The Premier League season is only three weeks old but patterns are forming, challengers are emerging and crises are brewing, with plenty to mull over during the September international break.
Here, Alex Keble looks at 10 big things we have learned from the 2024/25 season so far.
- Haaland fitness ensures City as good as ever
- Slot is making Klopp succession look easy
- Arsenal need impact from Sterling and Timber
- Newcastle look revived as injuries clear up
- Brighton spending raises hopes of top four
- European spots set to go to the wire
- Man Utd falling into familiar pattern
- Big sellers making predictably slow start
- Promoted clubs set for another battle
- League’s middle-class already secure
Haaland fitness ensures City as good as ever
If Erling Haaland’s seven goals across the first three rounds of the season - a record, by the way - wasn’t scary enough, Pep Guardiola’s reasoning for his form should terrify Manchester City’s rivals.
“He stays 20 minutes or half an hour after training sessions,” Guardiola said. “Last season not even once was he there because he didn’t feel good - tired, niggles.”
Haaland, it turns out, hasn’t been fully fit in either of the last two seasons. That’s two seasons in which he scored 63 goals in 66 Premier League matches.
Injuries and fitness issues explain why he was often substituted. So far in 2024/25, Haaland has missed only four minutes of added time against Ipswich Town, while scoring in the 83rd minute and 88th minute of matches so far.
Looking razor-sharp both on and off the ball, and inside and outside of the penalty area, Haaland seems capable of single-handedly ensuring Man City hit at least the same level as last season.
Slot making Klopp succession look easy
OK, so we might need a bigger sample size before we declare that Arne Slot has successfully managed the transition from Jurgen Klopp.
But things could not have gone any better so far and Slot deserves the plaudits for overseeing three wins and as many clean sheets from Liverpool's opening trio of fixtures, including a dominant 3-0 victory at Manchester United.
More important than the results, we can already see clear signs of Slot’s tactical ideas - greater patience in possession and more rigid positional instructions, as the data shows.
Liverpool 2023/24 v 2024/25
| *Stat per 90 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|
| Pass completion | 83.6% | 85.7% |
| Miscontrols* | 15.1 | 13.3 |
| Progressive passes* | 55.5 | 42.7 |
| Progressive carries* | 24.3 | 23.0 |
Slot has given new instructions without throwing out Klopp’s football altogether. Raking passes out to Mohamed Salah and long switches of play from Trent Alexander-Arnold, for example, are still present.
It’s early days, but Liverpool fans could not have asked for a smoother succession.
Arsenal need impact from Sterling and Timber
There really isn’t anything for Arsenal to worry about. The 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion was purely the result of Declan Rice’s red card, before which the visitors had accrued an Expected Goals (xG) of 0.1 over the opening 49 minutes.
We haven’t exactly learnt much about Mikel Arteta’s side, then, although Jurrien Timber’s seamless transition into the starting line-up is something to celebrate.
Left-back was a problem area for Arsenal last season. Errors by Oleksandr Zinchenko or Jakub Kiwior cost them goals in the 2-0 defeat to West Ham United, the 2-1 loss to Fulham and the 2-2 draw with Fulham.
Timber hasn’t put a foot wrong yet and his ability to move into central midfield has made Arsenal more secure through the middle when defending counter-attacks.
Raheem Sterling could become the second Arsenal addition to move them up a gear.
Despite a mixed time at Chelsea, Sterling still managed 21 goals or assists in 45 Premier League starts. Back under the tutelage of Arteta, he could get closer to those impressive Man City numbers, adding the finishing touch on Arsenal’s slightly weaker left side.
Judging by the strength of the competition, Arsenal will need Sterling and Timber to step up.
Newcastle look revived as injuries clear up
It is generally acknowledged that Newcastle United’s 2023/24 Premier League campaign was underwhelming, and yet they ended up only eight points shy of the UEFA Champions League places.
The reason they came seventh is simple - they had 41 separate injuries. Forty-one. No team in the world could have coped, and that’s before factoring in Sandro Tonali missing most of the season through suspension.
It’s no surprise, then, that Eddie Howe’s side looked fully refreshed and raring to go in August.
Harvey Barnes, restricted to only 802 minutes (the equivalent of nine full 90s) in his debut season at St James' Park, already has a goal and an assist to his name; Tonali was back in action on Matchweek 3; and Tino Livramento has excelled after a difficult first campaign.
The 2-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur should kick-start their season, especially as the winning goal was pure Howe: a fast, defence-breaking transition.
Brighton spending raises top-four hopes
Brighton’s reported £200million summer spend has put them in the mix for Champions League football.
Fabian Hurzeler has made a superb start, going unbeaten despite playing Arsenal and Manchester United in his first three matches. But it isn’t just those early results that have us excited.
The football has been similar to Roberto de Zerbi’s in its tactical complexity, suggesting an improved squad will be able to keep opponents guessing throughout the campaign.
And the improvements are significant. Mats Wieffer is the central-midfield upgrade they needed, Georginio Rutter is a star in the making, and Yankuba Minteh has made a bright start counter-balancing Kaoru Mitoma - who is back to full fitness after missing half of Brighton’s Premier League matches last season.
Altogether, it’s the best Brighton team in the club’s history. Big things are expected.
European spots set to go to the wire
Chelsea are an enigma. Enzo Maresca was a high-risk appointment and after another frantic summer it will take time to work them out. It will also take time for the team to gel, hence a 6-2 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers followed up by a 1-1 home draw with Crystal Palace.
Chelsea aren’t the only club who have made a mixed start, which tells us the European spots (somewhere between five and eight of them) will go all the way to May once again.
Aston Villa have been the most consistent and were a couple of big Ollie Watkins misses against Arsenal short of a 100 per cent record in August, but Champions League football might takes its toll.
More pressing for Villa, the 68 points that got them fourth may not be enough this time around, with Newcastle and Brighton improved and Spurs expecting more in their second season under Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou teams have historically performed better in year two because the tactical side becomes muscle memory. However, there is a danger that his insistence on "Plan A" will undermine their progress; Newcastle’s winning goal was typical of Spurs under the current regime, with the high defensive line exposed, as the image below shows.
West Ham have quietly put together one of the most attractive squads in the top half of the table and new head coach Julen Lopetegui will ensure their talent isn’t restricted by defence-first football, although his Sevilla and Real Madrid teams were never free-scoring.
All six clubs, including Newcastle, have reason to hope and reason to doubt. The race for Europe will go to the wire.
Man Utd falling into familiar pattern
Manchester United are the seventh club in that conversation, of course, but the early prognosis is not as good. They remain a mystery: a team still waiting to come together as we enter year three under Erik ten Hag.
Brighton are a very good team and Liverpool were always going to be favourites, so we shouldn’t read too much into United’s record of three points from three matches, especially when you inspect the xG numbers.
Man Utd result/xG result comparison 24/25
| Result | xG result |
| Man Utd 1-0 Fulham | Man Utd 2.4 - 0.4 Fulham |
|---|---|
| Brighton 2-1 Man Utd | Brighton 2.1 - 1.4 Man Utd |
| Man Utd 0-3 Liverpool | Man Utd 1.4 - 1.8 Liverpool |
But the problem is that Ten Hag and Man Utd don’t start from zero. There is baggage from 2023/24, which is why by the end of August a heated debate about the future of the project is ongoing.
We’ve gone from praising Casemiro’s rejuvenation against Fulham to sympathising with his error-strewn display against Liverpool; from seeing hints of a hard-pressing new Man Utd on the opening weekend to despair over familiar shapelessness in Matchweek 3.
Injuries to Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund have not helped, but Man Utd have fallen into the same old pattern, not necessarily in a tactical or technical sense, but in terms of a lack of order and of uncertainty - and how we respond to their performances.
Big sellers making predictably slow start
Wolves, Crystal Palace and Everton all sold two of their best players in the summer. None of the trio have won a Premier League match this season.
Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen are huge losses for Palace, who recovered from consecutive defeats to draw 1-1 with Chelsea, but only thanks to Eberechi Eze, who now has a lot of pressure on his shoulders now, especially with Michael Olise also gone.
Eze has taken 15 of the team’s 37 shots (41 per cent). It won’t be long before opponents start man-marking him out of the game.
Everton are bottom after their disastrous 3-2 defeat to AFC Bournemouth, and although the reasons behind their troubled start are numerous, it has not helped that Ben Godfrey and Amadou Onana both left in the summer.
Wolves, too, are winless following the sales of Pedro Neto and Maximilian Kilman. Gary O’Neil can point to a tough fixture list, and to the strong start from new signing Jorgen Strand Larsen, but Wolves fans will be concerned by the fact that their team picked up only five points from the final 10 Premier League matches of 2023/24.
Promoted clubs set for another battle
There are three other teams yet to win a game: all three promoted sides.
As things stand, it looks like this could be another season in which the promoted clubs struggle. Ipswich Town look the team who are most capable of staying up.
Kieran McKenna’s side only really got started last weekend, following two predictable defeats by Liverpool and Man City, and although they drew 1-1 with Fulham, Ipswich looked competent and competitive.
Contrast that with Southampton, who have lost all three games in similar fashion: dominating possession, then getting caught when looking to play their way out from the back.
Russell Martin has suggested he won’t change but I'd argue the step up to Premier League level requires more tactical conservatism.
Leicester City have had a difficult start, hosting Spurs and Villa, but they have struggled so far for quality in the attacking third. Despite scoring in all three matches, they rank 19th, ahead of Ipswich only, for Expected Goals (2.1xG) and shots (26).
It is far too early to suggest the three promoted clubs will go straight back down, but we can say with confidence none will avoid a relegation battle altogether.
League’s middle-class already secure
Brentford, AFC Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Fulham have 23 points between them and already look snug in mid-table.
Brentford, with six points, and Bournemouth plus Forest, with five each, look particularly settled. It would seem none are going to be locked in a relegation fight this season as they were in 2023/24, while we have seen enough of Fulham, on four points, to know that they will be safe.
There is evidence to suggest Thomas Frank’s Brentford have recovered from a disappointing 2023/24. Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo have started brilliantly, plus Kevin Schade can finally make an impact after an injury-hit debut season, while Fabio Carvalho provides competition across the front line.
Bournemouth welcome back a host of summer 2023 signings who barely played a part last season, including Alex Scott and Tyler Adams, and with five points already on the board they are well up on 2023/24, which started with a nine-match winless run.
Forest are flying high after their first summer of coaching under Nuno Espirito Santo, looking very much a Premier League mainstay, and the same can be said of Fulham after signing Emile Smith Rowe, Sander Berge and Andersen.
These are the four clubs who make up the new Premier League middle-class.
That after three rounds of matches they already sit in mid-table tells us the new campaign seems to be already falling into a pattern; a pattern that guarantees the fight for the title, Europe and Premier League safety will go the distance.