Three games into a season is never long enough to judge how it might play out, but it’s safe to say that there have already been a few surprises, with the newly promoted teams adjusting to life in the top flight pretty well.
Despite only three points on the board, Norwich have looked like a good side, alongside Aston Villa, while Sheffield United currently sit highest of the three despite being odds-on to face the drop with the bookmakers.
They still are heavy favourites. Most of the big name bookmakers are still pricing them as odds-on, with a number featured on topratedbettingsites.co.uk pricing them as Evens. However, after a solid start, is it already time to start thinking about other candidates, particularly given the bad starts for the likes of Watford and Southampton?
What is clear is that on their day the teams tipped to go down are good enough to compete, which will make it interesting.
Both Teemu Pukki of Norwich and Joelinton of Newcastle look like they could be real game changers for the side and play a huge part in their survival if they can continue to be dangerous in front of goal.
Joelinton certainly was against Tottenham. Steve Bruce has managed to get a real find in the 23-year-old Brazilian and it’s really helped those at St James’ Park look beyond the initial doom and gloom that plagued their preseason.
Watford on the other hand are suffering after three games and given the club’s history in hiring and firing, Javi Gracia could now find himself already fighting for his job. The Hornets have lost all three of their games so far and looked in terrible shape, after enduring a bad run at the end of last term.
That now stands as a seven game losing streak, and they’ll need to turn it around if they are to survive. They have the quality too, but they’ve already given teams a head start in the race for survival.
Brighton and Burnley have picked up points at this early stage, which fans will be encouraged by and it just highlights further unpredictability of the league so far this season.
In fact, it’s the first time since 1981 that 19 or more teams have picked up at least three points after three games. What’s clear from that is that anyone could find themselves on a run, or cut adrift if a losing run starts over the coming weeks.
After this weekend we’ll get to the international break and a number of teams will certainly be looking to regroup. The Premier League won’t be standing still for anyone this year, and while it was a real race to the top last season, from what we’ve seen so far, we could well have one of the most competitive relegation battles in recent times.
