Watch Out Liverpool, Arsenal & Manchester United your Champions League spots might be taken by the likes of Tottenham and Everton.

The new season has started and it’s already a freak show. Manchester United has lost to Swansea and drew the remaining two matches of the first three matches. Arsenal have drawn two out of their first three matches while Liverpool just won against Southampton, lost to City but won against Spurs. These teams were supposed to be winning all the starting matches coming into the new season. The preconceived big clubs have not exactly hit the Premiere League running. Manchester United have had the worst start of these three drawing two and losing one of the matches of which they were expected to win all. Arsenal meanwhile drew against Everton at the last moment and drew against newly promoted Leicester City. They could easily have lost against Everton but for the resilience shown by the whole team which was missing in the recent seasons. Liverpool has had the better results as compared to the other two ‘Big’ clubs. They lost to a City side which arguably has one of the best teams of the league with Chelsea but they were not impressive against a new Southampton side that had lost their best players in the firesale. Ironically two of them were playing for Liverpool against them.
This came as a big surprise to most of the fans as all the three clubs were expected to start the season with a bang. Manchester United has suffered the most by losing points to teams they would have steamrolled in Sir Alex Ferguson’s time. They had come into the Premiere League high on confidence after their perfect preseason in which they adapted to the new formation like a duck to the water. The new manager also bought a lot of confidence to the fans due to his strong personality, amazing CV and a great showing by a pretty average Netherlands team at the world Cup. The PL matches showed why it is the most entertaining league in the world by throwing a spanner in Manchester United’s plans by not only giving them a fight but actually showing how uncomfortable they are with the new formation. If Manchester United don’t improve soon they are surely going to lose the Champions League spot which must be the minimum expectation from Louis Van Gaal.
Arsenal had a pretty good preseason and a great transfer window. Alexis Sanchez came to Arsenal from Barcelona for 33m pounds as the next star in the already great and settled line up at Arsenal. He joins the likes of Ozil, Cazorla and Ramsey in the star studded line up. He was also followed by Ospina from the French League to give competition to Wojciech in the goalkeeping department. This transfer window showed the changing times at Arsenal where earlier the spending used to be minimal but now they are attracting established stars like Sanchez. After such a great window and coming back of Ramsey from the injury Arsenal should have easily won. This was not to be as they just snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat against Everton at the last minute thanks to Ramsey and Giroud. They even drew against a team which just got promoted whereas they should have won it easily. If they don’t gear up quickly enough they might lose their Champions League spot which has been a guarantee since Arsene Wenger is there.
Liverpool had a good start considering they lost their best player to Barcelona in the transfer window but the results flatter to deceive. Liverpool won the match against Southampton at the last minute and could easily have drawn the match or even lost it had Southampton been a bit lucky. They have bought two of Southampton’s best players in Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert to cushion the blow of losing Suarez. They also bought a controversial but talented figure to replace Suarez in Mario Balotelli. Balotelli can be really good but due to his unpredictable nature can result in not only missing from the match but also create a havoc at the club. Liverpool lost against a City side which well looks like it’s hard to stop them. Liverpool must be careful and improve their performances or the results could easily go the other way. Liverpool right now look more settled to retain their Champions League spot but they could easily lose their way.
Tottenham started the fire sale at Southampton by taking their most important asset in their manager Mauricio Pocchetino. Tottenham look much better with Pocchetino at helm and they look a much more cohesive team than last season. Emanuel Adebayor looks rejuvenated and not only he looks happy but also much more dangerous while playing under Pocchetino than he ever did under Tim Sherwood or Villas Boas. Tottenham look very much settled with the high pressing tactic which is a trademark of Pocchetino. They looked very dangerous in their first two matches even though they lost their third one quite miserably against arguably the team they are fighting for the Champions League in Liverpool. If they keep up the good work and stars like Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen keep shining they could oust one of the Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to the Champions League spot.
Everton broke their transfer record and shocked the premiere league by buying Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea for 28mn pound. This came as a shock as Everton had been the most frugal club in recent seasons and mostly lost their stars to the bigger teams but still got their spot in the top eight. Everton are looking a much dangerous team under Roberto Martinez than they ever looked under David Moyes. During Moyes reign they always were the team which looked the hardest to beat but Martinez has not only kept that quality but added an attacking bite to the team. Lukaku might not have scored but his work for the team and the danger he possess for the opposing teams is showing what a good investment he is going to be. The signing of Gareth Barry has added solidity in the middle and they also got him for free. Everton lost against Chelsea in one of the highest scoring matches in the PL but it showed the fight they gave Chelsea and how they could have easily won that match if some moments had gone their way. Everton look a really good bet for the fourth Champions League spot if they continue on their good performances