August 10th to 12th - The new season returned on Friday night with Man United opening with a two-one victory at home to Leicester City. Paul Pogba, fresh from winning the World Cup with France, opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the third minute. Luke Shaw added a second to the delight of his mentor and spiritual guide Jose Mourinho. Jamie Vardy scored a consolation for the Foxes in injury time. Tottenham started their campaign winning by the same score at Newcastle. All the goals came in the opening twenty minutes. Jan Vertonghen and Dele Alli scored for the visitors either side of an equaliser from Joselu.

Crystal Palace won the Hodgson Derby two-nil at Craven Cottage against Fulham. Jeffrey Schlupp and Wilfried Zaha scored against Fulham to send the Eagles home happy. Watford won by the same scoreline at home to Brighton - Roberto Pereyra scored both goals for the hosts in that one. Chelsea aimed to put last season's disappointments behind them with a three-nil win at Huddersfield - goals from Kante, Jorginho and Pedro saw Maurizio Sarri win his first game in charge. Bournemouth made a winning start too - they beat Cardiff City two-nil at the Vitality Stadium thanks to strikes from Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson.

Saturday's evening game saw Wolves and Everton share the points after a two-all draw at Moulineux. The Toffees were ahead twice through new boy Richarlison but the newly promoted side hit back through Neves and Jiminez to earn a point.

Two of the title favourites kicked off their campaigns on Sunday. Liverpool were off to the proverbial flier with a four-nil win over West Ham. Mo Salah took around twenty minutes to open his account for 2018-19. He was joined on the scoresheet by Sadio Mane (2) and Daniel "Lazarus" Sturridge. Man City won at the Emirates as the post-Arsene Wenger era began with a defeat for Unai Emery. Pep Guardiola's side picked up the points with a two-nil win thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva. Southampton and Burnley finished off the action with the only nil-all draw of the opening weekend.

David Cooney tops our first leaderboard of the season. His score of 62 points included three ten-pointers and six five-pointers. Frank McSweeney and Paul Prendergast share second place, five points back. My seasonal moment of glory sees me in fourth place with Karl Boland in fifth:

August 18th to 20th - The big game on Saturday saw Chelsea entertain Arsenal in a London Derby. Chelsea raced into a two goal lead thanks to goals from Pedro and Morata. Unai Emery's side were back on level terms by half time after Mkhitaryan and Iwobi struck in a four minute spell. Marcos Alonso scored the winner as the Blues made it two wins from two with just nine minutes to go.

Spurs also made it two wins from two - they beat Fulham three-one at Wembley. Lucas Moura's opener were cancelled out by Aleksandar Mitrovic but goals in the last fifteen minutes from Kieran Trippier and Harry Kane (breaking his infamous August duck). Bournemouth were the third team to end Saturday with a 100% record. They came from behind to beat West Ham two-one at the London Stadium - Steve Cook headed the winner in the second half.

Richarlison made it three goals in two games for his new side Everton. They beat Southampton two-one at Goodison. Theo Walcott scored the other goal for the hosts in that one with Danny Ings pulling one back for the Saints. The weekend opened with a scoreless draw between Cardiff and Newcastle as old foes Neil Warnock and Rafa Benitez went head to head in South Wales. Leicester picked up their first win of the season beating Wolves two-nil - they'll miss Jamie Vardy for the next three games after the striker received a straight red card in the second half.

Sunday's games saw contrasting fortunes for the Mancunian teams. Champions City showed that they're not going to give up their title too easily. Sergio Aguero scored his ninth Premier League hat-trick (only Alan Shearer has more) as City beat Huddersfield six-one at the Etihad to climb to the top of the table. Jose Mourinho had another poor away day in Brighton. His United side crashed to a three-two defeat against Chris Hughton's side. A poor defensive display saw goals from Murray, Duffy and Gross condemn United to their first defeat of the season. Watford were the other winners on Sunday - they picked up a very useful three points in a three-one win at Burnley to make it two wins from two.

Three ten-pointers on Saturday saw Gerry Moore move to the top of the August leaderboard. He's two points clear of Paul Prendergast in second place with Karl Boland a further point back in third. Aiden Desch, Frank McSweeney and David Cooney complete the top six so far:

One for the Evertonians.... another famous win over Southampton....

August 25th to 27th - Mo Salah scored the only goal at Anfield as Liverpool made it three wins from three with a scrappy one-nil win over Brighton. Salah scored in the first half as Jurgen Klopp's side showed they could grind out a one-nil win when not playing anywhere near their best. The victory was enough to put Liverpool top of the table on Saturday night as Man City surprisingly dropped points at Wolves. Willy Boly opened the scoring for the hosts but Laporte equalised for the champions who had to settle for a point at Moulineux.

Bournemouth came from two goals down to preserve their unbeaten record at home to Everton. Richarlison was in the headlines again, receiving a red card in the first half. Everton then took a two goal lead with strikes from Walcott and Keane. However, goals from Ake and King earned the Cherries a point even though they were reduced to ten men too. Leicester also came from behind to beat Southampton two-one at St Marys. Ryan Bertrand had the home side ahead but goals from Demerai Gray and England's World Cup hero Harry Maguire saw the Foxes win again.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Huddersfield and Cardiff ended scoreless in a game which sounded just about as interesting as the scoreline. Unai Emery recorded his first victory as Arsenal boss as they came from a goal down at the Emirates to beat West Ham three-one.

Sunday saw both Watford and Chelsea maintain their 100% records too. Watford beat Crystal Palace two-one at Vicarage Road following goals from Pereyra and Holebas. Chelsea won by the same scoreline at Newcastle later in the day. A penalty from Eden Hazard and a late own goal from DeAndre Yedlin were enough for the Blues to move onto nine points too. Fulham picked up their first win of the season beating Burnley four-two at Craven Cottage. Aleksander Mitrovic scored two for the hosts in that one. The third round of games completed on Monday night when Tottenham won three-nil at Old Trafford. Harry Kane opened the scoring with his first goal at Old Trafford and Lucas Moura added two more to deepen the crisis around Mancunian way!

As long as no manager (Mourinho?) collects their P45 before Friday night then Gerry Moore is our first monthly winner of the season. His score of 150 points was good enough for a five point victory over Paul Prendergast in second place. Victoria Reid finished third. Full details below:

Ireland 1, The Pope 0....





Harry The Hornet 2, Hodgson 1

Gerry Moore

My Emery Ain't What It Used To Be

150

Paul Prendergast

The Untouchables

145

Victoria Reid

Tristan's Titans

141

David Cooney

Who's Sarri Now?

140

Joe Behan

Melchester Rovers

137

Karl Boland

Excited United

137

Frank McSweeney

Poolabu

135

Gavin Morgan

Left Short At The Back

135

Graham Goodwin

Gary Breen's Dream Team

135

10

Dave McGinley

Reservoir Dubs

134

11

Pat Walsh

Ellie's Back

134

12

Richard Johnston

Shaqiri, Shaqiri, The Hips Don't Lie

134

13

Craig Calvert

Fred The Red

133

14

Eamon Fox

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

130

15

Brian Mullen

Sharon Curley's Up The Igo

128

16

Aiden Desch

Superspurs

125

17

Brendan Maguire

Can'tthinkofone

125

18

Gerry Draper

Everton10

125

19

Kris Stainton

11 Reasons Why Not

125

20

Joe Turner

The Profit Mohamed

124

21

Andy Dunne

Intermontalbano FC

123

22

John Brophy

Carrig Combo

123

23

Ciaran O'Hart

Riverchapel Plate

121

24

Gary Fitzpatrick

Van Dijk on the Mike

121

25

Niall Carroll

TEK

120

26

Phil Doyle

FC Muertos Errantes

120

27

Daragh Kenny

Croatia Royal

119

28

Kevin Donohoe

LTFC

119

29

Ian Healy

Wookie Nuts

118

30

Liam Geraghty

Hopeful In Blue

117

31

Pat Jordan

Myboyzac

117

32

Gary Donnelly

Flying A Keita

115

33

Ross Jordan

Abbie FC

115

34

Simon Scanlon

Pearse Heroes

115

35

Aidan White

Benchwarmers United

114

36

Caroline Carroll

Top of the Klopps

114

37

Con McSweeney

Coola_Boolas

114

38

Jason Donovan

LFC

114

39

Roisin Joyce

L.C.R. FC

114

40

Sean O'Mairtin

Creweless

114

41

Micheal Joyce

Nextyear PG

113

42

Paul Moore

Bobby's Great Pearly Whites

110

43

Philip Pagin

Sporting Linstock

110

44

Lisa Donnelly

Hickson's Heroes

109

45

Gary McGurk

Goose Green Mafia

108

46

Jonathan Fox

Klopp of The League

105

47

Ralph Goodwin

Sky Blue Troopers

105

48

Brian Prendergast

Mr Dobalina

103

49

Chris Keohan

Traffic Cones

103

50

Matthew Lynch

The Village Idiots

103

51

Trevor Byrne

Noddys 11

103

52

Wayne Donovan

Kerry The Kingdom

102

53

Anastas Popov

Old Saints

97

54

Damien Martin

Rath Rovers

97

55

Aidan Scanlon

Kilflynn Santos

96

56

Philip Jordan

Frankie's Army

95

57

Callum Dunne

Bulletproof FC

94

58

Javier Suarez

Tiki Taka

94

59

Liam Keohan

Gunnerwinitall

84

60

Eoghan Farrelly

Just4fun

77

61

Kevin McCartin

Villa4ever

69