I'm going to call it now and state, on record, that I believe the Premiership title this season will go to Manchester. I'm as of yet undecided on which half.
If their first game was anything to go by, QPR fans have a long season ahead of them losing 0-4 at home to Bolton. The Lancashire side are certainly no pushovers nowadays, Owen Coyle seemingly having transformed them from a rugby team to an actual footballing side, and a decent passing one at that. Whether or not these rejuvenated Wanderers are the kind of team you'd expect to see scoring four away from home is another matter however. The Loftus Road board promised a heavy investment into the team were they to gain promotion to the Premiership, something which the fans are yet to see, but holding onto influential midfielder Adel Taarabt should be seen as a massive coup in itself. Despite his performance being largely underwhelming against the Trotters, he showed last season that he has talent, whether or not he can prove Spurs wrong and take the step up to the Premiership remains to be seen. QPR occasionally looked dangerous in attack, with recent signing Jay Bothroyd particularly lively. It was a performance with enough promise that it makes one wonder why no other Premiership teams took the chance to sign him, he could well prove to be one of the bargains of the season for the Hoops. Defensively the newly promoted team looked a million miles from Premiership class, shipping four goals. The misery was further compounded as the perennially injured Kieron Dyer limped off in the first half with, well, another injury. The post match physio report apparently concluded that he is actually made of crisps. For Bolton, Gary Cahill scored an absolute belter and turned in a flawless performance in the heart of the Wanderers defence. Based on this match, the apparent interest from Spurs, Arsenal and Manchester City comes as little surprise. Norwich City were the other recently promoted team on duty this weekend, drawing 1-1 away to Wigan. Is there much more to say about this utterly forgettable game? Not really, no. Al Ali-Habsi. the Wigan keeper, made a blunder to allow Norwich to score, but that's about it. Bore off. Wolves came back from a goal down to record an impressive 2-1 victory away at Blackburn Rovers. Blackburn were missing several first team members through injury, but will no doubt be very disappointed to lose at Ewood Park. In saying this, Wolves worked hard and completely bossed the game in the final twenty minutes and looked good for their win. Although it's still early days, this may already see Blackburn manager Steve Keen's hopes of being in the title race, as predicted this summer, out the window. What if, what if? Shay Given reminded us all that he still exists with a marvellous performance for his new side Aston Villa in their draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage. With both sides under new management, Alex McLeish'sVilla struggled to break through a well organised Fulham side now managed by White Hart Hero Martin Jol. With Villa having lost two of their star players this summer it's a big ask of N'Zogbia to fill the void left by Ashley Young and Stuart Downing. Darren Bent was often left isolated and frustrated up front, but a promising late cameo from the emerging talent of Marc Albrighton may be enough to give the Villains fans hope that there is life after Stuley Yowning. In the late stages Fulham pressed, but Given and Villa, held their nerve. Much has been made of Liverpool's chances this year, with the once giants of English football having been in a state of decline over the past two seasons. The new owners, clearly eager to stop the rot, have given darling Kenny free reign to splash the cash. One of these signings, the surprisingly expensive Jordan Henderson, faced up against former club Sunderland at Anfield. His performance was about as exciting as iceberg lettuce, but time should be given to the young England man to settle into his new surroundings. Liverpool as a whole looked disjointed, and lacking sharpness for large periods of the game. It became abundantly clear once again, just how much they miss the the presence of Steven Gerrard when absent. Luis Suarez continues to look like a class act despite missing a penalty, and once he gets a better understanding with Andy Carroll, I can envisage them being very effective. Sunderland played the ball about well, and may have even felt they could have nicked all three points as they pressed the Merseysiders in the final stages of the game. Steve Bruce can be proud of his side's effort as they left the game thoroughly deserving of their 1-1 draw. Special mention must also be made to Seb Larsson for his wonderful volleyed equaliser. The incident of the day undoubtedly took place at the Sports Direct @ St. James' Park stadium, with Joey Barton once again stealing the headlines in a largely forgettable 0-0 contest. The Daily Mail's poster boy had the audacity to be stamped on by Alex Song, then slapped around the face by débutante Gervinho following a tussle in which Barton grabbed the Ivorian by the shirt. Granted, Joey overreacted to the slap, but a red card it most certainly was for Gervinho. Arsene Wenger's post match reactions to blatant foul play from his players has about as many tracks as a Chumbawumba greatest hits CD, and almost as tedious as 'The Professor's' tacit acceptance is the media witch hunt of Joey Barton. He's acted the fool in the past, but it's about time that his movements were less scrutinised. If you're a 'Tweeter', be sure to follow his hilarious postings @Joey7Barton. Sunday lunchtime saw Chelsea and Stoke battle out a point a piece. The Blues struggling to break down Stoke's monstrous back line. New boss Villas Boas claimed that Stoke played rough, but in fairness to the Potters they moved the ball around well and caused Chelsea a few problems. Chelsea's biggest problem came from their lack of creativity, with Frank Lampard's mind seemingly on his roast dinner waiting for him at home. The signing of Luka Modric wouldn't solve Chelsea's lack of width, but he'd most certainly provide them with that much needed spark that they seem to be lacking at present. Torres was close to resembling the Torres of old in his approach play, but still seemed to bottle it in and around the box, with several chances going the way of a miss kick. With the emergence of Manchester City, Chelsea are going to need Torres at his best if they want to stand a real chance of winning the Premiership again. Stoke on the other hand, have firmly established themselves as a decent Premiership team, and if Sunday's performance was anything to go by, they intend for it to stay that way. I'm going to call it now and state, on record, that I believe the Premiership title this season will go to Manchester. I'm as of yet undecided on which half. Manchester United faced a potentially tricky visit to the Hawthorns to play Roy Hodgson's West Brom. It didn't take the visitors long to find the net with everybody's favourite angry egg, Wayne Rooney, finding the net on thirteen minutes after some clever approach play from Fabio and Young. Then, as if possessed by Massimo Taibi, Shane Long's tame effort rolled into the net beating the ominously dodgy looking David de Gea to make it 1-1 to the Baggies. An unfair comparison, de Gea is young and has shown bags of potential at his previous club, but jumping straight into the United first team is perhaps too much too soon for the Spaniard. He looked shaky throughout, and it didn't take long for West Brom to notice this and target him. West Brom, backed by their ever vocal fans, gave United a real game and no sooner as I said 'I think they might nick this you know' an Ashley Young cross found itself turned into the net by Steven Reid for an oggy. Far from convincing performance, but as ever, United get the results. There isn't much more to say about Manchester City's 4-0 demolition of Swansea on Monday night than Sergio Aguero. The lad looks, quite simply, top drawer. Could he be the missing piece to the title winning jigsaw, maybe so, scoring two and creating one of City's four goals. His exceptional link up with David Silva was at times frightening, but with the greatest respect to the Swans, it's best to remember the calibre of opposition they were facing. Truer tests of City's strength lie in wait, but it's likely that the title race will go right to the wire this year. Follow me on Twitter @tehTrunk