[Premier League]: Situation in the league after 3 rounds
Hello! The new season has started in England, the teams are slowly gaining game conditions. So, let's see what the Premier League team achieved for the 3rd round.
The leaders
For starters, regarding those teams that, in my opinion, will fight for the championship. Although Jurgen Klopp says that this season, in addition to Liverpool and City, there will be other teams fighting for the title, I doubt it. So, Manchester City, the champion of last season, made almost no acquisitions in the summer transfer window, and in fact they were not really needed by the citizens. City in the first round West Ham smashed, the “hammers” didn’t seem to be preparing for this match at all, City destroyed the Pellegrini team with one single trick, which worked five times: acceleration behind the defenders and a pass against. The result is a 0-5 victory for the City. In the next round, City hosted the Champions League finalist Tottenham at home, and lost two points. However, Guardiola’s team has nothing to blame, in the first half the “spurs” tried to meet City players, put pressure, hence the goals. In the second half, Tottenham put the bus at his gate. The result, 2-2, the first loss of City points, but this is not at all an indicator of the weakness of the team from Manchester. In the third round, City went to Bournemouth, so what can I say, the hosts could not oppose anything to the champion, the score was 1-3. It's too early to judge, but so far I see the loss of City points in the championship just because of the Champions League.
Liverpool, as well as its direct competitor, started with the win, the defeat of the newcomer to the league - Norwich with a score of 4-1. The first match showed the excellent physical shape of the players of the basic structure of Liverpool, whether Klopp will be able to keep it until the end of the season until no one knows. In the second round, Liverpool went on a visit to “his farm club”, Southampton and won a landslide victory 1-2, a goal conceded at the end of the match on Adrian’s conscience, which enraged the “saints” and they nearly took points by red. In the last round, Jurgen Klopp's team was opposed by a club from the top 6, Arsenal. And in the first half, the “gunners” badly patted the nerves of the defenders of Liverpool, but missed a goal from the corner at the end of the first half. Arsenal might not have entered the second half, there was no team on the field and scoring Liverpool twice secured a comfortable advantage, Arsenal could only score one goal at the end of the match. With three wins, Liverpool is still leading the table.
In the first three rounds, we can say that this season we will see a repeat of last year's race for the title. So far, there is no one among the top 6 teams to write to the competitors of the leaders.
Top 6 teams
It is not strange, but among the other teams of the top 6 Arsenal started best of all. In addition to the defeat from Liverpool, the “gunners” won two victories: over Newcastle (0-1) and over Burnley (2-1). It seems to be a good start to Manchester United, defeating Chelsea 4-0, but then again we saw last year United. The “Devils” lost the victory over Wolverhampton in a draw 1-1 (Pogba did not score a decisive penalty) and lost the match with Crystal Palace 1-2, having conceded a goal at the end of the match and in this match United also did not score a penalty. Tottenham still can not find himself on the field. After defeating Aston Villa in the first round (3-1), the Spurs had a draw with City and lost to Newcastle (0-1). Chelsea also has 4 points available, “pensioners” started with a devastating defeat from Man United (4-0), then there was a draw with Leicester City (1-1) and in the last round Chelsea pulled out a victory against Norwich City (2- 3). Chelsea is in a fever, but it’s excusable: first, Frank Lampard needs time to get comfortable on the spot as Chelsea’s head coach, plus Chelsea was left without his leader Eden Hazard before the start of the season. So this season for blue is likely to be transitional and hardly worth counting on high places.
Of course, after three rounds it is too early to draw conclusions, but so far, perhaps only Tottenham will be able to compete with the two leading teams. Spurs retained their leaders, acquired several good players, and against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United they look preferable.
Other teams
Among the remaining teams in the first three rounds, newcomers to the Premier League look good. Sheffield United fights for points in each round, plays accurately and so far does not make serious mistakes in defense. Norwich City is not too lucky with the calendar at the start, but the team will certainly not fight for survival, at least as long as the team has Teemu Pukki. Aston Villa so far left a mixed impression, without Tammy Abraham the team had problems in attack, and in the first two matches there were problems with defense, which led to goals conceded.
Not bad yet looks Leicester City coming in 4th place and not losing so far not a single match. But the departure of Harry Maguire to Manchester United is likely to affect the defensive actions of the team, so the presence of “foxes” in the top 6 is most likely a temporary phenomenon.
Wolverhampton, who plays in the Europa League qualification, still cannot really begin the season in England, Burnley faced a similar problem last season. But the wolves so far manage and have not lost a single match, although they were very close to this in the last round in the match with Burnley. At the moment, this is the only team from the two ten who did not lose at the start of the season.
Outsiders
So far, Watford remains without points, while the team of Xavi Gracia scored only one goal in three matches. A very bad start to the "bumblebees", we hope that in the next rounds the situation will change. Explicit outsiders are still difficult to identify, but it looks like Newcastle United and Southampton will be among those teams that will fight to maintain a place in the league.