Five games and EPL is in flux!

Are Arsenal as good as we thought? Are post-Pep City serious contenders?

Are United and Spurs one game from a crisis? Are Brighton and Brentford the real deal?

Five games in seems a bit early for a review, but there are so many talking points and so much time to discuss them.

Thanks to an international break that feels like the end of a season.
And when club football returns on October 10, it should do so with a bang.

First up, there’s what is sure to be dubbed the “Crisis Club Derby” between Manchester United and Spurs.

And if that’s not enough to rediscover your taste buds, it’s followed on Sunday by a reprise of the old Klopp-Pep classic, Liverpool v Manchester City.

Meanwhile, there’s much to ponder on the club scene.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in this volatile world is that no manager has been sacked.

But with nine new boys in the dugout, fewer dressing rooms have been “lost” – yet.

Mikel Arteta was the safest boss of all and has been duly rewarded with a contract that keeps him at The Emirates until 2030.

The Kroenke regime is hoping he’ll become another Arsene Wenger, but his touchline antics suggest he may burn himself out before his team does.

The Gunners will have been shaken by the 3-0 thrashing at Brighton. It could have been six or seven.

Many see them as the best team in Europe and they were impressive EPL champions.

They’d won every game this season and were being talked up as the “New Invincibles”.

But they were taken apart by players most fans had never heard of. And with nine squad members out injured.

In mitigation, it was Arsenal’s fourth successive match on the road, but it’s worryingly early to be so flat.

They’ve been wise to withdraw Declan Rice from the England squad. If anyone needed a break it was him, having played much of last season and the entire World Cup nursing several niggles.

“Load management” is the new phrase to describe his withdrawal.
And I still think they’re missing a big lump up front – like an Erling Haaland or Brian Brobbey – to cause havoc as well as stick the ball in the net.

They thought Viktor Gyokeres might be the one, but he’s neither big enough nor good enough. Brighton know – they let him go and don’t make many mistakes.

Arsenal are still favourites and their only real challenger is the same as last season – Manchester City.

But what will have made Gooners a little less sure of back-to-back titles is the way City have shrugged off the loss of Pep Guardiola and rebuilt the squad.

Impossible shoes to fill? And not just Pep’s but Rodri’s, John Stones’, Bernardo Silva’s. No problem. There’s nothing that £350m can’t fix.

Unlike their rivals (Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea) City concentrated on the engine room and it seems to be ticking over nicely.

They’re also playing Haaland for longer and getting more out of him, and are a joy to watch.

But they may have an Achilles heel – in defence from the way Sunderland shook them – and that will have been noted. Kyle Walker has never been replaced.

But Enzo Maresca learnt at the knee of Pep and enjoyed success at Leicester and did a decent job at Chelsea until he and the club fell out.

He doesn’t seem fazed by following the Pied Piper.

With Arsenal’s defence and City’s attack, it has the makings of a mouthwatering title race.

With Liverpool and Chelsea both works in varying degrees of progress under bright young managers, it’s hard to see a serious challenge from either.

Teams of the moment are the unlikely duo of Brighton and Brentford.
Both of these so-called “small clubs” have spent most of their history struggling in the lower divisions.

But a data-driven global recruitment policy has taken them up the pyramid until a place in Europe beckons.

Brighton have been there before; Brentford missed it by a whisker in the final minute at Liverpool on the last day of the season.

But now they look even stronger.

Their recruitment is the envy of the bigger clubs who are often made to pay through the nose for stars the two clubs discover.

And massive credit must go to their managers, Fabian Hurzeler and Keith Andrews respectively.

With Aston Villa undergoing a massive revamp because of financial concerns, much of the break will be spent debating who will win the Sack Race.

Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi is the bookies’ favourite just ahead of Man United’s Michael Carrick.

According to the hype, they’ll be observing the pre-match ritual of ancient duellers when the two meet on October 10.

But with a host of other contenders on smaller contracts, they’re unlikely to be the first to feel the steel blade, whatever the result.

Spurs have committed too much money to De Zerbi’s cause – to his own lucrative five-year contract and the £300m plus to the squad – to wield the sword so soon.

And Jim Ratcliffe, for all his faults, is not a sacking owner. He stood by Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim for far too long and may be wary of a repeat with Carrick.

But the former Middlesbrough boss transformed the club last season, is still bedding in new signings – the biggest, Carlos Baleba, hasn’t kicked a ball yet – so deserves to stay at least until the transfer window.

Carrick’s lack of emotion is becoming his worst enemy – fans like to see a reaction, not a stiff upper lip.

And he knows the next three weeks would have been a lot worse but for that deflected late equaliser at Fulham.

Yup, there’s a lot riding on this season. The resumption can’t come soon enough.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.