First month of the Premier League - what we’ve learnt
With the first month of Premier League fixtures in the books, the table has somewhat started to take shape. Some teams have gotten off to a flying start, while others really needed that international break in order to regroup. But what has stood out so far, and what should we look out for when the Premier League is back at the weekend?
First of all, Manchester City haven’t lost a step, have they? four wins out of four and a fairly easy run of fixtures before they play Arsenal on October 8th. They barely scraped a 2-1 win away to Sheffield United with a last minute winner, but they should have put that game to bed way earlier. Showing the character to come back and score the winner after conceding an equaliser late on is what’s indicative of a champion though, and City have that in abundance. Haaland is still scoring goals for fun while the defence for the most part looks rock solid, and City who has started the season slowly in the past have just hit the ground running this time around.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Burnley have are yet to pick up a point from three games this season. They have had some difficult opening fixtures, playing Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham, but like we’ve seen with promoted teams who try to play possession based football, it doesn’t always work that well. I think they’ll end up being okay as the season goes, but picking up points against Nottingham Forest this weekend is imperative. I just think people slightly overrated them before the season started (Maybe I did too by putting them 14th) based on their incredible season in the Championship.
As a Liverpool fan I have to give them a mention. Three wins out of 4 against some tough opposition is a strong start, even though Chelsea, who are the only team they’ve dropped points to, have had a dire start to the season. What’s surprised me the most is how quickly the midfield has settled, both as a unit and as individuals. I though it would take some time bedding in an entirely new starting midfield three, but both Mac Allister and Szoboszlai have been fantastic so far, with Curtis Jones, Wataru Endo and even Cody Gakpo being the third man in that midfield. Mac Allister in a slightly deeper role than many envisioned has been great, and red card aside (which was later rescinded) he’s done exactly what’s been asked of him. Szoboszlai has obviously been able to venture further forward, but his engine is just ridiculous. In both the games where Liverpool ended up playing with 10 men, he has basically done the running for two players while also showing some exceptional technical qualities. Even though the defence doesn’t look as sturdy as it did between 2018 and 2020, I think the firepower Liverpool have will be enough for them to finish in the Champions League places.
One of the biggest surprise packages is Tottenham Hotspur. They’re obviously a big club with great players, but there were a lot of question marks about new manager Ange Postecoglou, but so far he has been brilliant. In fact he was just named manager of the month as I’m writing this piece, which is a huge accomplishment in his first month as a Premier League manager, but also thoroughly deserved. Like I wrote in my season preview, it feels like Tottenham finally have a manager who wants to be there, and who the fans can really get behind as opposed to Mourinho and Conte. They now play great football, Maddison looks like a phenomenal signing and at least so far it doesn’t look like they miss Harry Kane all that much. I’m sure there will be games where they think “Oh, if only we had Kane we would’ve won that”, but they still have a reliable goalscorer in Heung-Min Son and with creative reinforcements behind him that could maybe be enough to even out the loss of their talisman. I also can’t finish this segment without talking about Yves Bissouma, because he finally looks like the player Tottenham bought from Brighton last summer. He has been incredible so far, and if not for the superb form of James Maddison he would probably have a lot more plaudits.
There were some big talking points before the season started, and I think we’ve seen at least some of them answered here. I could probably dedicate an entire piece to the chaos that is Chelsea Football Club, where there’s so much to take in both on a footballing level but also when it comes to the finances and the structure of the club itself.
Manchester United is another one, where there’s a lot of issues not rooted in football that I’m not at all qualified to talk about, but on the pitch they haven’t looked great either.
Brighton are just doing their thing. Selling key players for nearly £200m and still having replacements ready to go while playing scintillating football in process. They’re probably the best ran club in the country, and it’s not hard to see why they have so much success.
It’s great having the Premier League back, and with the European competitions kicking off this week as well it feels like the season is truly underway!