So we’ve had Part One of our 6 games into the Premier League, and as a quick recap, we saw Arsenal as the only challenger from the first ten teams and Bournemouth, Everton and Villa as the potential relegation fodder. But what of the remaining ten teams we haven’t discussed yet?
Well, it’s time to take a look as we continue this very early-season review.
The final 10 Premier League teams
Leicester
It was unbelievable when Leicester won the Premier League, and Brendan Rodgers helped the Foxes claim more silverware in 2021 with a win in the FA Cup final. However, losing key players such as Kasper Schmeichel and more recently Wesley Fofana without making any major replacements, has left the morale at Leicester at an all-time low. They still have some fantastic talent there, but they just can’t seem to get the results, leaving them on a single point propping up the rest of the Premier League table. If Rodgers doesn’t sort things out soon, they could find themselves in a relegation battle.
Liverpool
It’s safe to say Liverpool has had a disappointing season so far. From 18 points possible, they have only secured 9 having drawn with Fulham, Crystal Palace and Everton, with one loss to Manchester United and two back-to-back wins. The highlight so far is definitely the 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth which you can check out below in the highlights.
However, they will be disappointed with results outside of that, especially losing to a sub-par United side and part of the reason they may well have lost that and also failed to beat Palace was that new signing Darwin Núñez got himself off by losing his cool and headbutting an opponent, which put him out of action for three games. We know from past seasons they have the quality to challenge, but they need to find form quickly if they want a chance at challenging for the Premier League, otherwise, they’ll be left battling it out for the top four instead.
Manchester City
Coming into the season, all the hype around Manchester City was based around Erling Haaland coming in. And it turns out the hype was real! In six games, Haaland has 10 goals and 1 assist to his name already, an average of 1.86 goals per 90 minutes, and working out at 49 minutes per goal. We knew he was a talent, but wow, just wow.
The question is, can they keep him fit? And, what happens when defenders learn to play against him? After all, he did struggle against Liverpool in the Community Shield, and Tyrone Mings did a cracking job against him when Villa hosted City, although he did still score one. The city is definitely still going to be right up there come the end of the season, and likely with a record goal tally with the way things look right now. The question is if they can overtake early pace-setters Arsenal to lift another Premier League title.
Manchester United
Going into the new Premier League season, we questioned how United would do. Following a preseason win over Liverpool, their deluded fans thought this was their season, but they were quickly brought back down to Earth when humbled by Brentford. They did bounce back against Liverpool, inflicting a first defeat of the year in the league on their rivals from Merseyside. However, Liverpool did not turn up on the day and was without new star signing Núñez following his red card at Palace and a number of key players through injury, so were automatically at a disadvantage.
So, whilst their form may have improved, we don’t see United really doing anything special and expect them at best, to challenge for Europa League places this season even with their new big signings. We just think it is going to take time for this team to gel and find their identity, even after a solid win against the Gunners this weekend.
Newcastle United
This Premier League season was always going to be an interesting one with Newcastle since it is their first full season since their takeover by the Saudi consortium and with Eddie Howe in charge. They’ve made some great signings, and despite splashing the cash on Alexander Isak, for the most part, it feels they have improved in the right way. However, results have been mixed. They’ve won some, lost some and drawn some.
Their biggest highlight will be their draw with champions City, although they will be disappointed as they did lead by two goals at one point. Their low point could well be conceding a 98th-minute goal to Liverpool at Anfield to lose 2-1, but that was a case of karma coming back at them for how much timewasting Newcastle players tried to get away with in that game. We won’t be surprised if they are challenging for European places this season, although maybe Champions League places may be pushing it.
Nottingham Forest
When I watched the first game of the season for Forest, I thought they were going straight down, even with all their signings. Newcastle made them look like such a weak side that didn’t know how to play football, and how they only conceded two goals in that game begs belief. Since then, they’ve stepped their game up and got some good results, and even when they’ve lost like to Spurs, it didn’t feel a deserved result because performances were great.
The problem is that they keep conceding goals despite Dean Henderson being a cracking keeper and stopping the majority of shots. They just seem to lack the cohesion needed to work together as a team at all times, but when you have signed 21 players in the window, it will take time to gel. It’s a massive risk doing what they’ve done, but if it pays off, buying a whole new squad will be worth it. But if they fail to deliver, it could be big trouble for Forest.
Southampton
I won’t lie, going into the new season I expected Southampton to be a potential candidate for a relegation battle. They lost some big players, and it doesn’t feel like they’ve brought in quality to replace what is now missing like Armando Broja who was on loan there last season.
But, Ralph Hasenhüttl and the Saints have defied all expectation of them and are doing much better, with many thanks to key players such as James Ward-Prowse and Che Adams stepping up to the plate. If they keep that up and continue to put out impressive performances, they should be safe, but a couple of injuries or a bad run of form could leave these guys in some trouble.
Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte did some incredible business in the summer, and they’ve recruited well by strengthening all the right areas. Could this be the season they challenge for the Premier League? Of course not, it’s Spurs. We’re expecting the top 4 at best because despite having a good squad, we just don’t see Spurs being able to cope with the top teams and they’ve already got lucky against some of the lower league sides already. And whilst getting wins when you’re playing badly is a sign of champions, we all know that Spurs have an allergy to silverware so yeah, we’re not expecting much more than maybe Champions League qualification this season.
West Ham
West Ham is a strange one for us. They did incredibly well in the Premier League last season, although did fall apart at the end. They have strengthened well and in Europe, they’ve been having no issue with getting the job done, scoring goals for fun. But their record in the Premier League has been completely the opposite. They have a number of losses already, some through bad luck like the call to disallow an equaliser against Chelsea, and goals seem hard to come by. We’re sure they’ll come good, but it’s just a question of how long they are in this rocky patch.
Wolves
Wolves have been very disappointing this season so far. They’ve kept hold of key players such as Ruben Neves who was rumoured to be wanted by Liverpool, and they’ve managed to bring in some fresh blood whilst getting rid of some unwanted talent as well. But on the pitch, they’re failing to kill off games where they are dominating and then conceding sloppy goals. We don’t think they’ll be in any trouble, but I can’t see them getting higher than a mid-table finish, maybe breaking into the top 10 if they can put together a good run of form.
Rounding up
There we have it, the final part of our Premier League review following the first six games. Out of all the teams we’ve mentioned, you’d expect City and Liverpool to challenge for the Premier League title but both are dropping points whilst Arsenal have only dropped 3 points from a single game so far. As for those who could be facing the drop, Leicester is definitely in trouble which sounds crazy considering the team they have a team more than capable of competing in the Premier League, but something just doesn’t feel right there anymore.
Let us know once again what your own thoughts are on the season so far. Who do you think will win the Premier League? Who is going to get relegated? Who could be a surprise package? We want to hear what you have to say on the Premier League now that we’ve put our own thoughts out there.
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