PL back

There is an old expression that “a week is a long time in football”. Well, 3 weeks without PL football is an unbearably long time, feeding on scraps such as Chesterfield v Tranmere Rovers (no offence). The Nations League just does not cut it for me as enjoyable as it was to see England put 7 past Croatia. The fact that they were able to do that tells you all you need to know about how the Croatian players feel about the tournament.

Thankfully, the PL returned last weekend but, of course, that itself was overshadowed by Manchester City being found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges brought against them in relation to financial irregularities and the possible punishment that may be applied. Inevitably, the club have launched an appeal which, in all likelihood, will run for another 12 months or longer, so I suspect we will not know the final outcome for a while yet. The whole situation is a complete mess with the UAE even threatening to withdraw billions of pounds worth of investment in the UK if City get punished. Politics in football is not a good thing. I have no idea how it will all end but having opened the proverbial can of worms, the PL needs to determine whether to open it completely with all the likely chaos that will ensue or find a way to close it again and move on. I can certainly see some sort of compromise being agreed between the PL and City involving a large fine and a points deduction, effectively ensuring City cannot compete for the title for one season. Not adequate but pragmatic.

In the PL itself, Manchester City maintained their 100% start to the season as they won 3-0 at Anfield against Liverpool, whose attempts at winding up City players and fans fell rather flat. The (soft) sending off of Ryan Gravenberch midway through the second half proved to be the turning point with all 3 of City’s goals coming afterwards. Defending champions Arsenal had to come from a goal down to inflict a first PL defeat on visitors Leeds United as they ground out a 2-1 victory to briefly draw level with City. The Gunners are certainly not at their best but are still finding ways to win matches but there are no real easy matches in the PL anymore. Gone are the days when you would look at a match against Brighton, Bournemouth or Brentford with glee expecting a comfortable afternoon. Even the 3 promoted sides are recording wins with Coventry City thumping Newcastle United 4-1 at the CBS Arena for their second straight PL win and Ipswich Town scoring twice late on the claim a 2-1 win at home to Fulham, the Tractor Boys third win of the season so far after just 6 matches. It took them 19 matches the previous time 2 years ago. The third promoted club, Hull City, also avoided defeat as they held Everton to a 2-2 draw at the MKM Stadium to remain unbeaten at home this season and in 8th place in the table. It all leaves clubs such as Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa in the bottom half of the table with Spurs still looking for their first win of the season in the PL alongside Fulham, who are now bottom, and the aforementioned Bournemouth, who are struggling despite playing well. Brighton and Brentford certainly are not struggling though as they sit in 3rd and 4th places.

Premier League Prediction Competition 2026

Session 2 kicked off at the weekend with Peter taking the first POTW award and also claiming top spot overall at this early stage. He leads by 3 points from Martin with Vince a further 2 points behind.


DON’T FORGET THOSE PREDICTIONS!

PLEASE INVITE ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN TAKING PART.

CONTACT ME AT… contact.sytykf@gmail.com

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