Guardiola's men beat Arsenal 2-0, Klopp's side hammer West Ham 4-0 in season openers
Man City's Raheem Sterling (centre) celebrates with teammates after scoring against Arsenal yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Manchester City started their Premier League title defence with a 2-0 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, while Liverpool kicked off their campaign with an emphatic 4-0 win over West Ham yesterday. This was Pep Guardiola's 11th meeting with Unai Emery, who replaced Arsene Wenger in May and he remains unbeaten against his fellow Spaniard as Raheem Sterling's 50th Premier League goal got the ball rolling before Bernardo Silva struck in the second half.
City thrashed Wenger's Arsenal 3-0 twice in four days last season but there was renewed vigour heading into the campaign, with Emery keen not to dwell on the Frenchman's reign and admitting he has not held a conversation with his predecessor at any point. Emery's side looked good early on, chasing and pressurising the opposition much more than in the latter stages of Wenger's tenure — even if a similar result was the eventual outcome.
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Sterling show
Sterling had the game's first real chance, picking up a Sergio Aguero flick before getting past Shkodran Mustafi easily and forcing a smart save from Petr Cech at his near post. Emery's side continued with their pressing approach and almost forced an equaliser as Hector Bellerin cut inside and tested Ederson with a drilled effort. Cech suffered a heart-in-mouth moment as Arsenal tried, and failed, to play out from the back - the former Chelsea man almost turning the ball into his own goal as he attempted to pass across to Mustafi.
Preferred to summer signing Bernd Leno, Cech went some way to making amends for his shaky start to the season by pushing away a low Riyad Mahrez free-kick and then blocking Aymeric Laporte's close-range follow-up. The points were secured as Benjamin Mendy's cut-back was turned home brilliantly by Bernardo in the second half.
Salah opens account
Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah opened his account for the new campaign as Liverpool backed up pre-season hype they can challenge champions Manchester City for the Premier League title by sweeping aside West Ham 4-0 at Anfield. Sadio Mane scored twice and Daniel Sturridge added a late fourth in an impressive display by Jurgen Klopp's men as goalkeeper Alisson Becker kept a clean sheet on debut. Liverpool haven't been crowned champions of England since 1989-90 and finished 25 points behind City last season.
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