Will Arsenal AND Manchester City challenge for honours this season?

Football FanCast columnist Alex Rowland assesses the fortunes of Manchester City and Arsenal following their opening day wins.

Based on the opening day's results, both Arsenal and Manchester City will be very hard to beat this season. Their principles are polar opposites; Wenger refuses to spend big money on any player, making a profit from this summer's transfer dealings, whereas his counterpart Hughes has spent nearly £100 million of a bottomless pit of money. 

Despite their obvious differences they shared the common achievement yesterday of surprising a few people with very impressive away wins.  

The Gunners were at their most delicious, a thing of passing and movement beauty. The Everton players were desperately struggling to pick up any of the North Londoner's runs which inevitably created more space for the waves of Arsenal attackers. As usual, Wenger's men kept it on the floor, crossing only from set pieces. Despite scoring two early goals from free-kicks The Toffees were beaten in open play. Van Persie was the focal point, but drifted effectively out wide to allow Fabregas, Arshavin and Bendtner to make destructive forward runs. Fabregas above all was a sensation, running the midfield like a hybrid of last season's Liverpool midfield pair; Gerrard and Alonso.  

As Wenger lost Toure and Adebayor, two first team regulars, to their Northern counterparts, and only centre back Vermaelen came in, some were claiming Arsenal were writing their own death warrant. But such a convincing win, although in only the first game, can draw conclusions. Although Everton are suffering confusion over the future of their central defender Lescott, this was a very tough opening game against a Premiership heavyweight. And the question mark over Lescott's future didn't make Everton concede six, stand off their opponents, and not mark on set pieces. Arsenal were that good and should cement their place in the top four once gain this season, and possibly more. 

Manchester City, although facing a less daunting trip to Ewood Park, were playing an ugly monster of a footballing side. Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce's blueprint of playing direct didn't disappoint. Play bypasses the midfield as Keith Andrews and Steven N'Zonzi are footballers of stamina, used to attack knock downs from the front men and track back to shield the defence. And to an extent it is effective, but City showed character to keep a clean shield. 

Toure looked strong, almost like a throwback to 3 years ago at Arsenal. He was dominant in the air against the machine gun of long balls thrown at City's backline, and looked organised alongside the erratic Richard Dunne. The big 0 underneath Man City's name could be owed as much to him as anyone.  

Given was also predictably reliable at keeping Blackburn's efforts out, and if City can draft in a replacement for Dunne, to play alongside Bridge, Toure and Richards, they will look a very solid defensive outfit.  

Going forward the Blues were a little inconsistent but still dangerous. Adebayor's finish was top draw, and Wright Phillips gave the Togo striker good service all game. The former Arsenal player operated just off Bellamy and looked every bit a top class player. With Wright Phillips, who looks set for a season of first team football for the first time in four years, and the creative Stephen Ireland, Adebayor can expect to be in the goals all season.  

Following the 2-0 win at Blackburn, the foundations at City look firmly in the ground. It may be a bridge too far for the Citizens to be top 4 just yet, but they should push and compete will every team in the league. As for Arsenal, they produced one of the best ever Premiership performances and showed that they will be title challengers this season. With Chelsea sneaking a deserved 2-1 win at home to Hull City, what answer do Manchester United and Liverpool have?