The first international break – and three weeks is a LONG break – is upon us, so which Premier League sides have started well and which managers are feeling the pressure after a poor start?
Here we look at three teams who have caught the eye and three who need to buck up, and fast.
The Winners
Manchester City
Enzo Maresca has got off to the perfect start at the Etihad with five wins from five, leaving them with a three point lead over Arsenal at this early stage. Many thought City would struggle this season as they transitioned from the Pep era. Not just that, but they lost influential figures Rodri and Bernado Silva from the midfield.
But they’ve recruited smartly and last year’s chief goalscorer Erling Haaland and creator Antoine Semenyo have picked up where they left off. Sunday’s 5-3 defeat of Sunderland was a good indicator of where City are at – really strong going forward but vulnerable at the back. Tighten up there and Arsenal should be worried.
Equally, winning with 10 men at Manchester United showed a strength of character they will need if they are to push Arsenal all the way for the title. Which, by the way, is now officially in their hands.
Brighton & Hove Albion
This season’s entertainers with 23 goals in 7 games in all competitions – 16 goals in 5 in the Premier League (half of which have come on the road). Plus the feather in their cap of sweeping away Arsenal 3-0 on Saturday, something no team since, erm Brighton, had done for two and a half years ago. They not only beat the Champions but put them to the sword in a way Gunners’ fans no longer thought was possible.
Key to Brighton’s early season success is the sheer fluidity with which they play and the risk taking by ploughing men forward into attack. Tactically, Fabian Hürzeler’s are so well set up to win the ball high and early, and then overload in key areas they’ve been exhausting teams into submission.
Will it last? With a European Conference League campaign to come, this tireless method of playing might catch up with them. But until it does (and let’s hope it doesn’t) they are a joy to watch.
Brentford
Keith Andrews’ band of unbeaten merry men continue to cause havoc, their latest victims being Chelsea. Even with last season’s top scorer Igor Thiago only finally getting off the mark at the weekend, Brentford have again demonstrated their envious ability to attract the right players into the right positions.
Yet to lose in seven games in all competitions, they have drawn three of their five Premier League games, and won the other two. The way they dismissed Chelsea 3-0 was a sight to behold. As of last season, set plays from throws and corners are proving crucial.
Kevin Shade is catching the eye, as is new signing Mamadou Sangare. Like Brighton, Brentford have found a system that works on the pitch in terms of style of play, and off the pitch in terms of recruitment, meaning they can consistently outperform expectations.
The Losers
Manchester United
Michael Carrick’s form between January and May last season made his appointment as permanent head coach a no brainer. Coming in on the back of the Ruben Amorim fiasco, he not just steadied the ship but got it moving full steam ahead into Champions League qualification.
Yet five games into the new season, he’s scratching his brain trying to work out how it can go so wrong so quickly.
United look bereft of confidence and ideas. Woefully shafted by the recruitment policy, Carrick is left with back line that would struggle in the league below.
Too many Manchester United players are not Manchester United quality and they are nowhere near the level of players being signed by Arsenal or Manchester City.
The 1-1 draw with Fulham at the weekend was a poor watch, and while Matheus Cunha’s last gasp heavily deflected equaliser gave them a deserved draw, they look miles of being a top three side, let alone challenging for anything. Opta give them a 0.9% chance of winning the league, which to be honest looks generous right now.
As is often the case, chaos off the pitch prevents glory on it.
Bournemouth
If games lasted 80 minutes Bournemouth would be flying. But they don’t, so the Cherries find themselves in 18th place instead and along with Fulham and Spurs the only teams yet to win a Premier League fixture.
In only five league games, they have let in three goals after the 80th minute, costing them five points.
Not just that, but stats show they are generally dominant in first halves of games, but fall away after the break. They have scored five first half goals but only one in the second half.
New coach Marco Rose needs to get onto all this, and quick, because Bournemouth are again playing some great football and had a cracking 2-1 win in the Europa League away at Real Sociedad. They just need to remember games don’t last 45 minutes. They don’t even last 80. Play to the final whistle and they should be fine.
Tottenham Hotspur
Oh dear, oh dear. Well, at least they’re not 17th.
Where to start with Spurs? Over $427 million spent in the summer – yes, $427 million –  only to find they are somehow worse. For the past two seasons they’ve hovered just above the relegation zone, finishing 17th both times. This time round, they are rock bottom of the Premier League heading into the break.
Coach Robert de Zerbi is desperately finding the right formula chucking a load of new signings into a team, but they look nowhere near being even decent. I mean it took them five games just to score a Premier League goal. Then they scored two, but still lost.
There is mitigation. Only four players who made any meaningful contribution last season are playing this one. The players are strangers, and boy do they look like it on the pitch.
But all that money spent and they are poor up front, but just as bad at the back. Mentally fragile, if they let in a goal, they collapse. It’s been 48 games since they last won from going behind. Â
Off the pitch it’s no better. Two key sponsors exited deals early. The club has the look of one in absolute chaos. Another relegation fight looms unless de Zerbi can find the right formula.
Nick has enjoyed a highly successful career in journalism and the media. He spent 23 years in the UK national print media, including 15 years on the Daily Telegraph as a senior reporter. He is also an experienced commentator and communications expert. His broadcast appearances include Newsnight, Sky News, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Television, BBC Radio Scotland and local television in Scotland and England. He currently hosts The Road to World Cup 26 podcast.
