Early days it may be but are strange things afoot in this year's Premier League? Yes, the title is once again likely to be a two (or perhaps, one and a half) horse race but a look further down the table suggests that we might be in for an unusual season. It will be a surprise if Manchester City and Liverpool do not pull quickly away from the chasing pack but all the other members of the top-six have sufficient problems to blow the battle for the Champions League spots wide open.
Tottenham, widely tipped for third spot, are beset by a poor run of form stretching back to last season, talk of Christian Eriksen leaving and unhappy murmurings from and around Mauricio Pochettino. Arsenal look wonderful going forward but have they made a huge error in placing their defensive hopes on the inconsistent shoulders of David Luiz? Frank Lampard will no doubt succeed at Chelsea but he has inherited a squad with limitations and a ban on incoming transfers. As for Manchester United, I am not the only person who believes things are going to get an awful lot worse before they get better. The problems at Old Trafford run deeper than just having a disjointed squad, a lack of firepower, an easily disillusioned star player and a manager who appears to be totally out of his depth. It would be a surprise to me if United made the top eight, let alone the Champions League spots. For just the second time in PL history, only three sides have two wins under their belt at this stage of the season, is this an early sign that teams will struggle for consistency over the campaign?
Lower down the division the picture looks equally confused. For just the second time in the EPL, only two sides have failed to collect a win after three games of the season and one of those, Wolves, have managed to pick up three points regardless. The early table has a congested look about it with the gap between fifth and nineteenth places currently standing at just a single point, that's the lowest at this stage of the season since the competition began. For many years the Premier League has contained a large number of ordinary teams over which a blanket could be thrown in terms of quality and potential finishing position, however, there are normally one or two sides that stand out as relegation certainties. Last season most people correctly predicted that Huddersfield and Cardiff would make the drop but this year that does not seem to be the case. All three promoted sides have started brightly and shown sufficient signs that they are not likely to be overawed or bullied by more established opponents. Of the other sides tipped for trouble, Brighton look a different animal under Graham Potter, Crystal Palace still have Wilf Zaha in their ranks and got underway at Manchester United last weekend while Newcastle did a number on Spurs after looking solid in the opening day defeat by Arsenal. Only Watford are without a point but with a trip to St James' Park coming up today that situation could change rapidly.
So is this going to be the tightest Premier League ever? Will the battle for the top four expand beyond the usual suspects? Will the relegation battle swallow up half the division? How many teams at Christmas might be simultaneously aiming their sights on Europe whilst looking over their shoulders in fear of the drop? It is early days but all signs point to an interesting and dramatic season ahead.
