The Premier League takes a two-week hiatus after four matchweeks in the 2019-20 season for the first international break of the season. It’s business as usual at the top, but there have been quite a few surprises to have come our way in this time.
Let’s take a look at 5 things we learnt from the first four Premier League Matchweeks:
Manchester City and Liverpool are far ahead of the rest
Last year’s winners and runners-up, Manchester City and Liverpool, have been utterly dominant in the opening four games of the season, despite City drawing one game against Tottenham. Liverpool have won all four of their matches, while City were unfortunate not to beat Spurs. The Merseyside club have scored 12 goals in their four games, while City have scored a whopping 14 goals in the same period.
It seems that this year’s title race will also be between these two sides, and it won’t be a surprise if the gap between the two is as close as last season.
The race this time will be for the Top 6 and not the Top 4
City, Liverpool, and Spurs (despite their patchy start) are all but certain to lock out the first three spots in the Premier League, but a host of clubs are in the running for the last three European spots. Arsenal have looked uncertain at the back, while Chelsea and Manchester United are a team in transition with issues all over the pitch.
Leicester City have closed down the gap to the top 6, and are third in the league table going into the international break, and are the only side apart from Liverpool and Manchester City to not lose a game this season. Wolves could lose out on a top 6 place due to their Europa League ambitions, but Everton will look to iron out a number of issues and give it a real go challenging the likes of Chelsea and United in head to head duels.
Evenly matched teams in the lower half
It’s too early to call it, but we could be in for a close battle from 10th to 20th place this season. The top 6 and teams like Leicester City, Wolves, Everton, and West Ham United could stretch away from the bottom half of the table, who are all evenly matched, including newly-promoted sides Norwich City, Aston Villa, and Sheffield United, who have shown promising signs so far.
Crystal Palace have made a good start to the season as have Sheffield United, which will make the relegation scrap very interesting and we could be in for a surprise in that regard with all the newly promoted teams looking decent.
Money is not equal to success
Premier League success depends on quality signings that adapt quickly and fit well in a team’s system, which may not necessarily mean spending huge sums of money. Crystal Palace, Norwich City, and Burnley spent under £10 million in the summer transfer window, but have done well so far as they kept hold of their key players.
All three clubs have used their players wisely and retained their core team from last season which has helped them to a decent start to the 2019-20 Premier League season.
New Premier League strikers score aplenty
The top of the 2019-20 Premier League goalscoring charts has the usual suspects – Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling, but there are also some surprises, especially from new signings or those that are playing in the Premier League for the first time. Norwich City’s Teemu Pukki has got off to a flyer in his first year in the Premier League, scoring 5 goals in 4 games, including a hat-trick against Newcastle United, while Chelsea’s young striker Tammy Abraham, has shushed the racists to score 4 in 4 games.
West Ham United’s Sebastian Haller and Manchester United’s Daniel James have got three goals each in their first season in the Premier League, while Burnley’s experienced striker, Ashley Barnes, has also surprised many with four goals in four games.
Stats Courtesy: Whoscored
Putting Tottenham in the top 3 as a lock is silly considering they won a single game and are currently in 10th place after four games. The Spurs only win was against newly promoted Aston Villa and they lost to Newcastle. The draw to City was a gift; City dominated the game and were unlucky to have a goal ruled out. The Spurs seem to benefit from penalties and VAR an awful lot, so maybe the referees will do what the team cannot, perform well enough to finish in the top four.
City and Liverpool have to be favorites, that’s fair enough, but Liverpool lack depth in key positions. The reds have been lucky with injuries in their last two seasons, but if they lose Salah, Mane, Robertson, or Van Dijk for a significant period they could easily fall back into the 3-6 pack. City, on the other hand, have a plethora of options at every position except center back.
The bottom half will be tight if recent seasons are the gauge. The parachute payments to relegated teams allow clubs coming into the Premier League to spend big on their squads. It is still difficult for those clubs to attract enough good players to stay up, but they keep trying.
Sorry boys and girls, but the idea that money is not critical to success is stupid and flat-out wrong. Money is equal to success. City, Liverpool. Arsenal Chelsea. Tottenham. United. They all spent big, if not always wisely. By the end of the season, that spending will show. Tottenham have not bought a lot of players in recent seasons, but they spent big on wages to keep Alli, Kane. Son, Eriksen, etc. City spent over 100 million on two players and Pep Guardiola was crying poverty. Boo hoo. West Ham spent a ton of money in the last three years; on wages and fees, while Everton are outspending almost everyone except city. Even Leicester spent over 300 million on their rise from obscurity to the title. They spent big again this year, funded by Maguire’s sale to United.
New strikers might be scoring aplenty, but they won’t keep the pace. The Premier League has only had more than one man score over thirty goals in a season one time; Andy Cole (34) and Alan Shearer (31) in the history of the competition. In three seasons, the top scorer did not even reach 20 goals in a year. A Premier League goal is the hardest commodity in football. Ashley Barnes, Teemu Puuki, and Daniel James will be nowhere to be seen when the golden boot is announced at the end of the season. Tammy Abraham might, if he stays healthy, because his manager will play him no matter what because he hates Giroud.