Premier League in a nutshell: sinking Arsenal, new leader and Everton’s successful entry

Before the much hated national break, the Premier League had round 3 on the schedule. What did it offer? There was an exhibition by Manchester City and confirmation of Arsenal’s woeful form. Tottenham moved to the top of the league with another 1-0 win. Coach Benitez, who is in charge of Everton, also had a good start to his engagement.

Another Arsenal embarrassment, how long will Arteta last?

One of the highlights of the league weekend was the match between Manchester City and Arsenal. The Citizens were big favourites, Arsenal could only hope for a miracle. The Gunners’ loss was predictable, but far more resistance from the underdog was expected.

It lasted only 5 minutes. After that, a merry-go-round started that Mikel Arteta’s team couldn’t stop. The Arsenal defence was in chaos, the players didn’t know where their heads were at. The Citizens took advantage of this and scored 2 quick goals.

Any hopes the Gunners had of a miraculous turnaround were dashed by Xhaka. The Swiss was sent off after his indiscriminate foul and Arsenal went shorthanded. To make matters worse, the home side increased their lead to 3-0 at the end of the 1st half.

The winner of the match was decided, the question was what the final score would be. Arsenal didn’t make any effort to do anything with the game and made Citizens a mere sparring partner. Manchester City eventually won 5: 0 and notched up another big win.

A poor performance from Arsenal. The team’s crisis is deepened. The Gunners are at rock bottom, as evidenced by their position in the table. 3 games, 0 points, a horrific 0::9 record and last place in the Premier League. It is the worst start to a season in the club’s history. According to the owners, coach Arteta still has their confidence.

But that could change quickly. Arsenal need to start picking up points, otherwise the Spanish coach’s position will be quite tilted. The club’s management would also have a hard time finding a potential replacement. Top coaches are hard to come by in a dismantled Arsenal.

Tottenham have won again, this time with Kane.

Espirito Santo has been the new Spurs coach since the summer. The Portuguese coach who led Wolves in his previous spell. So the club’s expectations were not very high. So far, everything is going well and Tottenham are having a dream start to the season. 3 games, 3 wins. Son and co. are the only team that hasn’t lost a point yet and deservedly climbed to 1st place. Harry Kane has already hit the ground running against Watford.

The Portuguese coach has brought elements that worked for him at Wolves to his new engagement. Tottenham are far more compact, emphasising solid defending, playing like a real team. That’s also why it has always been enough to score a single goal to win. Only 3 games played, no need to jump to conclusions. Still, Spurs’ good start is very surprising and they can bite a lot this season.

The clash of the titans ended in a mutual division of points

The highlight of the 3rd round was Liverpool’s match with Chelsea. The match was very dramatic and lived up to all expectations. The match ended 1-1 and both teams scored their first points of the season. Chelsea can be more satisfied with the result. The Blues played the entire 2nd half shorthanded and their defensive line in particular put in a heroic performance. The visitors could even have won.

Ironically, James’ sending off hurt Liverpool more. It is true that the sending off and the subsequent penalty equalised the game. But after that, it was offensive misery on their part. They could only manage a couple of dangerous shots from distance, which is not enough for a 45 minute powerplay.

Liverpool can’t play a closed defence when the team relies mainly on its defensive strength. In the duel with Chelsea, it showed again. On the contrary, Chelsea confirmed that they have an extremely strong defence and will only concede the minimum. This is not good news for the other title contenders.

Everton are having fun under their new coach

Another of the teams who entered the season with a new coach is Everton. The Liverpool club has engaged the successful Rafa Benítez. The Spanish tactician has won the Champions League and has coached Liverpool, Real Madrid and Chelsea in the past.

He has already started to prove his quality at Everton. The Liverpool team has won 7 points so far and is within striking distance of the best. The Spanish coach has always emphasised tactics and a sophisticated defensive approach. However, Everton are also doing well in attack.

In the opening game of the season they outshot Southampton, then took a point against Leeds. In their last game, they beat Brighton 2-0 and scored their first clean sheet. The team is driven by the productive duo of Calvert-Lewin (3 goals), Richarlison (1 goal+1 assist). Everton is simply entertaining and worth watching.

Interesting stats from Round 3::

• Arsenal have received 10 red cards since the arrival of Mikel Arteta. 4 more than any other team.
• For the first time ever Arsenal have not won any of their opening 3 games.
• Jamie Vardy has scored the same number of goals in the Premier League as Steven Gerrard (120).
• Everton won at Brighton for the first time in 38 years.
• Since the start of the 2020/21 season, no player has scored more goals than Mohamed Salah (24).
• For the first time ever, Tottenham won all 3 opening games without conceding a goal.
• Manchester United have not lost in 28 away games in a row. This is a Premier League record.

Line-up of the round according to SofaScore:

Table after Round 3::

Source: Twitter