Goals galore shows why Manchester City spend £50m on defenders, Arsenal still nervous, Man United ready to win title

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Seeing Kyle Walker join Manchester City for £50m a year after they committed the same sum of money to John Stones left many a fan stunned by the cost of defenders in the modern era, but the opening weekend of the Premier League showed exactly way clubs are willing to pay through the roof to try and strengthen up their defences.

The 31 goals scored since Friday night fell just five short of the record for an opening weekend, which remains the 2003/04 season, but what stood out the most was the sight of supposed leading back lines collapsing en masse. Arsenal, Liverpool and most alarmingly Chelsea all shipped three goals to inferior opposition if looking at last season’s league table, and there was no control in trying to plug the gaps as the goals kept coming.

Manchester United, along with City, have spent the most on their defence over the last few years and it showed with both securing clean sheets against West Ham and Brighton and Hove Albion respectively. Unless managers take a good look at hos their defence works, the goals will keep coming.

It took 94 seconds for the Emirates Stadium to light up as £52m summer signing Alexandre Lacazette equalled the record for the quickest opening day goal in Premier League history. Just three minutes later, the words “same old Arsenal” will have been muttered by the home fans more than a few times.

That the Gunners were able to fight back and win a thrilling curtain-raiser through Olivier Giroud’s header should not mask over the cracks that still remain in Arsene Wenger’s side, and while the additions of Lacazetta and Sead Kolasinac look positive ones, they are not enough for them to be genuine title challengers yet.

The Arsenal fans know this, and it feels like one defeat against lesser opposition will bring back all the negative vibes that haunted the Emirates last season.

There are three guarantees in life: death, taxes and Jose Mourinho winning the title in his second season. The Portuguese manager just knows how to build a title-winning team, having won the league in his sophomore year at every club where he’s been there long than a sole season.

After a nervy start at Old Trafford in which United struggled to find the back of the net, Mourinho will have been delighted to see his side fire four past West Ham on Sunday, not least because two of those goals came from £75m addition Romelu Lukaku. The striker looked confident and added that little bit of pace that United’s attack lacked in Zlatan Ibrahimovic last term.

But it was the performance of Nemanja Matic that really caught the eye. The Serbian offered so much more than just his own qualities, as he freed up Paul Pogba to roam in midfield and helped centre-backs Phil Jones and Eric Bailly relax as they faced very little threat from West Ham. If United can maintain this start – something that will be helped by their generous fixture list – it will come as no surprise if it’s Mourinho lifting the trophy at the end of the season.

If you live in south-west London and hav a remote interest in football, grab your boots. Chelsea will have to delve deep into their academy this weekend when they face last season’s runners-up in Tottenham, given they will barely be able to field a full team. Both Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas will be suspended after receiving red cards in the 3-2 loss to Burnley on Saturday, while Eden Hazard and Pedro remain injured with Tiemoue Bakayoko a doubt.

Antonio Conte has been adament that he needs more players in order to cope with the return to European football this season, but his squad doesn’t even look strong enough to deal with the Premier League. The Italian named a substitutes’ bench that, barring goalkeeper Willy Caballero and striker Alvaro Morata, looked one of the weakest in the league.

Chelsea are far from having a squad capable of defending their title this season, with even the players admitting as much, but unless they strenghten they could miss out on the top four altogether.

Both Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp are enforcers of zonal marking when it comes to corners, yet it was Arsenal and Liverpool who conceded a combined four goals from corners. Coincidence?

No, it’s not, because both Arsenal and Liverpool struggled to deal with set-pieces last season when they or course deployed zonal marking. It may be because the two sides lack the type of players who can attack an aerial ball emphatically, given they favour on-the-deck creative football, but it’s costing them in defence and will lead to more goals conceded as the season progresses.

These are not poor teams, they have some of the best players in the league, and the likes of Laurent Koscielny, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren should be trusted to go man-to-man against any striker bar the elite and win a head-to-head battle.

Huddersfield Town’s stay at the top of English football may have only lasted 25 hours, but the Yorkshire club are making all the right noises about trying to stay in the Premier League. They have invested in the squad, not too heavily to risk their future but enough to suggest they’re making a real go of survival, while manager David Wagner was refusing to get carried away despite the impressive 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

In striker Steve Mounie, the Terriers look like they have a goalscorer with the right attributes to succeed in the Premier League, with pace, physicality and a deft touch proving the downfall of the Eaglea at the weekend.

For all Rafa Benitez’s noises that he does not have the new signings that he needs to stay afloat in the Premier League, Newcastle did not look a million miles off the pace against a strong Tottenham side at the weekend.

Had Jonjo Shelvey not let his team down with a needless stamp on Dele Alli that left the Magpies playing with 10 men for most of the second half, who’s to say that they wouldn’t have claimed a point in their return to the Premier League?

The only issue is that they never looked like taking three points, and the performance left you wondering where the goals will comes from – with Dwight Gayle, Siem de Jong and Ayoze Perez already failing to cut the mustard at this level in the past. Benitez wants to sign Arsenal forward Lucas Perez, and with the striker available for little over £13m, he could be the right answer to their survival fight.