Five matchweeks into the season and the Premier League has already produced enough drama to fuel a month of hot takes. Arsenal lost for the first time in their title defence, beaten 3-0 at Brighton. Brentford put five past Chelsea. And Manchester United wobbled again, this time in London against Fulham. Naturally, the conclusions have come thick and fast. Let's check a few of them against what's actually happened.
Manchester City look unstoppable
Enzo Maresca's first weeks as Pep Guardiola's successor have gone about as well as they could. Sunday's 5-3 win over Sunderland made it five wins from five in the league, and with Champions League and Carabao Cup victories over Porto and Norwich City added in, City have won all seven games they've played this season.
But this isn't the all-conquering City of old. The squad has turned over heavily, it's been two years since their last league title, and the tactical trends in the division have shifted away from the Guardiola blueprint. A month ago, plenty of pre-season predictions had City finishing below Manchester United or missing the top four entirely. Since then, they've strengthened the midfield with Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi alongside Elliot Anderson, and Iliman Ndiaye has settled in quickly after his deadline-day move from Everton.
Even so, City needed a late fightback to beat Bournemouth, were fortunate to see off newly promoted Coventry, and didn't convince in the Manchester derby until Phil Foden's red card changed the game (a moment further complicated by VAR controversy over the winning goal). Their most complete display came against Crystal Palace, who look set for a tough season regardless. City are strong title contenders under Maresca, but 'unstoppable' oversells what's been, at times, a scrappy run to seven straight wins.
Arsenal have been found out
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal have never been the kind of team that blows opponents away, relying instead on a hard-nosed, streetwise approach that grinds out results. So Brighton's 3-0 win at the Amex, in a game Fabian Hurzeler's side could have won by more, stood out as a shock.
One bad afternoon doesn't undo an otherwise strong start, though. Arsenal ground out wins at Aston Villa and Sunderland, fixtures that yielded just one combined point last season, and came from behind to beat a confident Chelsea. Outside of the Brighton defeat, there's been no easy day for them in the opening five rounds.
There will inevitably be talk of Hurzeler cracking a 'blueprint' that other sides will try to copy after the international break. But Brighton are a settled, sharply drilled team with a clear identity under a secure manager, and there aren't many of those around. Brentford, Leeds and Sunderland have also impressed lately for similar reasons. Whether many other teams, including a struggling Manchester United, could reproduce Brighton's result against Arsenal is a different question entirely.
This is the worst ever Manchester United
Gary Neville's on-air verdict that United's grim second-half collapse against Fulham, where Senne Lammens and Lisandro Martinez both had shaky moments, made this the worst United side ever, is the kind of thing said in the heat of a bad afternoon.
History offers plenty of competition for that title: a 4-0 loss at Brentford and 7-0 at Anfield under Erik ten Hag, 4-0 at Everton under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the entire Ruben Amorim spell, and a first derby defeat to Manchester City in 13 years back in 2002, a result Neville himself was part of.
United are clearly struggling, and there's reason to worry that new manager Michael Carrick could face the same kind of difficult autumn that swallowed Solskjaer, Ten Hag and Amorim before him. But the underlying numbers tell a more complicated story. According to Opta, United have had more touches in the opposition penalty area than any other team this season, and have allowed the fewest touches in their own box. They've been poor at times, but arguably unlucky too.
United finished third last season despite all their problems, a reminder that the bar for top-four contention in the Premier League isn't as high as its reputation suggests. Nobody is predicting a title challenge from Old Trafford this season. The realistic aim, on this evidence, is simply to finish above Aston Villa.
