the summer how they were going to replace Kevin De Bruyne following his departure at the end of last season.

Well, they might've already found his replacement in new signing Tijjani Reijnders who had an impressive debut against Wolves as he both scored and assisted a goal each.

Could he be City's new De Bruyne?

As well as scoring the second goal and setting up Erling Haaland for his second goal, Reijnders ran the show from midfield just like De Bruyne did for many years in a City shirt.

He was at the heart of everything City did against Wolves as he brought energy to their performance, linked up with other players and was always looked to play the pass forward.

I tipped Phil Foden to step up and become City's main man in midfield during pre-season, but it looks like Reijnders is going to be that player after his impressive debut where he was in complete control of the game.

If he can keep this up, he could well be City's new De Bruyne.

Man United still need a goalkeeper

Man United may have strengthened their attack during their summer and rightly so as it was the area that they needed strengthening the most.

But there are still other areas they need to address and especially the goalkeeping department which is one area I'm surprised they haven't addressed yet.

They need a new goalkeeper because Andre Onana makes too many mistakes, and so too does Altay Bayindir including in their opening weekend defeat to Arsenal where he wasn't strong enough as the ball came into the box.

I said towards the end of last season that United needed a new keeper and it came off the back of their 4-1 defeat at Newcastle back in April, when Bayindir was at fault for the fourth goal as he gifted it the ball to Joelinton before he set up Bruno Guimaraes just a few seconds later.

United should have the firepower the finish higher up the league but if they're to compete with the sides near the top of the league, they need a more reliable keeper.