TACTION
It was thought that if Man.City lost the top spot, that position would have to belong to Arsenal, which was Man.City's only opponent in the race to win the championship last season. If it's not Arsenal, then MU or Liverpool will speak up. Over here, the top spot in the table after 8 rounds belongs to Tottenham. It was a big surprise, and even more interesting, when Tottenham started the season with a new, unknown Greek-Australian coach. That's Ange Postecoglou. Before him, no Australian or Greek coach had ever coached in the Premier League.
Tottenham is temporarily leading the Premier League
Not only did he successfully lead Tottenham to the top spot, coach Postecoglou also left a significant mark through his attacking style of play, with clear lines and tactics. Tottenham this season almost no longer defends with 5 defenders. Son Heung-min completely transformed compared to himself last season. And Postecoglou also proved successful in recruiting James Maddison from Leicester. Along with Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool), Maddison is one of the two most successful "rookies" in the Premier League to date.
Szoboszlai was brought in by Liverpool to improve the midfield. He is successful (starting in all 8 recent rounds) and has contributed significantly to Liverpool's prosperity this season. There are still goals from Mohamed Salah or the attacking power on the wings from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, but the new look and playing style of the midfield is the main feature when people talk about Liverpool this season. . Currently standing right behind Man.City and only 2 points behind Tottenham, Liverpool is also a case of success in the prelude to the Premier League this season.
PHAP PHU
MU is the most disappointing team. They recruited Andre Onana to replace David De Gea, only to concede goal after goal, mainly because Onana was not talented enough. This is one of the worst contracts in the league in the summer of 2023 so far. But of course, MU cannot fail just because a new face does not meet expectations. Last season, Casemiro arrived at MU and immediately became the cause of success. Now, Casemiro has completely lost form, and that is also the big reason why MU has lost half of its matches (from position 13 and above, no team has lost as much as MU). The feud between Jadon Sancho and coach Erik Ten Hag is another significant reason why MU failed.
Standing in the middle of the rankings with MU is Chelsea. Actually, this is a case of failure but the surprise is not high. After the Abramovich era, Chelsea weakened as a matter of course, that's all! They are not as disappointing as MU. Likewise, looking at Arsenal this season, it must be said that it is a successful team, but Arsenal's success is not highly surprising (like Tottenham). The team in Mikel Arteta's hands is getting stronger from last season and has been significantly strengthened before this season. Arsenal is leading the table with Tottenham. Man.City just lost 2 matches in a row so they fell to 3rd place, but few people look at the recent series of losses to conclude that Pep Guardiola and his team are out of time.
The fact that Man.City was knocked off the top spot only makes the race more attractive. Another attractive new feature: the race for position number 5 (Aston Villa, Brighton, West Ham are the "main actors") is also very important, because that may be the last position to qualify for the Champions League next season. . That means: Aston Villa, Brighton, and West Ham are not "giants" but are successful at this stage.
Is Chelsea strong enough to knock Arsenal down?
At 23:30 p.m. on October 21.10, Chelsea hosted Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in round 9 of the Premier League. This is a match to prove that Chelsea's great potential will regain strength, after spending nearly 1 billion pounds in the past 4 transfer periods to buy players. In the last 4 north London derbies in the 2021 - 2022 and 2022 - 2023 seasons in the Premier League, Chelsea only won 1 match against Arsenal, the remaining lost 3 matches in a row. Instability is the reason why Chelsea decline, even though they always have a squad full of talented players. Chelsea has only regained a little confidence thanks to two recent wins against Fulham 2-2 and Burnley 0-4, but is still ranked 1th with only 11 points. Unbeaten Arsenal and Tottenham (both teams have 11 points) share the top 20 positions in the table with 2 wins and 6 draws. Arsenal (temporarily ranked 2nd due to the lack of goals scored) will monopolize the top spot in the Premier League for at least the next 2 hours if they win against Chelsea, while Tottenham plays late against Fulham at 48:2 a.m. on October 24.10.
Also in round 9 of the Premier League, MU club came to play against the bottom team Sheffield United. While Liverpool met Everton in the Merseyside derby. Man.City has lost 2 recent matches in a row in the Premier League, forcing coach Pep Guardiola and his team to win against Brighton.
Jiang Lao
