The English Premier League may have had some surprises but the usual suspects are at the top as normal.
Roughly a third of the way through the season the top four sides are no surprise.
Chelsea are top, Liverpool, second, Manchester United third and Arsenal fourth.
Although they’re playing catch-up early, Man Utd are right where they need to be. Similar to last year, when they won the EPL, they’re starting off relatively slowly. But looks are deceiving as they finish strong on an almost annual basis.
Bear in mind though that Man Utd are off to a great start at Old Trafford this year. They’re 4-1-0, scoring 13 goals while allowing just 4 goals.
Chelsea, whom the Red Devils had to fend off for the title last year, are doing even better away from home. When they’re not at Stamford Bridge the Blues are 7-0-0, netting an impressive 19 goals and have allowed just one so far.
The Blues’ first place start has as much to do with the stellar play of the likes of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba as it does with the coaching strategy of new head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
The play of both sides so early on seems to point to another epic race for the EPL crown this year.
Liverpool are off to another fast start. Last year they were also in the top three for most of the season before eventually fading away into fourth.
Liverpool have the talent in Spaniard Fernando Torres and English stalwart Steven Gerrard. It remains to be seen if they’ll fizzle out in the second half and find the Premiership crown elusive yet again.
Arsenal are a side that continues to play well without an outstanding star on the side. Granted Fabregas, 21, has emerged as a wonderful player, but he’s very young and has room to grow.
Nevertheless the team has a bunch of good players this year in Diaby, van Persie and Adebayor. Their ability to gel and show good chemistry will do them well late into the season.
The 38 EPL games are sure to see many more headliners emerge. But over the course of 13 there have already been a number of headline-grabbing surprises.
The rest of table is full of unexpected surges and drops. One of the biggest shocks is the rise of Hull. Ranked sixth in the league, the team has done well on the road, compiling a 4-1-1 mark.
Some will say at the most they’ll be like Reading. Good enough to get into the Premiership one season and stay competitive. Then they’ll crash the next and fall back into the Championship league.
Whether or not that will be the case it’ll be interesting seeing how Barmby and company do the rest of the season.
Another shocker is Fulham being decent. They’re currently 11th in the league and sport an impressive home mark. They burst the Harry Redknapp bubble on Saturday, beating Spurs 2-1.
A year ago, many had written Fulham off as they had an uninspiring start and just avoided relegation status.
On the other end of the spectrum it’s hard to overlook some of the biggest disappointments thus far.
One of the more unexpected ones has to be the Tottenham, who are 19th in the standings. They fired manager Juande Ramos, lost key striker Dimitar Berbatov to Man Utd and have seen touted forward Darren Bent play like a nobody until recently when former Portsmouth boss Redknapp signed on.
Mind you they were among the better squads last season. They finished a respectable 11th last year, beat Chelsea in the Carling Cup final and made it to the UEFA competition this year.
Another mediocre and underachieving side has been Manchester City. The often overlooked Manchester team is a mere 13th in the rankings and have seen little from Brazilian star transfer Robinho.
Bear in mind management was one of the biggest spenders in the off season. Aside from Robinho the side added standouts Shaun Wright-Phillips, Pablo Zabaleta and Benjani Mwaruwari.
In the end the Premiership is arguably the best league in the world. With two-thirds of the season yet to be played football lovers have plenty of action left to see in the table from top to bottom.
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