Ten games into the season is generally considered a good time to measure out the Premier League table and see where teams stand, what their goals should be and whether they need help in the January transfer window.
In terms of the title race, Arsenal is now in pole position. Six points clear of their nearest challengers, Mikel Arteta’s side find themselves in front of the chasing pack yet again.
The question this year will be the same as always: can they finally get over the line and get the trophy they’ve been chasing since 2004?
This year’s team looks better positioned than any other Arsenal side of recent memory, with impressive strength both in their starting lineup and coming off the bench. Their new signings have been largely impressive, especially defensive midfielder Martín Zubimendi and star striker Viktor Gyökeres.
Arsenal’s closest challengers, Manchester City and Liverpool, have both stumbled majorly so far, but still find themselves within touching distance of the Gunners. Manchester City looks refreshed after an underwhelming 2024-25 season, and betting against manager Pep Guardiola in a title race would be foolish. Still, it remains to be seen whether they have the overall quality to sustain a title push.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have seen their season derail over the last couple of weeks, with four straight losses, and an underwhelming group of high-profile signings who continue to put in lackluster performances. Expected to be once again the team to beat, Liverpool are now on the outside of the title race, looking in.
Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United all look poised to challenge for the final one or two Champions League spots, and have been mixed in a number of ways. Chelsea have been undisciplined and inconsistent, but even with injuries to key players, they’ve found a way to pick up points.
Tottenham haven’t won a game at home since April 2025, but their stellar away form has kept them competitive, and United have recovered from a terrible start to the season to push up the table.
All three of these sides are likely too flawed to push for a title, but if they hit good form, they could easily be competitive and push for third or second.
Sunderland and Bournemouth currently sit fourth and fifth, respectively, far above either team’s pre-season expectations. Newly promoted to the Premier League, Sunderland have been exciting, and look as though they will easily stay up, with a top-half finish within reach if they can continue their current form.
Bournemouth have been excellent too, and after years of steady progress, this might finally be the year the club qualifies for a European competition. Crystal Palace and Brighton round out the top half; while both have been somewhat inconsistent, it’s been a good start to the season for both.
The two big disappointments have been Newcastle and Aston Villa, both teams that sit in the bottom half of the table after consistently pushing for top-four spots over the last few years.
Newcastle feels better positioned than Villa, after quality performances in the Champions League and from their new big-money striker, Nick Woltemade. They will back themselves to pick up their form and once again end up in the top seven.
Villa feels stagnant, with their signings so far being terrible and mediocre performances in both the Premier League and the Europa League. This year has felt like a major step back for them.
The relegation battle is also starting to shape up, and while teams like Brentford, Everton and Fulham exist around the periphery, the bottom five appear to be the most likely group of teams to go down. Both Leeds and Burnley were newly promoted this season, and both have reasons to worry.
Leeds started well, but has been less impressive over the last few weeks. Whether their squad has enough quality in the forward positions remains to be seen.
Burnley, on the other hand, have probably exceeded expectations so far, but their underlying statistics are by far the worst in the league, and they’ve only managed to pick up points against other poor sides. Still, they sit outside the bottom three as of now.
The bottom three—West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Wolves—have all struggled to start the season, and are going to need to do some serious work to save themselves. Of the three, Forest seem best positioned.
Despite already being their third manager of the season, Sean Dyche is known as a survival specialist, regularly keeping teams in the first division that looked doomed to relegation, and their squad is by far the best of the three.
Forest has too much quality to be down here, but at some point they need to start showing it. West Ham’s squad is old and largely subpar, and outside of individual brilliance from a few key players, it’s hard to see how they could be doing much better with what they have.
Wolves, meanwhile, already look doomed. A 3-0 loss to Fulham cost head coach Vítor Pereira his job last week, but the search for his replacement has been extremely concerning.
Rejected by previous manager Gary O’Neil (who was sacked last year and replaced by Pereira), they appear to have turned their attention to Erik ten Hag, the former Manchester United manager who was fired after just two games by Bayer Leverkusen this season.
After circling the drain for years as they sold key player after key player, it finally looks like staying up might be too tall of a task for them.