3 Things we've learned from weeks 1 and 2 of the Premier League

Welcome back to Football Latest, and after the first two matchweeks of football have concluded, we have learned a lot about many of the teams competing for the Premier League this year. Some teams have already been impacted by key players that they have lost, while other teams have been boosted by key players that they have gained. Today, we will dive deep into all of the interesting talking points from these first two Premier League matchweeks.

Everton have already struggled without Amadou Onana.

Everton currently sit bottom of the league after two games, conceding 3 goals to Brighton at home and 4 goals away at Tottenham, whilst scoring no goals of their own in the process. While last season, Everton did not have a good goalscoring record for the entirety of the season, their defence was probably the best in the bottom half of the league due to lots of composure and control at times when defending is needed and some good attacking moments. So far this season however, Everton appear to have lost this control, most likely because of their star defensive midfielder Amadou Onana moving on to Aston Villa. They do not seem to have any kind of natural replacement to him, and with transfer deadline day looming closer, they will need to act fast or suffer massive consequences for the rest of the season. They still do not have a clinical goalscorer upfront who consistently scores goals, or any service to the strikers that they do deploy up front. This could certainly be the season where Everton end up going down to the Championship, unless Jordan Pickford manages to save them again as he has done so much in recent years.

Pedro Neto and Max Kilman are big losses for Wolves.

Another team who have struggled massively with their opening two fixtures are Wolves. This summer, their captain and star centre-back Max Kilman made a shock move to West Ham, and their brightest attacking spark of last year Pedro Neto has moved to Chelsea. These two departures have really impacted the spine of the team from front to back, with no players brought in who can properly replace either of these players, who were both essential to Wolves last season. This has caused them to suffer an understandable 2-0 loss to Arsenal, followed by a shocking 6-2 defeat to Chelsea, which was a scoreline you don’t see very often in the Premier League. Wolves need to replace these players to repair the spine of their team, as currently they sit in 19th place in the Premier League table with a -6 goal difference and a tough game against Newcastle next. Their one hope is that Gary O'Neil can pull his team through the mud again as he did with Bournemouth in the 2022/23 season and with Wolves last season.

The top of the table looks more competitive than ever.

In recent years, the traditional modern “Top 6” of Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs has been shaken up by teams like Newcastle and Aston Villa, who have broken into the top four in the last two years at different points. West Ham will be hoping to join this trend this season with massive signings from all over the world, from Germany’s starting striker Niclas Fullkrug to Wolves’ captain Max Kilman. Crystal Palace were one of the most in form teams in the league at the end of last season under new manager Oliver Glasner, and Brighton have been one of the highest spenders this summer in the entire world and are in the discussion for pushing the top teams this year. This gives us a wild top of the table battle for European places, with all of the aforementioned teams hoping to push for some kind of European place.

While Manchester City have been massively dominant on the domestic stage in England over the last few years, saying that the Premier League is a “Farmers League” like the French league is certainly a massive overstatement considering the title races and constant competition that we see every day of football in this league. Last season, we saw Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City and even Tottenham and Aston Villa at the top of the table at different points of the season. It was competitive right until the final day, where one result could have led Arsenal to be champions. To read more about this topic, check out the dedicated newsletter on the topic by clicking the linked post below.