Stunning change – Suggests Premier League moving in very different direction | OneFootball

Three more matches to go in this latest round of Premier League matches.

Villa v Fulham and Newcastle v Arsenal today, then Everton v West Ham on Monday night.

After just over six weeks of the Premier League season, that will be 60 matches played by then.

So what have we learnt?

I want to focus on how many matches each of the Premier League teams have won so far this season.

First of all though, here is a look at recent seasons, these are the Premier League clubs that won four or more out of their opening six PL games.

Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Villa

Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Villa Brighton, Tottenham

2022/23

Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Villa, Chelsea

2021/22

Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, Everton, Brighton

So six Premier League teams won four or more of their first half dozen PL matches in 2021/22, then five teams did it in 2022/23, six in 2023/24 and five in 2024/25.

So what about this season, Premier League teams winning games in 2025/26?

As you can see, if Arsenal fail to win at St James’ Park this afternoon, then only Liverpool will have won more than half of their six opening Premier League matches.

How mad is that?

When you compare it what has been the case in previous seasons, we got so used to a number of teams being dominant over the rest.

Even more bizarre is that it could and should have been no Premier League teams at all having won more than three of their opening six, when you take into account the outrageous luck Liverpool have enjoyed, until yesterday at Palace….

Late, sometimes very late, winners for Liverpool against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Burnley and Arsenal, whilst they end up hanging on for a win against Everton.

It isn’t just the results for the Premier League teams this season, watching the matches, I have rarely seen games where I thought this looks easy for any team in a match.

Personally, I don’t think any of the current 20 teams are all that. I think there are a lot good teams, some very good, but we haven’t got anything close to the very best Premier League teams of the past who absolutely were levels above all/almost all of the rest. Such as say Man City when at their most dominant under Pep, where you were amazed if they drew a game, never mind lost.

So why the change? What do these opening six rounds of matches tell us?

We have just seen a transfer window that has smashed all previous records.

The likes of Liverpool have spent a crazy amount of money BUT it is the Premier League clubs as a whole where the real story is I think.

Due to the financial dominance of the Premier League, we saw the 20 Premier League clubs spend more on new signings that all of the combined 76 clubs in the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga and Serie A.

With yet another huge rise in TV money now kicking in this season, especially due to overseas deals continuing to soar, it means all 20 Premier League clubs have massive amounts of money to spend. So they can go shopping on the continent and take away so many of the best players from these league, as well as  lot of other very good ones.

The gap between the elite and the rest has seriously decreased.

Well run ‘smaller’ clubs with talented managers can get results against anyone on their day, just look at Bournemouth for example. They get crowds of 11,000 and yet are competitive on and off the pitch.

At the end of this season, the Premier League club that will bank the least amount of money out of the 20 teams, from the TV deals, will get more cash than all but a handful on the continent will get from their domestic TV deals.

Then when you factor in that the better performing Premier League teams then have European matches to contend with as well, that also helps things get even more competitive when those sides play midweek and then have less preparation and rest time compared to those not in European competition.