Week 1 - "Didn't you watch this game earlier?"

My wife is a wonderful woman. She has endured some passing interests of mine - flying, golfing, and running. She may think this is another one of those phases (I doubt it) but in the meantime she is tolerant of my new obsession. When watching EPL Review on Fox Soccer Channel, I noticed that the weekend highlights are not smothered by some fat guy screaming the same tired lines that were old 15 years ago (*cough*Chris Berman*cough*). They are mostly replays of the video and commentary heard and seen during the game. While marveling over this and watching the highlights of Liverpool vs. Arsenal, my wife made the comment "Didn't you watch this game earlier?" I explained how it was the highlight show to which she said "Oh" and continued uninterested. God bless her.

Week 1

So I settled into my first week of EPL soccer by watching Chelsea destroy West Bromwich 6-0. So much for "low scoring". In fact, the average goals for the week was 2.6/game which is probably more than twice what the average American perceives the game. I followed this up with a entertaining 3-1 FC Dallas victory to extend their unbeaten streak to 10.

Sunday was the game of the week, with Arsenal visiting Liverpool. A red card in the first half didn't keep Liverpool from taking a 1-0 lead late into the game before the goal keeper Jose Reina put a rebound off the left post into his own goal. Arsenal draws against Liverpool.

On to the scoring:

Plays of the Week
Herewood of Blackpool for his 2nd goal, and Blackpool's spectacular debut- 1
Didier Drogba's hat trick - 2
James Milner fires a bullet from the 18 - 3
David Jones flicks a free kick and punches it out of midair - 4
Joe Hart's save in the 18th minute - 5

Fandom
Liverpool - 5
Blackpool - 4
Man Utd - 3
Chelsea - 2
Sunderland - 1

Rumor Mill
Aston Villa - 3
Everton - 2
Liverpool - 1

Biggest Impression
Blackpool - impressive victory in their first game in EPL

Totals
Liverpool 27
Blackpool 25
Manchester United 23
Chelsea 23
Aston Villa 23
Arsenal 20
Everton 20
Manchester City 19
Fulham 16
Newcastle United 11
Tottenham Hotspur 11
Wolverhampton Wanderers 11
Birmingham City 10
Blackburn Roverda 10
Stoke City 8
Bolton Wanderers 7
Sunderland 7
West Ham United 3
Wigan AC 2
West Bromwich Albion 1

So Blackpool gets the huge jump in the first week. I suspect they won't stay there very long, but for now they are my favorite team. They won in their debut, their fans showed up in force, and they dominated the game. I should deduct points for their orange jerseys, but couldn't bring myself to do it when I saw Everton's fluorescent pink away kits. Ouch!