Another gameweek done. Twenty-two goals across six matches, with Liverpool's 4-2 win over Bournemouth grabbing the headlines and leaving a trail of captain casualties in its wake.

The weekend's football served up the usual mix of statement victories and surprise results. Liverpool's encounter with Bournemouth turned into a proper spectacle, Salah and Gakpo combining with Semenyo's brace to produce a five-goal thriller that looked like a training ground exercise gone rogue. Elsewhere, Manchester City dismantled Wolves 4-0 with clinical efficiency, Haaland bagging a pair to announce his season in the manner he prefers. Sunderland's 3-0 demolition of West Ham at the Stadium of Light proved the most eye-catching upset, with Ballard, Isidor, and Mayenda finding the net to suggest Phil Parkinson's side might be more than relegation fodder this term. Spurs brushed aside Burnley 3-0 through Johnson and a Richarlison double, while Nottingham Forest's 3-1 victory over Brentford saw Thiago Silva and Chris Wood combine for three goals. Across The Premier Pundits, managers averaged 58 points, a respectable if unremarkable haul that masked considerable variance beneath the surface.

The captaincy proved a collective exercise in disappointment. Four managers handed the armband to Haaland, five to Salah, and one to Palmer, yet none extracted more than 4 points from their choice. This wasn't a case of one manager's poor judgment but rather a gameweek where premium assets simply underdelivered across the board. Haaland's two goals should have yielded more, yet his 4-point return from the captain's chair felt thin given City's dominance. Salah's involvement in Liverpool's win similarly failed to translate into the haul his captainers anticipated. Palmer's 4-point blank was perhaps the most frustrating, a reminder that even the most reliable assets can disappoint when the stakes feel highest.

Bench management exposed genuine fault lines in squad construction. Three managers left nothing on the sidelines, a feat that sounds virtuous until you realise it came courtesy of activated chips rather than tactical acumen. Hannah Thompson and Daniel Davies both deployed Bench Boost, their 0-point benches a mechanical consequence rather than a sign of prescience. Mike Anderson, meanwhile, salvaged a difficult week through bench depth alone, his 14-point reserve cushion proving the difference between a respectable score and a damaging one. Nathan McBannister and Daniel Davies occupied opposite ends of the spectrum, the former's 4-point bench contribution barely registering while the latter's chip activation rendered the question moot. The mid-table pack averaged 7.8 points from the bench, suggesting most managers carried genuine squad depth rather than relying on tactical gimmickry.

Defensive assets outperformed their attacking counterparts in a pattern that will intrigue squad builders heading into Gameweek 2. Ballard's 17-point haul from Sunderland's clean sheet and opening goal set the tone, a return that dwarfed most premium forward options. Murillo's 17-point contribution to Nottingham Forest's victory proved equally impressive, the centre-back combining goal involvement with defensive solidity. N.Williams added 13 points to the defensive narrative, while Milenković chipped in 8 points from what proved a profitable weekend for backline assets. Hannah Thompson's squad benefited considerably from this trend, Murillo's haul salvaging an otherwise difficult week despite her Palmer captaincy returning just 4 points. The new defensive bonus system, rewarding high action counts with additional points, appears to have shifted the value proposition in favour of defenders, a development that may reshape squad construction philosophy across the league.

The Premier League table shows Arsenal holding top spot after their opening fixture, with Liverpool's 4-2 win keeping them firmly in contention at second. Spurs' 3-0 victory over Burnley places them third, though the gap between first and third remains negligible at this early stage. Burnley's defeat leaves them in the relegation zone alongside West Ham and Wolves, the latter's 4-0 hammering by City a particularly brutal introduction to their campaign. The spread of results suggests no clear hierarchy has yet emerged, with six different scorelines across six matches indicating genuine unpredictability.

Gameweek 2 presents a fresh set of challenges and opportunities. West Ham host Chelsea in a fixture that carries considerable weight for both sides, while Manchester City face Spurs in a match that could define early season momentum. Arsenal's trip to Leeds offers a chance to build on their opening statement, though the Yorkshire side will provide stiffer resistance than Burnley managed. Brentford welcome Aston Villa to the Gtech Community Stadium, a fixture between two sides with genuine European ambitions. The schedule offers no obvious rest periods, with midweek fixtures likely to follow, meaning squad rotation and injury management will become increasingly relevant. Managers should monitor team news closely over the coming days, particularly for sides facing congested calendars. The captain consensus failure this week suggests differentiation opportunities lie in identifying assets poised for positive regression, though the data remains too sparse to draw firm conclusions.