5 hours ago
3
Liverpool might have kicked off the new Premier League season as the favorite to win the title, but it is by no means the only side capable of doing enough to get over the finish line first.
In Arsenal, there is a team now perennially used to coming second, hoping that Martin Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze, and Viktor Gyokeres will be enough to make the difference. And Manchester City, a team that struggled last season, is expected to bounce back.
Others could enter the equation: Chelsea hammered a dire West Ham United on Friday but could only draw with Crystal Palace on the opening weekend of the campaign. Spurs, meanwhile, look good under Thomas Frank, but perhaps lack depth.
In most people's eyes, though, it will be one of Liverpool, Arsenal, or Manchester City that goes all the way. There might even be a proper title race, which wasn't there last season.
Liverpool must sort out its own issues before looking to anyone else, of course. Arne Slot will know his team cannot be as open as it was against Bournemouth just over a week ago, and he needs to sign some more attacking depth before the deadline arrives.
But there are already clues emerging about what each of Arsenal and Manchester City might look like moving forward. Pep Guardiola's team has already had mixed results.
Arsenal didn't look that convincing on the opening weekend, and Liverpool looked wide open at the back when Bournemouth countered. Both sides, you would expect, will improve as the weeks go by.
But Manchester City, though it won 4-0 at Wolves a week ago, was then deservedly beaten at home to Tottenham on matchday two.
"The final third is really good," Guardiola said on TNT Sports. "We control the transitions. The result is not good. It is a long, long way, and we will learn from that."
It must be something of a concern, however, that in an attacking sense, Manchester City looked a little disjointed. Meanwhile, on the counter-attack, it faced similar problems to last season.
Granted, Manchester City will not face a team as effective as Spurs on the counter every week, but there was space left in behind its defense that dangerous forwards will be able to exploit.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Next weekend, for instance, Manchester City travels away to Brighton. Between the first and second international breaks of the season, it has both Manchester United (at home) and Arsenal (away), as well as Burnley.
That is a relatively tricky run in which we should learn plenty about just how much the transfers that Guardiola has made have actually improved upon and changed the weaknesses that were exploited regularly last season.
In net terms, Liverpool and Arsenal have spent similar amounts of money so far this summer, before developments happen involving the likes of Eze, Alexander Isak, and those who could be sold, like Harvey Elliott.
Quietly, Manchester City has spent the most in 2025, splashing about as much as Liverpool and Arsenal have — net — in January alone. Guardiola's side has then gone again this summer for the likes of Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Ait Nouri.
In total, that is a net spend of around $388 million (£287 million) from the Etihad side in the calendar year. By the end of September — six games in — we should have the answer on whether it has made a telling difference.
English (US) ·