Now that the transfer window has closed, the Premier League is fully underway. However, since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, matchday seven has been postponed out of respect. Here is a small recap of the first few weeks, what’s to come, and some European tournaments opening day updates.
Last matchday, Manchester United broke Arsenal’s perfect start with a 3-1 win at Old Trafford, however, Arsenal is still on top of the table with 15 points. Both Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are right behind it with 14 points each. Brighton and Hove Albion surprisingly held on to their top four spot with 13 points and Manchester United trails on fifth place with 12 points.
Not surprising though, is Manchester City’s lead in goals differential with 20 in just six league games, 10 of those goals coming from Erling Haaland who scored back-to-back hat tricks against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest. The debate of Haaland versus Liverpool’s Darwin Nuñes quickly ended as Nuñes received a red card in the second game of the season and only has one goal to his name so far. Trailing by nine goals, it seems unlikely that he’ll catch up to Haaland who seems nowhere near slowing down after scoring another two goals last week against Sevilla in the Champions League.
Brighton and Hove Albion continue to impress, not only have they snuck into the top four, but they also beat Leister 5-2 last matchday. Some unfortunate news came late last week to Brighton fans as their head coach, Graham Potter, leaves the club and joins Chelsea FC, who shockingly fired Thomas Tuchel after they lost 1-0 to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. This dismissal seems premature after only six games into the season, and yes Chelsea hasn’t had the greatest start as they sit sixth on the table, but Liverpool has had a much worse start to the season after the departure of Mane to Bayern Munich. We’ll see how the departure of Potter affects Brighton’s strong start as they play Liverpool in the next matchday.
Speaking of Liverpool, they sit seventh on the table after two wins (one of them questionable), three ties, and two losses. Not to mention their 4-1 loss to Napoli in the first match of this year’s Champions League. The odds are against them when they face a strong and confident Brighton and Hove Albion.
Finally, let’s touch base with another in form team, who after a dreadful start, has been revived. Manchester United is now on a four-game winning streak in the league; the addition of new faces in the locker room seems to have given life to the club again. Not only that but Marcus Rashford, who has struggled the past couple of seasons seems to be getting back to his best under the management of Erik Ten Hag. He assisted one and scored two goals against Arsenal. It’ll be interesting to see how he manages against Leeds, their next opponent in the league on Sunday, Sept. 18.
Their winning streak didn’t follow them to their European match day. Manchester United lost 1-0 against Real Sociedad in their first game of the Europa League tournament. The goal came from the penalty spot due to a handball from Martinez. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) made a questionable call here as the ball clearly hits his leg before the arm. Still, we’ll also see how they fare against FC Sheriff on Thursday, Sept. 15 for the second match day of the Europa League.
In just six weeks, the premier league already saw the first manager sacking of the season and the hijacking of a strong opponent’s manager to fix their problems. Chelsea and Liverpool continue to underperform so it’ll be interesting to see if they are able to pick themselves up again, and even more interesting if they fail to do so. You have to love a good David versus Goliath story. For the full table standings visit here.