Winners and losers from Saturday's Premier League action
On the heels of a frantic summer that was short on respite, the Premier League is in full swing, and while drawing conclusions on a club's prospects is premature at this juncture, plenty can be gleaned from Saturday's seven matches.
With that in mind, here's a glance at three winners and three losers from the English top-flight's second weekend:
Winners
United's attack - Eight goals in two matches sans conceding is none too bad for a club that scored just 54 times in the league a season ago. Albeit against an uninspired West Ham and a disorganised Swansea, Manchester United was relentless in attack, especially during a second-half spell where the Red Devils trampled the south Wales side.
Summer signing Romelu Lukaku now has three goals in two matches, Paul Pogba glided around the pitch as Nemanja Matic did the dirty work, and for the first time since 2011, United has won back-to-back matches by four-goal margins. Credit to Jose Mourinho for getting his squad management bang on, with Anthony Martial coming on to bag a second tally on the campaign to go with an assist against the lifeless Irons.
Shinji Okazaki - For a forward who is maligned for having everything in his locker but goals, Shinji Okazaki looked like a multiple Golden Boot winner against Brighton. After scoring just three league goals in 30 appearances last season, the 31-year-old now has two in two after slotting home the opener Saturday.
A tireless worker whose unrelenting engine sets the standard for his Leicester City brethren, Okazaki was in fine form against the Seagulls slotted in directly behind Jamie Vardy in Craig Shakespeare's 4-4-1-1 formation. Playing in a more advanced role than in the 4-3 opening-day loss to Arsenal, and with summer signing Kelechi Iheanacho watching on from the sidelines with a toe concern, Okazaki made a claim he should be in the starting XI and not the Nigerian newcomer. With Vardy limping off late for Demarai Gray, Okazaki and Iheanacho may get the chance to play together next weekend at Old Trafford.
The 'Wenger Out' crowd - Was Hector Bellerin brought down in the area? It sure looked that way. Was Alexandre Lacazette's equaliser wrongly called offside? Yes. Does that mean Arsene Wenger and Co. are not at fault for a 1-0 defeat at Stoke City? Absolutely not.
Knowing that a visit to the Potteries is a daunting task - and in light of Laurent Koscielny's two-match ban - Wenger opted for a back-three with Shkodran Mustafi and full-backs Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac despite having Per Mertesacker on the bench and Rob Holding fit. Hailed as a genius for playing players out of position against Leicester, Wenger's plan backfired at Stoke in a match Arsenal controlled from the opening whistle. Even the Frenchman's subs left something to be desired, as Theo Walcott came on for Lacazette and did nothing while Olivier Giroud spelled Kolasinac and inexplicably found himself collecting the ball on the left flank on numerous occasions. There's also Danny Welbeck, who is as clinical in front of goal as a blindfolded drunkard chained to a chair with his shoelaces tied together.
Seventy-seven percent possession, 18 shots and six on target, and zero points against a side that packed the area and offered next to nothing going forward: the Arsenal way.
Losers
Marko Arnautovic - A week after an ominous West Ham debut in the 4-0 drubbing against United, Marko Arnautovic's second shift for the Irons resulted in a first-half sending off for a violent elbow to the neck of Southampton centre-half Jack Stephens.
And it was as savage as they come as Stephens was in possession in his own half before the Austrian international fired a needless elbow into the defender's neck. Anthony Taylor wasted little time brandishing red as the former ponytail purveyor marched off the pitch to the pleasure of Saints' supporters. Arnautovic now has seen red in successive seasons after picking up one dismissal to go with nine yellow cards last season with Rugby League side Stoke City.
West Ham - On the topic of West Ham, it's becoming increasingly hard not to feel for Slaven Bilic. Six days after a lifeless performance against United, the Croat's charges were hamstrung early by Arnautovic's inexplicable elbow Saturday.
Minutes later, West Ham was down a pair courtesy of Dusan Tadic's converted penalty as the Irons conceded a sixth goal in the season's infantile stages. Then, as quickly as the sun breached the south-coast clouds, Chicharito breathed life into a dire team performance with a brace to level matters with fifteen minutes to go. That hope was fleeting, however, as Pablo Zabaleta curiously brought down Saints defender and attacking ignoramus Maya Yoshida in the area before Charlie Austin's 93rd-minute penalty handed Southampton a last-second victory. West Ham now sits dead last on zero points with a goal differential of minus-five. Ouch.
Swansea's backline - If centre-back Federico Fernandez set the table with a perplexing lack of effort on Eric Bailly's opener seconds before the interval, the Spaniard and his defensive mates followed suit with a horrendous display in the second stanza Saturday at the Liberty Stadium against Manchester United.
Lukaku, Pogba, and Martial scored three times in a three-minute-and-41-second window as Swansea wilted under the pressure of Mourinho's fluid attack. Fernandez and Alfie Mawson took an inexplicable nap on Lukaku's third of the season, before the latter failed to track Pogba's run as the Frenchman chipped Lukas Fabianski. Mawson continued his dire display moments later when Martial spun the Brentford academy product like a Lazy Susan that's had a treble of lunch-time pints. Even in employing a back-three against the volcanic-hot Red Devils, Swansea appeared a side fit for a return to the second tier.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)