While I’m grateful for the return of the league, it was one of those weeks where almost every result was a poke to the heart.

Man United barely looked bothered and showed absolutely no problems up front after sticking 5 (well 6, actually) into the net against a hapless Fulham. Good-bye Chris Coleman, it was nice knowing ye. Even Christiano and Wayne seemed delighted to be playing in the same sandbox. It was so bad, Rio Ferdinand felt obliged to knock one in for the visitors in an apparent attempt to keep the Cottagers hopes up enough to stay on the pitch until the final whistle.

Chelsea looked all-world against a struggling Man City, thrashing them 3-0. This is the sort of match Roman’s millionaires would have slept through and won 1-0 last year. I’m praying they get bored quickly and go back to that tactic. I won’t be able to stand seeing them playing up to their sizable abilities. It’ll make for a long season.

I was so over-confident that I broke my promise and watched the Tottenham match. As could be expected, they looked horrible and went down to Bolton 2-0. So the curse remains intact. They are incapable of winning any match I see. Big Sam looks to be just ticking off the days until he can find a decent way to exit a Bolton side he has strengthened into a solid Premierhip team, but they’re just not capapble of rising to the next level. Sooner or later, it all comes down to money. Allardyce has done the best with what he was given.

One of my other favorite teams, Charlton, looked absolutely awful. Their relegation battle began Saturday, and they’ll be in that battle all year.

Liverpool were given a very dodgy penalty late in the match to rescue a point from lowly Sheffield United. That was 2 points dropped. They can’t draw with minnows and have a prayer of challenging for the title. Week One or not. Those were important points left on the pitch.

Arsenal also dropped 2 as Randy Lerner’s (or soon to be) Aston Villa nearly stole the opening match in the Gunner’s sparkling new stadium. Martin O’Neill will be enough to keep Villa in the middle of the pack. If Lerner can add some quality, they’ll rise from the ashes and surprise many teams this season.

In the believe it or not catagory, new boys Reading came back after going down 2-0 to beat Boro 3-2. That match was just a pleasure to watch. Reading’s only mode is full forward and attack. They won’t be able to hold a lead and don’t bother trying. They just continue to try to add to one. That’ll result in some lopsided losses against the better teams, but more power to them. I’d be happy to watch them play every week.

In the Coca Cola Championship match that matterd, the glorious Ipswich Town finally earned point number one in four attempts after a snooze 0-0 match against Hull. Mid-table obscurity and safety look to be completely out of reach for now.

On a scale of 1 to 10, this week’s results have been off the scale for me, personally. Wouldn’t have been good to get my hopes up early anyway. I hate when I do that–at least I think I would.