Premier League title analysis: Manchester City's dominance declines, Arsenal Tottenham Liverpool play Manchester City in three Englands
The results of several highlights in the seventh round of the Premier League will have a significant impact on the Premier League title race this season: Manchester City lost 2-1 away to Wolves, and Manchester City without Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, B seats and Rodri Rodri in the Premier League dominance has seriously declined; Arsenal's 4-0 win away to Bournemouth showed their victory; Tottenham's 2-1 victory over Liverpool, who received two red cards, sent their opponents to their first defeat of the season and announced that Tottenham were officially joined in the title race this season. The four favourites for the Premier League this season have also been officially announced: Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool.
Manchester City: The dominance of the midfield has seriously declined, and it has become more difficult to defend the title. City's main moves in the transfer market this season have been four in and four out: bringing in Gervadior, Nunes, Doku and Kovacic, and moving out Gundogan, Mahrez, Laporte and Palmer. The signings and transfers are both one striker, two midfielders and one central defender, with a total investment of 240 million euros, total revenue of 110 million euros and net expenditure of 130 million euros.
Judging from the performance of the first 7 Premier League rounds and 4 cup games, Doku's performance of 1 goal in 6 games is far from Mahrez's performance of 15 goals and 13 assists in 47 games last season, and Manchester City's sharpness on the wing has decreased significantly. Laporte made just 24 appearances for City last season, including 12 in the league, averaging 0.83 tackles, 0.33 tackles and 2.5 clearances per game, while Gervardior has made seven appearances this season, including five in the league, averaging 1.2 steals, 0.4 interceptions and 1 clearance, and Laporte is each specialty.
Gundogan made 51 appearances for Manchester City last season, contributing 11 goals and 6 assists; Palmer made 25 appearances, contributing one goal and one assist. Mateo Kovacic has made eight appearances for Manchester City this season, without scoring goals or assists; Nunes made 5 appearances with only 1 assist. It is very clear that from an attacking point of view, Kovacic and Nunes combined are not as good as Gundogan, and Manchester City's dominance in midfield has declined very significantly.
Due to De Bruyne's accidental injury, he will not return until the end of December at the earliest; B seat was also injured in the Champions League match against Red Star Belgrade; Rodri was suspended for a Premier League match against Nottingham Forest. So Manchester City's last two games, the League Cup against Newcastle and the league against Wolves, did not play any of the four major midfielders last season, and Manchester United also suffered consecutive defeats. Even if Rodri is suspended and returns from injury, De Bruyne will not be until the end of December at the earliest; Gundogan , there is no more Gundogan, the decline in Manchester City's midfield dominance is obvious, which also gives other teams the best chance to beat Manchester City!
Manchester City's fixture schedule in October has been tough, with two Champions League away games against Leipzig and Young Bern, two Premier League away games against Arsenal and Manchester United respectively, and the only Premier League home opponent is Brighton. It can be said that this is the weakest time for Manchester City, and whether they can end Manchester City's Premier League title defense plan depends on whether Arsenal, Manchester United and Brighton can seize this opportunity.
Arsenal: The best time to break through the cocoon into a butterfly. Last season, Arsenal led the Premier League table for a long time, but unfortunately did not hold on in the final month, and eventually lost the Premier League title to Manchester City. Arsenal have made a comeback this season, winning the title from the Community Shield penalty win over Manchester City in all competitions without a single defeat and are currently just one point behind Manchester City in the Premier League table.
Arsenal have invested a total of 235 million euros in the transfer market this season, bringing in English defender Rice, German striker Kai Havertz, Dutch defender Timberel and Spanish goalkeeper Raya respectively. Of the players who left on transfers, only Xhaka was a regular last season. It can be said that from the perspective of player configuration, Arsenal has fully met the requirements for winning the Premier League, and the rest only depends on Arteta's coaching ability and the psychological quality of the players. Whether you can complete the butterfly transformation from a strong team to a champion depends on this season.
Tottenham: The new manager brings a different Tottenham. Arguably, Tottenham's performance this season is closest to Pochettino's Champions League finals in 2018-2019, and all thanks to Tottenham's new manager Postcoglu. The Australian manager led Tottenham to an unbeaten record of five wins and two draws in the first seven Premier League rounds, including victories over Liverpool and Manchester United, and draws with Arsenal.
Without Kane, Tottenham put Son Heung-min as captain and attacking core, Son Heung-min scored 6 goals in 8 games, and his form is very close to the 2021-2022 season when he won the Golden Boot. Richarlison has started this season, contributing 2 goals and 2 assists in 8 games, and the efficiency improvement is very obvious.
Tottenham's changes this season are very related to the arrival of 3 new players, 46.3 million euros to bring in England international midfielder Madison can be described as a big bargain, contributing 2 goals and 4 assists in 8 games; The arrival of Netherlands international centre-back Van der Ven and Italian goalkeeper Vicario has given Tottenham's defence a lot more firm.
On the whole, although Tottenham Hotspur has lost the big killer of Kane this season, the team's midfield strength has improved significantly, and the overall strength has not decreased but increased, and it will be a strong contender for the top four and even the title in the Premier League this season.
Liverpool: The midfield has changed blood, and there are still hidden dangers in the defense. In the first two seasons, Liverpool's signings were mainly concentrated in the forward line, Luis Dias, Jota, Núñez and Gakpo arrived one after another, Mane and Roberto Firmino left one after another, and the Red Arrows only Mohamed Salah remained, but the team's attacking ability still maintained the top level of the Premier League, and Liverpool's main problem was the aging midfield.
In the summer transfer window, Klopp sent away Fabinho, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Milner and Keita, and brought in four midfielders from Sobosroy, McAllister, Herafenbech and Hanghang Endo. From the performance of the new season, except for Hang Endo, the performance of the other three main midfielders is very good, and the midfield has successfully changed.
The back line has become Liverpool's weakest link at the moment, Van Dijk is 32 years old, but he still has not found a suitable partner and successor for him; Alexander-Arnold has become the nerve knife of Liverpool's backfield, continuing to play a ghostly game, and it seems that the backline will be the highlight of Liverpool's recruitment next season. Liverpool are in the race for four this season, but the title is still very difficult.
With Manchester City's dominance declining, the battle for the Premier League title this season is likely to be even more intense this season than last season. Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool all have the quality to win the title, and Aston Villa, Brighton and Newcastle, who currently top the table, can only play the role of spoilers at best. Manchester United and Chelsea? We are now talking about championships, not relegation, thank you!
Note: The picture comes from the web.