Blog | The 'Premier' League is back!
Premier League Opening Weekend
Honestly, is there really that much to be said about this opening round of fixtures? Didn't it all just unfold with a sense of tedious inevitability? I wasn't particularly bothered about the return of domestic football and this first round of fixtures has done little to convince me otherwise.
Man City and Liverpool will battle it out at the top - and City will win that fight easily, as the world's most expensive squad ever really should do - while the mediocrity of the other 'top' sides scramble desperately for the last two Champions' League spots.
I just can't see any reason to get excited about the so-called 'Premier' League, especially after a pretty good World Cup. It all feels a little like the Marvel Netflix series: longer than needed with generally pointless filler to make up the time.
We're stuck with the league season for the next ten months, but I imagine any football fan with a passing knowledge of the current state of the Premier League could predict who'll win the league, be runners-up, fill out the rest of the top six, or battle for relegation.
Even as an Arsenal fan with Unai Emery taking over from Arsene Wenger and a 'new era' at Arsenal, I just don't care. The club simply don't have the resources to compete with Chelsea or either Manchester club, and an owner who would never sanction multiple world record deals as Liverpool have done.
Genuine question: outside of those who support Man City, Liverpool, or the newly-promoted clubs, are there any fans genuinely excited and enthusiastic about the season ahead? And if there are, why? What the hell do you see happening in the coming months to shake things up and make them interesting?
Arsenal Player Ratings
Just a note here that I'll only be posting the player ratings once a month this season, and the first batch is currently scheduled for August 30th after the matches against Man City, Chelsea and West Ham.
Schedule
Tomorrow, following closely on from the fantastic Mission: Impossible - Fallout, I'll have a look back at what I consider to be the series' previous best in Ghost Protocol; Tuesday and Thursday will see new episodes of Telltale's Game of Thrones story, and a review of the fun music-based game Audiosurf will be posted next Friday.
On Wednesday, the current plan is to write a bit about the Oscars' choice to create an award for the best 'popular' film, why this is a dumb idea, and why the Academy's apparent standards for being nominated for Best Picture are pretty terrible too.
Currently Playing
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey - to be accurate, this will be getting played soon and, hopefully, reviewed as soon as possible.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 - still my 'podcast game' of choice, beating out No Man's Sky be virtue of being far simpler to enjoy.
Hearthstone - trying out the new expansion, but the same old issues are still present so doubt this'll last for long; expect a review to appear in the near future.
Currently Watching
Gilmore Girls season 2 - like Dreamfall above, I'm hoping to race through this in the very near future and there should be a review either 22nd or 29th August depending on how long it takes.
