Big Weekend: Aston Villa v Arsenal, Iraola, Man Utd, Tonali v Toon | OneFootball

The game to watch features the opening weekend’s greatest contrast, while Man Utd and Liverpool both have problems requiring quick fixes.

Four more days of straight Barclays this weekend all the way into transfer deadline day.

Socialising is for losers anyway.

Game to watch: Aston Villa v Arsenal It is hard to imagine a greater contrast than that between Villa and Arsenal on the opening weekend.

The Gunners looked fresh and never-more-confident, emboldened by the swagger of champions and the fresh impetus offered by quality new signings – one of which was presented having signed from Villa that day.

Whatever the polar opposite of all that is, that’s what the Villans were at Brighton.

They had their excuses. They have had the spine ripped out of their Europa League-winning team; they had injuries to replacements and some who were left; and other new signings weren’t ready. But still…

A 4-0 battering, that they gladly would have taken after 40 minutes, has eroded their pre-season optimism, which itself was fuelled only by Unai Emery’s aura rather than any logical expectation for Villa to push on during a period of such transition.

Few on the Holte End will anticipate beating the champions on Monday night. But Villa fans are entitled to expect considerably more character and competence in their first home game as Europa League winners.

Team to watch: Manchester United United were so poor in their opening game of the season at Hull, losing 2-0 to a side happy to sit in, break fast and direct, and capitalise on set-pieces.

At least the Red Devils get the chance on Sunday against a similar opponent to show it was a one-off. Only, it wasn’t…

United suffered from the same flaws under Michael Carrick last season. In his 17 games in charge, the Red Devils dropped points in five games: Bournemouth, West Ham, Sunderland, Newcastle and Leeds. All of which highlighted a struggle to break low blocks and the absence of a Plan B when Bruno Fernandes can’t do Fernandes things.

It’s a tactical problem for which Carrick must find a solution. Dropping five or six points in two games against promoted opposition would not be an acceptable start by any United season’s standards, not least one which promised as much as any in recent times.

Manager to watch: Andoni Iraola Iraola is in a similar position to Carrick in that Liverpool had a clear and obvious weakness on the opening weekend and the Reds boss is expected to find a swift solution.

Newcastle ripped through Liverpool’s midfield at St James’ Park. Hardly at will, since the Reds controlled the ball for the most part, but enough for the hosts to score twice and give Iraola a headache.

A new, dominant no.6 would be a boon before the deadline but Liverpool are a bit busy buying all the wingers.

So Iraola has to come up with a solution with what he’s got – which, to be fair, ought to be enough. But the balance between Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz is currently skewiff.

“I don’t want to tell Gravenberch, ‘Don’t carry the ball and don’t arrive to the box.'” said Iraola ahead of the visit of Oliver Glasner’s Forest. He doesn’t have to. But the message has to land that someone must sit if Gravenberch goes.

Liverpool’s midfield was absent for Newcastle’s opener, but they recovered their positions in good time prior to the concession of a second goal so soon after equalising. They were just woefully soft-centred while allowing Yoane Wissa to skip through.

Iraola acknowledged the issues. Let’s see how he’s remedied them.

Player to watch: Sandro Tonali His former club could make this a really rough first week for Tottenham Hotspur’s record signing.

Tonali made his Premier League bow for Spurs at Brentford last Saturday, but instead of showing why Roberto De Zerbi insisted on paying £100million, he was bundled out of the spotlight by the Bees’ own biggest buy for much less than half the price.

Spurs got that wretched start out of their system by cruising to a Carabao Cup win over Charlton that featured a thrilling cameo from their latest big-money signing.

Tonali, though, was nowhere to be seen, with De Zerbi revealing that the Italian was spending the time at Spurs Lodge to work on his match fitness: “Sandro has to work to feel better in terms of physical condition.”

Which begs the question: what was a player signed in early July and not at the World Cup doing all summer?

De Zerbi has already promised that Tonali will start against a team even more motivated than Brentford to keep their old boy shackled. Which makes Saturday evening the perfect time to start justifying that price tag.

EFL game to watch: Middlesbrough v West Brom Wrexham hosting Birmingham kicks off the Championship weekend on Friday night but all four games involving the US-owned clubs have ended in draws this season. And Boro versus the Baggies has the bonus of being free-to-air on ITV on Saturday lunchtime.

West Brom are one of three sides to have won both games to start the season, with James Morrison’s men beating Burnley and Norwich. Boro are expected to have more of the possession but Morrison appears to have the Baggies well-drilled.

Boro cannot be as wasteful as they were in their defeat at Blackburn last week. There has been plenty of optimism around The Riverside this summer, which could quickly dissipate with consecutive defeats.

European game to watch: Sevilla v Atletico Madrid Atletico have been very clear in their stance over Julian Alvarez. They would rather fold than sell to Barcelona. We’re very much here for it.

Diego Simeone played Alvarez from the bench last week, with the Argentina striker left in no doubt as to Atletico fans’ feelings on his public desire to leave.

The tension has hardly eased this week. The Rojiblancos board went on the record to remind everyone that Barca are dead to them, while Alvarez has dodged a session or two ahead of the trip to the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Will Alvarez feature on Saturday night? It seems the striker has to start rebuilding bridges with Atletico at some point. But any absence will only encourage Arsenal to emerge from the shadows and make a decisive move before the deadline less than 72 hours later.