EPL’s alive as Arsenal win at Anfield, United sink deeper and Brighton make history

THE leadership at the Premier League office must be smiling from ear to ear.

Yes, they have a headache in the form of Manchester City’s impending punishment, but they will take their own sweet time announcing it, as this could become the greatest and most competitive Premier League season in history.​

The top two from last season are still first and second in the league’s table, but beneath the surface, the competition is getting stronger.

Clubs such as Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth are showing that they are here to compete. Even Chelsea are trying to make the league table look interesting.​

For the first time in 14 years, Arsenal recorded a Premier League victory at Anfield. It took the Gunners a lot of heart and defensive solidarity to put Mikel Arteta in a happy mood.

Arsenal arrived at Merseyside with the swagger of champions, as they showed in the first 15 minutes, scoring early from a lovely overlap and cross by Declan Rice for Kai Havertz to finish.

That goal allowed the Gunners to set up how they wanted and limit the space behind for Alexander Isak, Bradley Barcola and Cody Gakpo to run into.

With both Ezri Konsa and Gabriel Magalhaes having a stellar game, Liverpool did not register a single shot on target.

You would never think that such things could happen at Anfield.​

Andoni Iraola has plenty to ponder, but one thing is clear: Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai cannot play in the same midfield at the same time.

Liverpool were better off with Trey Nyoni sitting at the base of midfield. Funny that Liverpool’s best player of the night was a 19-year-old.

Iraola now must decide the best way to set up with Wirtz or Szoboszlai as part of the midfield three.​

Manchester City suffered their second consecutive defeat under Enzo Maresca.

Brighton put their midweek League Cup defeat behind them to secure all three points at the Etihad.

Scoring within the first 16 minutes was enough to secure victory as the team showed togetherness to stem relentless attacks from City.

Brighton were deserved winners as they kept Erling Haaland in check and recorded their first away win at City.​

Maresca now has a tactical problem as he has midfielders and wide forwards in abundance but no striker. This made it hard to play two up front to support Haaland as the Norwegian was kept in the pocket of Lewis Dunk.

Maresca is lucky that Haaland is free from injury so far because without him, City would be blunt up front. No reason to panic yet as City’s squad are still formidable.​

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea proved to Manchester United that fitness matters. A better second-half performance resulted in a 2-0 victory for Xabi Alonso’s side. Michael Carrick dismissed United’s running stats as irrelevant, but football is a 90-minute game, fitness matters. United were competitive in the first half but could not keep up in the second.

The United defence parted like Moses parted the Red Sea as Morgan Rogers walked past them all to score the opener.

Lisandro Martinez lost his head, conceding a reckless foul to give Cole Palmer a chance from the spot that you knew he would never miss.

At this point, the United squad are sabotaging Carrick and playing for themselves instead of the badge.

No one expects Carrick to survive now, but the question is which manager could save this squad.

Even if you put Pep Guardiola or Juergen Klopp in charge, they probably would fail too.

This United team are poisoned to the core, from the management to the players.

United now sit one spot above the relegation zone, and with fixtures against Aston Villa and Liverpool coming up, a relegation fight is very real for these men.

This is what makes the Premier League so fascinating. You have giants like United fighting at the bottom; something that would never cross anyone’s mind over the last 13 seasons.​

Tottenham won their third game in a row to continue their revival after a horrendous start.

Set pieces were the difference-maker this week as Spurs fans, for once, got to enjoy a victory at their own stadium.

Things are looking good for Roberto De Zerbi as his club continue to climb the league table.

They are currently in eighth, just three points away from a Champions League spot.

Unthinkable after the start that Spurs had.

Watch this Spurs side go further as the season progresses.​

We are just one gameweek away from that point, but the league table is already taking shape.

Will we see the impossible this season: Manchester United relegated or Brighton winning the Premier League?

Regardless, it shows how competitive the league is, which is great for the competition overall.