With the Premier League season well underway, the league’s table – and the fortunes of its teams – are beginning to take shape. Whether you are a die-hard supporter, a fantasy football obsessive or simply an enthusiast for the sport, the ‘best league in the world’ has already provided its fans with many of the thrills and spills that characterise this league and its players. From Alexander Isak’s transfer meltdown to Ange Postecoglou’s reign at Nottingham Forest lasting less time than Liz Truss as PM, the drama of the Premier League has provided entertainment – and controversy – like every season before it. Yet, as the dust of the last few months settles, a glance at the league table will tell some surprising stories about the league’s biggest winner so far. Are Wolves really dead and buried, and if so, when will they be relegated? Are Arsenal finally ready to win the league? Can Sunderland ‘Do a Leicester’ and shock the country? These questions – and more – will be discussed…

Flying High – The Teams Who Have Impressed

Oh, to be an Arsenal fan. Five years into the ‘Mikel Arteta Project’, the Gunners are still left with an FA Cup win as their sole piece of material reward. Despite valiant efforts – peaking with an 89-point haul in 2023/24 – Arsenal came into this season as perennial runners-up. Yet, their position at the summit of the league table, with a six-point gap to Manchester City and five wins from their last five games, begs the question: is this their year? The addition of goalscorer Viktor Gyökeres has sharpened their attacking focus, and the Gunners certainly look like the team to beat this year. Two members of the pack chasing Arsenal are…Sunderland and Bournemouth? If you didn’t hear the experts predicting this duo as top-five representatives, don’t fret – you haven’t missed a trick. Sunderland’s playoff final win earned them a spot in the Premier League, and along with it the team most fancied to go straight back down. Historically, the playoff winners have looked out of place in a technically and tactically demanding league, but Sunderland seem determined to buck the trend. The Black Cats are led by Granit Xhaka, the former Arsenal midfielder who many assumed was only returning to England for a side-quest before retirement. Yet, Xhaka’s leadership and some shrewd transfer business has catapulted the Wearside team up the rankings – making them more likely to ‘Do a Leicester’ than be relegated. Bournemouth, on the other hand, are a team who came into the season with greater expectations – but with some serious losses to replace. Losing your star players can be truly damaging to a mid-table team (more on Wolves later), and departures of Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid and Milos Kerkez to Liverpool left a cherry-sized gap in their defensive line. But, in the midst of this period of change, the club’s remaining talisman have never swayed in their delivery of consistent performances. Antoine Semenyo’s goals, in particular, have propelled the Cherries to impressive wins over Spurs and Fulham, leaving them sitting comfortably near the top of the table.

Down…but not out? The Season’s Biggest Losers So Far

For the Arsenals, Sunderlands and Bournemouths to keep picking up points, you know what that means. Every fan dreads it, but each season a new ‘whipping boy’ is crowned – the team that you just know is a free win. Whilst every game in the Premier League is arguably winnable, Wolves are proving a strong case to disprove that. The team from Molineux couldn’t buy a win if they tried – and trust us, they’ve tried. The club brought in £87.4m worth of talent this summer to replace the attacking contributions of departing talisman Matheus Cunha, yet have seven goals and no wins to show for it. This offensive blunt-ness, combined with a tendency to leak goals on will, has left Wolves already eight points adrift of safety and in dire need of change. With manager Vitor Pereira recently sacked, fans will be hoping that new leadership will revitalise the club’s season and give them at least a chance of making it to April without being relegated. Another Midlands club that are flirting with the drop, Nottingham Forest, wouldn’t have been the go-to pick for fans and pundits alike during the summer. Their impressive form last year under Nuno Espirito Santo catapulted them to a 7^th-place finish, and the likelihood of mid-table security for the foreseeable future seemed on the cards. But Nuno’s fallout with boss Evangelos Marinakis, combined with Ange Postecoglou’s disastrous reign, has left the club rudderless and desperate for tactical stability. The appointment of the go-to ‘rescue man’ Sean Dyche will reassure fans that the wheels won’t completely fall off the wagon, but Morgan Gibbs White and Chris Wood will need to step up if their team want to avoid a nasty end to the season.

With these winners, losers and everyone else in between not yet halfway through the season, there is much still to play for and undoubtedly more drama down the road. What we do know, though, is that Premier League football is the gift that keeps on giving. Whether you’re flying high or down in the dumps, all you know is that come Saturday there’ll be a chance to go again. As they say, “Season starts now, lads,”…

Image by Ronnie Macdonald via Wikimedia Commons