If anything can be drawn from the results of the opening round of Premier League fixtures it was that champions Arsenal are categorically the team to beat and the those expected to challenge them must quickly get their acts together.
Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United endured difficult starts to varying degrees and will be keen to give Arsenal something to ponder before Mikel Arteta's side travel to troubled Aston Villa on Monday.
While City did begin the post-Pep Guardiola era with a last-gasp 2-1 home victory against Bournemouth, it was hardly convincing. Enzo Maresca's side kick off the weekend's action with a Friday night assignment at Crystal Palace -- a fixture that has been kind to City in recent years.
They are unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League games at Selhurst Park, winning eight and drawing three, and will be taking on a Palace team still adapting to life since the departure of coach Oliver Glasner at the end of last season.
City will be boosted by the availability of their new Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi who joined this week from Lille for a reported fee of £86 million ($117 million).
"He is ready, he was working with his former club so he is fit," Maresca said on Thursday.
Manchester United stalled on the grid in their season-opener as they went down 2-0 at promoted Hull City -- a result that acted as reality check after a summer of optimism.
United will be keen to engage the gears as they host another promoted side, Ipswich Town, on Sunday.
LIVERPOOL SEEK FIRST WIN
Liverpool needed a stoppage-time penalty by Dominik Szoboszlai at Newcastle United to avoid a losing start to Andoni Iraola's reign and will seek their first win as they host Nottingham Forest in Saturday's lunchtime kickoff.
"It is true that we did not win, we drew 2-2. You cannot change this, but I felt we did a lot of good things in that first game," Iraola, who will be hoping the club can deliver the signing of France forward Bradley Barcola, said.
If Arsenal's 3-0 cruise at home to Coventry City underlined why they will be favorites to retain the title, Chelsea emerged from the opening skirmishes as potential challengers after an impressive Cole Palmer-inspired victory at Fulham on Monday.
New manager Xavi Alonso's side will face a tough test at home to a Brighton & Hove Albion outfit who demolished Aston Villa 4-0 on the opening weekend.
Villa, who finished fourth last season and won the Europa League, have been arguably the biggest talking point at the start of the new campaign after the rapid break-up of Unai Emery's squad.
Only five of the players that started the Europa League final against Freiburg on that memorable night in Istanbul in May began the match at Brighton.
Emery can only hope that the likes of new signings Johan Manzambi and Alejandro Garnacho can help to lift the gloom, although a visit from Arsenal hardly bodes well.
Big-spending Tottenham Hotspur were thrashed 3-0 at Brentford on the opening weekend but with new signings Savio and Omar Marmoush back in tandem after joining from Manchester City, they will expect to bounce back at home to Newcastle on Sunday.
After a chastening return to the topflight at Arsenal, Coventry will host their first Premier League game for a quarter of a century as they welcome fellow promoted side Hull.
