HEAVY METAL FOOTBALL! The early signs showing new Premier League season will be very different to last year

The signs were encouraging in the first weekend....they have been even better in the second round of fixtures.

The Premier League might be witnessing a move back towards more open and attacking football. We had 30 goals across the first round of fixtures as compared to 24 across the opening weekend in 2025/26.

And we are up to 31 so far this weekend even ahead of Arsenal's trip to Aston Villa on Monday night.

There were two seven-goal thrillers on Sunday with Manchester United thrashing Ipswich 5-2 and Chelsea edging out Brighton 4-3 in a thriller at Stamford Bridge.

But what is noticeable is the signs of intent. There was more intensity in the games that I watched with coaches encouraging attacking football rather than parking the bus.

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Manchester City kicked it off by going to Crystal Palace with such an attacking formation and were rewarded with two goals apiece for Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki. Enzo Maresca is clearly determined to make his own mark at City but has also inherited an incredible group of attacking players.

Cherki is such a special talent, he is a throwback to the 1970s and early 80s with just a freedom to play. No-one gets near him when he is not on the ball and no-one can get near his twinkle toes when he is dribbling.

Liverpool look weak defensively but they are scoring goals and Andoni Iraola is about intense, high press and work rate.

Chelsea have scored seven goals in their opening two Premier League games and, after beating Brighton 4-3, it is clear that Xabi Alonso has taken off the shackles.

Alonso was very tactical at Bayer Leverkusen, methodical and it was hardly heavy metal football. They demand more attacking football at Real Madrid.

And at Chelsea, they seem to be taking an attitude of scoring more than one than the opponent. Their front three of Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer is arguably the best in the Premier League and is certainly the most mobile.

As soon as you suggest they can win the league you get a certain negativity because everyone thinks you cannot win the title while letting in lots of goals.

That is probably true - but what a load of killjoys. And if Alonso can sort out the defence, can get his best midfielder, Moises Caicedo, fit and on the pitch then they have a big chance.

Arsenal definitely won the title with a strong defence and plenty of set-piece goals. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, there was a myth that they were too defensive. They were the second highest scorers in the Premier League, netting 71 which was six behind top scorers City.

But it would be good if we got a more attacking approach across the board. And the signs are positive.

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