Matchday 2 of the English Premier League will get under way a
little earlier than usual this weekend when, following the lead of other
domestic leagues in Europe and the National Football League’s attempts to
maximize revenue by making sure there is a game played on almost every day of
the week, the first of twelve Friday kickoffs spread throughout the year gets
the weekend action underway. Tune in
early and often throughout the weekend and, as usual, catch every game live on
the NBC family of networks or online at NBC Live Extra.
Friday (all times eastern)
3pm – Southampton @
Manchester United – Old Trafford, NBC Sports Network
The Jose Mourinho era at Manchester United got off to a
flying start on the opening weekend, with the Red Devils easing to a
comfortable 3-1 victory away at Bournemouth.
Mourinho will take his place in the home dugout at Old Trafford for the
first time when they welcome Southampton to the historic footballing ground,
with the Saints entering the weekend matchup up on the backs of a 1-1 draw with
Watford, thanks to summer signing Nathan Redmond’s second half equalizer to
give the Saints and manager Claude Puel a share of the spoils in his first game
in charge of the south coast club.
While Mourino’s first home match would likely be enough to
garner all of the headlines, he will not mind being trumped by the likelihood
that we will see the first appearance of Paul Pogba following his world record
$115 million transfer last week, with the Frenchman set to make his United return
after leaving four years ago on a free transfer. They are likely to have their work cut out
for them against a Southampton side who, after failing to beat United in their
previous sixteen meetings (L14 D2), have not lost at Old Trafford since 2013,
taking all three points in two of their last three visits.
Saturday (all times eastern)
7:30am – Manchester
City @ Stoke City – bet365 Stadium, NBC Sports Network
Manchester City were much less convincing than their cross
town rivals in their opening fixture, but a late own goal from Paddy McNair,
who somewhat ironically had joined Sunderland just days before from United, made
it six consecutive victories for City on the opening day of the season to
ensure that Pep Guardiola’s long awaited debut in England ended on a positive
note. They will travel to the bet365
Stadium on Saturday to take on Stoke City, who shared the points with newly promoted
Middlesbrough when Xherdan Shaqiri’s free kick overturned a first half deficit.
The draw kept Stoke winless on the seasons opening day since
2007, but manager Mark Hughes will be happy with the away point ahead of their
early season showdown against the club that controversially gave him the boot
in 2009 despite laying the groundwork for their European renaissance. City have failed to take points from Stoke in
just three of their last sixteen meetings since the Potters returned to the
Premier League back in 2008 (W8 D5 L3), but have managed only one win in their
last eight trips to the grounds now formerly known as the Britannia Stadium (L2
D5).
12:30pm – Arsenal @
Leicester City – King Power Stadium, NBC
Leicester City may have shocked the world with their
improbable run to the title last season, but they were delivered a shock of
their own on the opening weekend when they lost to the newly promoted and
manger-less Hull City, their first loss in the League since February of last
season and the first defending champion to ever lose on the opening day of the
season. They will welcome Arsenal to the
King Power Stadium for Saturday’s primetime matchup with the Gunners still
licking their wounds following a 4-3 defeat at home to Liverpool that has only
increased the growing pressure on manager Arsene Wenger.
Already beset by injuries and with a lack of definitive
action in the summer transfer market to adequately address their deficiencies
up front and at the back, Wenger cannot afford to start the season with
consecutive defeats. Despite the tough
matchup he will like his chances to avoid that fate, with a trio of returning
stars in Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud, and Laurent Koscienly set to return for
the early season crunch meeting, and the Gunners unbeaten in their last nineteen
encounters with Leicester (W13 D6), including handing the Foxes two of the
three defeats they suffered the whole of last season.