Two five-nil thrashings; news signings a-plenty; a Goliath beats David doppleganger of the most dramatic game of last season; five new managers losing their first match (and Michael Laudrup, arguably the rawest, is not one of them). Enjoying it yet? After his five-goal managerial debut in the Premiership, Danish legend Laudrup must be thinking that winning in The World's Most Difficult League(tm) is as easy as waltzing round Uruguayan defenders in the Mexican sunshine (see World Cup '86). And his free-flowing Swansea team will be the unlikely table toppers after lunch on Saturday if they can negotiate a tricky fixture with Sam Allardyce's plucky West Ham. Scott Sinclair, scorer of Swansea's fifth in their rout of hapless QPR, might feasibly be a Manchester City player by that time, but Laudrup has enough grafting talent at his disposal to maintain, at least for a while, Swansea's reputation as the team which gives other Premiership managers the most niggling pre-match anxiety. Just as they were last season, Swansea are voracious buccaneers that seem afraid of no-one, and Laudrup may well be the first resort for whichever Premiership giant axes their own 'experiment' before Christmas.
So look out, Andre Villas-Boas. Spurs were unlucky not to have rescued a point against Newcastle, but you can't chase a game without runners in the blocks, and Tottenham must rehabilitate permanent signing Emmanuel Adebayor back into the starting line-up as quickly as possible. West Brom, deserved winners against a dreadful Liverpool team, will be spiky opposition at White Hart Lane but Spurs should bag their first points if they approach their second game with the calm application they showed at the Sports Direct Arena, while reshuffling the midfield to accommodate Van Der Vaart.
