Braeburn's EPL Review - Steely-Eyed Determination

So that's two now. Three games into the season and the count is two.

Two Liverpool fans that have looked me in the eye, not the glimmer of a smile on their faces and advised me that they are going to win the league this season. Apart from age, these two fans could barely be more different, one a Lesbian from Essex, the other a married man from Merseyside, but the look was identical and unerring. Steely-eyed and determined.

Both these fans are in their early forties, both remember the last title in 1990, the near misses of 2009 and 2014. Liverpool supporters ache from every pore to win the league again. They watched on in horror as Manchester United (of all clubs) dominated the 1990's and 2000's, their record tally of triumphs chased down, equalled and finally eclipsed. Then along came Chelsea and Manchester City, wallowing in oil money, pushing them further down the pecking order. Twenty-eight years since the last title win, if you had suggested such a figure to fans at Anfield then you would have been laughed out of the place.

Liverpool's last champions, will they be eclipsed this season?

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Three games in and they have three wins on the board. Seven goals scored, none conceded. West Ham were dispatched like opponents in a training game. Crystal Palace away is never an easy match but The Reds came through with ease. Brighton at home this weekend, eleven men behind the ball for the majority of the match. This is the sort of game Klopp's men were prone to losing or drawing last season, but despite an average performance, they came through the encounter unscathed. Tougher challenges lie ahead of course. Visits to Tottenham and Chelsea await in September, Manchester City go to Anfield in early October, we will have a clearer picture of how things stand by the time the clocks go back.

Elsewhere this weekend Manchester City were held to a draw at Wolves. Not the first, and it certainly won't be the last, game this season that might have panned out differently had VAR been around to assist the referee. Fulham thrashed Burney at Craven Cottage, expect goals galore down on the Thames, and Arsenal picked up a first win under Unai Emery with perhaps their worst performance of the season against the Hammers.

What does Manolo Gabbiadini have to do to get a game at Southampton?

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For Southampton, it was more of the same. Strange team selections, Shane Long starting ahead of Manolo Gabbiadini. Really? Have we learned nothing from the last 24 months? James Ward-Prowse, a player who should be the heartbeat of the side, left on the bench. Danny Ings was subbed on seventy minutes while Long remained on the field until four minutes before the end. There appears to be no plan. Hughes did his usual moaning of course, principally around Pierre-Emile Højbjerg's red card, but the decisions looked fair enough to me.

One home win for the Saints since November last year is not good enough by any standards and many of those games have been under Mark Hughes. Hughes should be sacked immediately to avoid another long and difficult season, but the buck should not stop there. Whoever it is at St Mary's that thinks Hughes is the man for the job should be sacked too.