It has been a chaotic start to the English Premier League season, but things are beginning to settle down nicely.
On the evidence of what we have seen so far, champions, Liverpool remain the best team in the league, Tottenham Hotspur look like they can mount a sustained title challenge, while Chelsea are starting to reap the dividends of their summer expenditure.
Manchester City aren’t yet firing on all cylinders, while their local rivals, United continue to blow hot and cold. Both Manchester clubs need to get a move on very quickly or risk being left behind.
Liverpool still the team to beat
Liverpool are not going to run away with the Premier League title like they did last season, but the defending champions will take some stopping.
The Reds are far from infallible, as we saw in the bizarre 7-2 defeat against Aston Villa, but they are still a pretty formidable outfit, with good balance and depth in their squad.
Jürgen Klopp’s men are in the midst of an injury crisis, with key defenders, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomes out of action for a very long time, but they have coped well so far. Klopp still needs to do some business in January to patch up that ailing back line.
Apart from that freak result at Villa Park, the only other points Liverpool have dropped in their Premier League title defence were away at Everton and Manchester City. They have not been without blemish, but they are still the best in the land.
Even the bookmakers agree, with many of them installing Liverpool as the favourites for the Premier League title.
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Mourinho leading Spurs revival
When Tottenham Hotspur suffered a lackluster home defeat to Everton on the opening day of the season, Spurs fans must have feared the worst for the new campaign.
Two and a half months later, the fans are dreaming of a potential league title. They have been fed with genuine hope and believe that they can end their long wait for silverware.
The man behind all of this is Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho finally has Spurs playing the way he wants them to- super solid at the back and deadly on the counter-attack. They have proper match winners in Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son.
If those guys can stay injury-free for large chunks of the season, Tottenham will be there or thereabouts come the business end of the title race.
Chelsea on the move
They took some time to get going, but Chelsea are finally on the move.
Goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy has added some stability to their defence, while Hakim Ziyech has livened up the Chelsea forward line with his creativity and goal-getting abilities.
We are still yet to see the best of Kai Havertz, but hopefully, that will come in the course of this season.
The jury is still out on Frank Lampard, but he has done a decent job of piecing together his expensive buys.
This Chelsea team remains a work in progress. They are unlikely to reclaim the title this season, but ignore them at your peril!
Elsewhere…
Manchester City have not been at their best this season, but there is way too much quality in that squad to write off Pep Guardiola’s men.
Surely these guys can’t be held down for much longer: Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, Bernado Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Ferran Torres…
They have been missing that spark in attack, but it only takes one moment to flick the switch. Hopefully for them, they will find their mojo before it’s too late.
Manchester United are too inconsistent to maintain a title challenge, while former champions, Arsenal look set for a very long season. The Gunners will do well to sneak into a European place!
There will be more twists and turns along the way, but at this point, current champions, Liverpool look that little bit better than the rest.