Long gone are the days when Chelsea and Manchester United were pillars of the English top 4, and early signs this season point to a gradual loosening of their grip on the top 6 also. Their tepid starts have left the door ajar for a select group of candidates to make the step-up from mid-table mediocrity to the dizzying heights of 6th place and beyond. Here, we take a detailed look at the candidates in question.
Leicester City
As Wes Morgan lifted the Premier League trophy above his head in 2016, the same year Donald Trump took office, many of us began to wonder whether we were living in a simulation after all. Several faces remain from that legendary title win, however 9th place is the highest Leicester have managed since.
There is cause for optimism at the King Power however, as a stagnant period under quiet Frenchman Claude Puel has made way for the more exciting and expansive Brendan Rodgers. After their 5-0 thrashing of Newcastle this weekend Leicester sit 3rd in the table after losing just one of their opening seven matches.
A steady but effective rebuild has taken place after Leicester cashed in on title-winning protagonists N’golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater and Riyad Mahrez. These days they boast a young and exciting squad that Puel had got functioning, but it appears that Rodgers has the knowhow to really make them sing.
As crucial a player as he was, the departure of Kante has been partially offset by the emergence of the industrious Wilfred Ndidi (and that is some compliment). In Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Pereira they have a menacing set of attacking full-backs, with the latter bagging as many goals in his brief Leicester career as Christian Benteke has managed over the past three seasons. Youri Tielemans is a statement signing at £40m and represents a player who all European heavyweights have known about since he burst onto the scene with Anderlecht as a 16-year-old, and by all accounts Caglar Soyuncu is well equipped to fill Harry Maguire’s rather large boots in defence.
Under Rodgers, Leicester attack with pace and potency in a team laced with creators and goalscorers. James Maddison is showing remarkable consistency in how he influences games, and 32-year-old Jamie Vardy continues to go about his business effectively by averaging an impressive 19 Premier League goals over the past four seasons.
Leicester’s only loss so far came as a result of a Marcus Rashford penalty at Old Trafford, a game many expected them to win which shows the strength of their hand, or perhaps the relative weakness of United’s. Since then they have claimed a big-six scalp in beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, and look poised to push the Premier League’s big-guns all the way over the next eight months.
West Ham United
The Hammers are a prime example of a club on the up. Their stadium now boasts a capacity of 60,000, this summer saw them smash their transfer record to bring in £45m Sebastian Haller, and a Premier League winning manager sits in their dugout. Let’s not forget that 66-year-old Manuel Pellegrini has serious pedigree, including bringing a certain Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid back in 2008.
Last season’s 10th place finish was hampered by poor home form, likely due to the unfamiliarity of their new stadium. With such a talented squad however, you always got the sense that if this problem was solved, West Ham could kick on and cause some serious problems to teams higher up the table. Fans will be optimistic at this early stage as the Hammers sit in 4th place after 7 games, above Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and United.
If West Ham are to make the step up to the top 6 it is not going to be for the want of talent. Diminutive trickster Manuel Lanzini, man mountain Issa Diop and every fantasy football manager’s right-hand man Lukasz Fabianski delight fans every weekend. Andriy Yarmolenko looks to be the surprise package of the season, netting three times in his last four games after spending almost all of last season side-lined by injury. 20-year-old Declan Rice has racked up 75 appearances patrolling the base of the West Ham midfield and looks as though he has been doing it for a decade. Fans can take further optimism in the fact that Brazilian winger Felipe Anderson has shown flashes of brilliance whilst not yet displaying his talent on a consistent basis.
It is clear that all the ingredients are there for Pellegrini and his men to make the step up. Two wins from their opening three home games show a marked improvement on last campaign, with their only loss coming at the hands of champions Manchester City on the opening day. It is an unusually good start in East London, and the levels must continue if they are to throw a spanner in the works higher up the table.
Bournemouth
For a small south coast club who plied their trade in League 2 as recently as 2009 with Eddie Howe himself at the helm, what an unbelievable achievement it is for the club to not only be in the top flight but scaring the top 6.
This weekend’s 2-2 draw with fellow top 6 hopefuls West Ham leaves the Cherries in 7th place after 7 games, with impressive 3-1 victories this season coming at home against an expensively assembled Everton side and away at rivals Southampton.
In building this current squad, Howe has trawled through the subs benches of those higher up the table, as well as recruiting top talent from England’s lower leagues. Striker Callum Wilson, already with 4 goals to his name this season, was recruited back in 2014 from League 1 Coventry City – he is now a regular in Southgate’s England squad and has been heavily linked with Chelsea in the last two seasons. Nathan Ake made 7 league appearances in 5 years at Chelsea, these days he is among the league’s best centre-backs as Bournemouth slapped a £75m price tag on his head amid interest from Leicester this summer. There is no shortage of promising youngsters either with England International Lewis Cook returning from injury, whilst Welsh wizards David Brooks and Harry Wilson continue to light up the touchline, for the latter this looks like being his breakout season in the Premier League.
There is no doubt that these are dizzying heights for Bournemouth and that any top flight finish is commendable given the club’s recent history. However, given the standard of Chelsea, United and Arsenal at times, you have to give the Cherries an outside chance of toppling one of these sides based on the start they have made. Where do you want your statue, Eddie?
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