The Premier League has only been back for three weeks, but it is already supplying us with its usual unrelenting drama. As we head into the first international break of the new season, we have already seen the highs and lows that England’s top-flight brings to clubs up and down the country.
Only two teams have come through the opening rounds unscathed. Champions Manchester City have won their opening three matches without too much trouble, while Liverpool‘s life under Arne Slot has them sitting level on points with the Citizens having yet to concede a goal.
It has not been that easy for the rest of the division, though. Everton prop up the table and are yet to take a point in what has been a tumultuous start for them.
Meanwhile, a new-look Manchester United are already having big questions thrown their way after back-to-back losses, including a 3-0 drubbing by their bitter rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.
There have been plenty of talking points in an action-packed opening three matchweeks and here at Mail Sport, we look at five things we learned from the first month of Premier League action.
Manchester City top the Premier League with nine points going into the international break
Liverpool are the only other side to match City’s points tally and are yet to concede a goal
Man United have had yet another tough start to the season losing twice in the league already
1. A promising start for Arne Slot
It’s still early days in Liverpool’s new era under Slot, but the Dutchman could not have gotten off to a better start at the club. He looks like the real deal.
Taking over from a messianic figure such as Jurgen Klopp, who is adored by Liverpool fans, is never easy. But so far, Slot is making it look like a breeze.
He has three wins from three and has even dispatched the Reds’ biggest rivals on their own patch.
The Dutchman only made two additions to the talent-stacked squad he inherited from Klopp, with Federico Chiesa the solitary signing who will feature for his team this season.
Despite this, Slot has already made a few tweaks to Liverpool’s style that make them distinguishable from his predecessor’s tenure.
Slot’s calm methods have worked across the pitch, as he has brought control to the Reds, but none more so than at the back. Liverpool have kept three clean sheets in their opening three matches against Ipswich Town, Brentford, and United. Their defence looks back to its very best.
When the Reds won the league five seasons ago, their defence was only breached on 33 occasions, with the back five providing a platform for their forwards to work their magic. Last season, however, was a different story. They conceded the first goal in 23 matches.
Arne Slot has gotten off to the perfect start with the Liverpool boss winning all of his matches
Slot has transformed Ryan Gravenberch into a holding midfielder and it has worked so far
The funny thing is, Alisson, Andrew Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and captain Virgil van Dijk were all a part of the unit that drove Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2019, and then top-flight supremacy a year later.
Another area that drastically needed addressing was the holding midfielder role. A lot has been made this summer of Liverpool’s failure to sign a No. 6, with the club missing out on Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi.
However, Slot has found a solution from within the ranks. Ryan Gravenberch has been deployed in the role by the Dutchman and has barely put a foot wrong. He particularly showed his abilities in that position by dominating the middle of the park against United at Old Trafford.
2. More misery for Man United
This season was meant to be a new dawn for Manchester United. When the doors opened to Old Trafford on Friday 16 August in the Premier League’s curtain-raiser against Fulham, optimism filled the air in the red half of the city.
It was a summer of change at the club following a tumultuous 2023-24 campaign, in which they fell to their worst Premier League finish in the club’s history, with five new faces through the door and two new assistant managers.
A 1-0 win in their opener against the Cottagers did nothing to halt the feel-good factor at Old Trafford, but only two weeks later, that has already disappeared following successive defeats.
The same old problems are there for United. Their humiliating defeat at the hands of Liverpool was further evidence of their lack of identity under Erik ten Hag. The Reds waltzed through the Red Devils at will.
One of the key factors to their early season struggles is the continuing demise of defensive midfielder Casemiro. Once the world’s best in the position, the Brazilian is now a shadow of his former self.
Casemiro is proving a problem yet again for United after his terrible display against Liverpool
The arrival of Manuel Ugarte in midfield won’t solve all of Erik ten Hag’s obvious problems
Casemiro was at fault for two of Liverpool’s goals at Old Trafford and it was evident his confidence in the middle of the park was shot – he was eventually hooked by Ten Hag at half-time. His fall from grace has been tough to watch.
The deadline day arrival of Manuel Ugarte should help fill the gaping hole in United’s midfield, but it will not fix all the problems that the system deployed by the Dutchman seems to bring.
Marcus Rashford is another United player with whom the United fans have grown impatient. The winger’s start to the season has followed on from what was a poor 2023-24 campaign, he has now gone 245 minutes without scoring.
The one-club man, who burst through the ranks at United in 2016, was even jeered on occasion by his own fans as he struggled on the left against Liverpool. yet another player whose confidence is at an all-time low under Ten Hag.
Marcus Rashford was booed by the United faithful against Liverpool and looks fragile
Ten Hag even got into a fiery exchange with a Mail Sport’s Football Editor, Ian Ladyman, after being questioned on the sides struggles against Liverpool. He defended his team by mentioning the club’s Carabao Cup win in 2023 and FA Cup win last season.
3. Erling Haaland is as destructive as ever
When a player has already secured back-to-back Premier League Golden Boots and broken a multitude of records, it’s hard to see how they can really get better. Well, somehow Erling Haaland is proving that it’s still possible.
In Man City’s opening three fixtures this season, Haaland has been at his unstoppable best. The inevitability of the Norwegian strikers supreme ability to score goals has hit a new level.
Haaland has netted seven goals already this campaign as he seems destined for a third Golden Boot on the trot. On several occasions already he has not seen much of the ball, but when it comes his way, the net bulges.
Back-to-back hat-tricks against Ipswich and West Ham means he has picked up 11 match balls in just over two years since arriving in Manchester. The regularity of his goalscoring sees now bounds.
Haaland’s trio of goals away at the London Stadium on Saturday made it 70 league goals in just 69 games in the blue of City, that is a ratio that can not be matched by any other. He looks fitter, crisper, and deadlier than he ever has before.
His freshness has seemingly come from a full summer of rest follwoing Norway’s failure to qualify for Euro 2024. The niggles that once plagued him in the past have now disappeared.
The striker’s relentless nature in front of goal is so terrifying that even his manager Pep Guardiola has joked that even a defender brandishing a weapon could not stop him.
Erling Haaland was at his deadly best as he fired in three goals against West ham on Saturday
The striker also took home the match ball against Ipswich after netting a superb hat-trick
Following City’s 3-1 win over West ham, Guardiola said: ‘He’s playing much better in everything. He stays 20 minutes or half an hour after training sessions. Last season not even once was he there because he didn’t feel good – tired, niggles.
‘What he needs is the team to give him more balls in the final third. We’re going to create those situations. He’s unstoppable, there’s no central defender, not even with a gun to stop him.’
4. Everton plunged back into crisis
After surviving what was a season of turmoil last year, Everton’s unsettled summer, which has seen two failed takeover attempts, did not do much to lift the mood on the blue side of Merseyside.
However, despite fans adopting a somewhat pessimistic approach coming into the season, they have still found themselves dumbfounded at the terrible start their side has had to the new season.
Three games, three defeats, 10 goals conceded. Sean Dyche’s side are having the worst beginning to a Premier League campaign in the club’s history. It has been a miserable few weeks for Everton.
Sean Dyche has lost all three league matches in August for the second time as Everton boss
The campaign started off with a 3-0 humbling at home to Brighton, before Tottenham shipped for past the Toffees without them being able to conjure up a response.
But what was already a poor start turned into crisis on Saturday. A nine-minute meltdown at home to Bournemouth saw the season hit a new low.
Dyche’s team looked destined to win their first points of the season as they sat two goals to the good against the Cherries with the clock ticking over to 87 minutes. However, Bournemouth produced the latest comeback in Premier League history, scoring three goals in nine minutes to win the game.
The Toffees’ meltdown against Bournemouth showed they could be in crisis again this year
The players left the pitch to a chorus of boos from the Goodison Park stands with supporters left stunned at the capitulation that has just unfolded in front of their very eyes.
For the second year running, the Toffees have lost all three of their August fixtures under Dyche. To ensure they aren’t involved in another relegation battle, Everton will need to deliver far better performances as the months pass by.
5. Brighton can push for Europe
Brighton’s long-term goal of establishing themselves as a top-10 Premier League club took a hit when Roberto de Zerbi parted ways with the club at the end of last season. However, just a few months later, they are not missing him.
When 31-year-old Fabian Hurzeler was revealed as the Italian’s replacement, questions were rightly asked over whether it was the right appointment. Could someone so young build on the foundations laid in previous years?
So far, the answer is a resounding yes. Hurzeler was backed in the summer transfer window, spending nearly £200m on nine new signings, with only Chelsea spending more in the top five European leagues.
The backing of Hurzeler was a statement in itself and he is proving that it is worth it as Brighton currently sit third in the Premier League on seven points.
After sweeping aside Everton with ease on the opening day, the Seagulls then toppled Man United at home thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Joao Pedro. Hurzeler had passed the first big test of his Brighton career.
Fabian Hurzeler (right) has proved the perfect replacement for Roberto de Zerbi (left)
Next up came Arsenal, one of the strongest teams in Europe. Once again, Brighton showed what they were about under the German and managed to come away from the Emirates with a point.
Yes, Declan Rice was sent off, controversially too, but that did not take away from the Seagulls’ ability to pin the title hopefuls back in their own half. They took advantage of the decision and showed their quality.
They have shown that the top 10 is not their limit, another push for the European spot looks set to be on the cards for the south coast side.
