We look back on the second round of matches of the 2026-27 Premier League season with five snap judgements that may not stand the test of time.
Every week, we round up the weekend’s action in the Premier League by coming to some hasty conclusions based on only that single round of matches.
Being numbers people, this isn’t our usual way of working. We prefer to use much more data when making up our minds on any given topic.
But there may still be some truth behind these judgements, even if we might have jumped the gun slightly with them.
Read on to see what we made of Matchday 2 in the Premier League 2026-27.
With Tielemans in Tow, Bruno Can Eclipse Last Season
Almost all of Manchester United’s summer surgery has come in central midfield, with Casemiro having departed and three players coming in for a combined total of almost £200 million. The cheapest of those signings, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and João Pedro got at least one goal or assist.
But they also showed for the second week running that they have significant defensive problems and, with new signing Emi Martínez between the sticks this weekend, that those problems weren’t only brought about by having Robert Sánchez in goal.
Despite racing into a three-goal lead, they let Brighton back into the game, and although the deficit was only reduced to one goal for nine minutes in the second half and then again in the 95th minute when the game was over, this wasn’t as comfortable a win as it could or should have been. A better-built side would have seen the game out with less issue.
Chelsea have been a lot of fun so far under Alonso, and they are showing signs that they could be the team to watch if you want entertainment this season.
Possession Isn’t Important Anymore
An interesting pattern is emerging in the Premier League: teams are winning more consistently with less possession than their opponents.
Teams with more than 50% possession are winning 30% of their matches. Teams with less than 50% possession, meanwhile, are winning 50% of the time.
This weekend, Chelsea beat Brighton with just 25.9% possession, completing only 146 passes, their lowest in a Premier League game in Opta’s record books (since 2003-04). Newcastle won at Spurs with 42.5% of the ball. Hull won at Coventry with 31.5%. Sunderland beat Fulham with 41.4%.
So, is the era of possession football over?
Probably not. The best two teams in the league, Arsenal and Manchester City, have won both of their games with over 60% possession. When teams can control games by keeping the ball, it is best to do so. If you’re good enough to see out a win by retaining possession, you may as well do so.
But for many Premier League sides, this isn’t possible against some of the best pressing units around, and so concentrating on maintaining solid defensive shape and launching fast counter-attacks can provide more fruitful routes to goal.
It’s still early days, and this may well just be a quirk of the first two weeks of the season, but it’s one to keep an eye on to see if this pattern continues.
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Five Knee-Jerk Reactions to Premier League Matchday 2 Opta Analyst.
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