And so the 2011-12 Premier League season got off to a ... rather stuttering ... start at the weekend.
Saturday afternoon saw only five games start the season, with Liverpool the biggest of the clubs getting underway - and they could only manage a tame 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland. Tottenham v Everton was called off after the riots, so it was left to Bolton Wanderers to make their mark, winning 4-0 at newly-promoted QPR, and proudly heading the Premier League table straight away - and they still do!
Arsenal's trip to Newcastle was shown live on Saturday early evening, but made headlines for all the wrong reasons (Song, Barton, Gervinho) and produced no goals. Joey Barton may protest his innocence, but one has to wonder why he is so often at the centre of controversy. As for Stephen Taylor trying to claim that Gervinho had elbowed someone (when all he did was wave his fingers in Barton's face) - oh dear, oh dear, let's all try and get sensible, shall we? Taylor is one of those English players who's all huff and puff and machismo, with a heap of indignation thrown in. We don't need it.
We hoped that Sunday's two live games featuring Chelsea and Manchester United might enliven proceedings, but Chelsea's rather one-dimensional display against Stoke did nothing, and it was left to the champions to chose touches of inspiration, even if Ashley Young's winning shot was in the end helped into the net by two deflections.
Can we rely on Manchester City or the Welsh Dragons from Swansea to breathe some fire into the nascent season tonight?
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