1. Man City and Chelsea still a step behind Arsenal and Liverpool
Going into the season, it looked as though there could potentially be a four-way title race between the sides, and while it is still early, Liverpool and Arsenal look to be a level above the other two. Manchester City have rebuilt a large portion of their squad over the past year, and while many of the new signings have shown a lot of promise, they are still a work in progress. Disappointing losses to Tottenham and Brighton have left them with plenty to do if they want to catch Liverpool and Arsenal.
On the other hand, Chelsea’s mistakes have been largely self-inflicted. The Club World Cup champions have dropped points due to a combination of red cards and conceding late goals, two things they’ll need to fix if they have any hope of a title charge. While Arsenal and Liverpool have also stumbled, they remain the teams to beat.
2. Crystal Palace and Bournemouth continue momentum from last season
Crystal Palace’s last-minute 2-1 win over Liverpool last weekend meant that the Eagles are the only remaining undefeated team in the league. Already having won the Football Association Community Shield this season, they will make their debut in European competition this week, and sit third in the table. It’s hard to imagine a better start to their season, as they continue an impressive run of 18 games unbeaten.
Bournemouth fell off towards the end of last season, and it seemed they might have taken a step back as they lost multiple key players in the transfer window. However, their early results suggest that they will once again be an outside contender for a European spot. The Cherries, as they are known, play in the smallest stadium in the Premier League, yet continue to punch above their weight under third-year head coach Andoni Iraola.
3. Promoted Teams will put up a fight
One of the most concerning trends of the past two seasons was that for the first time ever, all three teams promoted from the second-tier Championship were immediately relegated back down. While it’s still very early, all three promoted sides have looked much more competitive this year.
The headline is surely Sunderland, back in the Premier League for the first time in eight years. After six games, they sit fifth in the league on 11 points, just one less than Southampton managed over the course of the entire 2024-25 season. Leeds have been impressive too, taking eight points with wins over Wolves and Everton. Even Burnley, predicted to struggle, have managed to get a win, and haven’t been totally outclassed so far, outside of a bad final 10 minutes against Manchester City. At this stage of the season last year, the three promoted teams (Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton) only had eight points combined. This year’s trio has 23. For the first time since 2023, the relegation battle could be interesting.
4. Nottingham Forest blunder, West Ham benefit
In one of the more surprising developments this season, controversial Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had a public falling out with former manager Nuno Espírito Santo, leading to the manager’s dismissal. While their results this season have not been great, sacking Nuno seemed to be a strange decision considering last season he led Forest to their best league finish since 1995, and was largely beloved by supporters and players alike. To replace him, they brought in Ange Postecoglou, recently sacked by Tottenham despite winning them a trophy last season.
Nuno didn’t stay out of a job for long. West Ham, who have had a torrid start to their season, fired Graham Potter and brought in Nuno, hoping that he could bring some stability to the worst defense in the Premier League. In his debut match in charge, West Ham earned a credible 1-1 draw away at Everton, and performed much better than they had in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Postecoglou is now winless in five at Forest. They seem to have gambled badly.
5. Amorim on borrowed time as United’s woes continue
When Mathias Jensen scored Brentford’s decisive third goal in their 3-1 win over Manchester United this weekend, both sets of supporters began to sing “you’re getting sacked in the morning”, directed at under-fire Manchester United manager Rúben Amorim.
Amorim has been in charge for 33 matches, and his 34 points total are the fifth-lowest in Premier League history through as many games. While the early signs in their season-opening loss to Arsenal were promising, the wheels have now completely come off United. Already, the Red Devils have suffered a crushing loss to city rivals Manchester City, a humiliating loss in the EFL Cup to fourth-division Grimsby Town and now a loss at a fairly poor Brentford team.
United has a difficult slate of fixtures coming up, with high-flying Sunderland, champions Liverpool, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur up next. Amorim’s job likely depends on their ability to get results in these games, and optimism seems to be low. The players aren’t performing, the squad is poorly constructed, and it looks like once again, United will likely be forced to reset under a new manager. Things could get much worse before they get better.