With Arsenal grabbing hold of the title race from a faltering Liverpool, Manchester United finally hitting their stride, Sunderland’s last minute winner and three established Premier League teams struggling in the relegation zone, the world’s top soccer league continues to bring shocks and excitement only a quarter of the way through the season.

The game of the week: Sunderland comes from behind to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

Forward Alejandro Garnacho scored his first goal for Chelsea in the fourth minute, but that was not enough to secure a win against a Sunderland team that continues to impress. So far, this Premier League season has been all about skilled set pieces, and Sunderland showed that by launching a long throw in deep into Chelsea’s six-yard box, which was flicked on defender Dan Ballard, leading to chaos in the box and forward Wilson Isidor scoring from close range to level the score at 1-1. Chelsea had chances to score from Garnacho as well as midfielder Enzo Fernández, but the game remained level until the 93rd minute. A long ball was launched toward the Chelsea goal, in which forward Brian Brobbery was able to hold it up until forward Chemsdine Talbi arrived to place the ball beautifully into the bottom corner and win the game for Sunderland, sending the away fans into pure ecstasy. The Black Cats moved up to fourth in the Premier League table, an astonishing achievement by manager Régis Le Bris.

The relegation battle

With the season being a quarter of the way through, a clear picture of the teams in danger of relegation is beginning to form.

Nottingham Forest**: **Manager Ange Postecoglou was fired 39 days after being appointed, following a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea. This was the second shortest managerial reign in Premier League history, an absolute disaster for a team that finished seventh last season. As a result, Sean Dyche was hired to bring a style back to Forest, similar to Nuno Espírito Santo’s. Known for his counter attacking and set-piece heavy tactics, he also kept Burnley in the Premier League for almost a decade — a big achievement. However, The Reds were condemned to their fourth straight defeat Oct. 26 after losing 2-0 to A.F.C Bournemouth, leaving them in 19th place with six points after 10 games played.

West Ham United**: **In the case of the East London team, former manager of Nottingham Forest, Santo, was brought in following the firing of Graham Potter, who led the Hammers to one win and four losses in their first five games. However, since the appointment of Santo, West Ham have won a game, drawn one and lost three fixtures. Losses at home to Brentford and away to newly-promoted Leeds puts the Hammers in serious danger of becoming a relegation contender. Considering West Ham have also conceded the second most goals in the league at 21, it is simply not sustainable long term to continue relying on their best player, captain and forward Jarrod Bowen, leaving Santo with much to consider over the next few game weeks, as West Ham is in 18th, with only two wins and one draw in 10 matches.

Wolverhampton Wanderers**: **The wolves might have the most disappointing downfall of any team facing potential relegation this season. From being one of the most exciting teams in the Premier League under Santo (yet again) from 2018-20, fans of the Midlands club have seen their owners sell their best players year after year, replacing them for cheaper alternatives. This season it seems like its luck has finally run out. Nothing sums up Wolves’ current form as much as their recent two fixtures, in which newly-signed Ladislav Krejčí put the ball into his own net as Sunderland defeated Wolves 2-0, conceding a 95th-minute winner to Burnley at home after coming back from 2-0 down, or losing 3-0 away to Fulham on matchweek 10, with January signing Emmanuel Agbadou getting a red card in the process. Wolverhampton Wanderers remain 20th after 10 games played with zero wins, two draws and eight defeats.

**Liverpool nightmare start **

Liverpool has had an interesting start almost 10 weeks in, but not in the way everyone expected. Liverpool has struggled to find form with a 6-0-4 slate, with recent upsets from Brentford’s 3-2 win against the Mighty Reds and a 2-1 loss to Manchester United. With star-studded transferees for their offense in midfielder Florian Wirtz, forward Alexander Isak and forward Hugo Ekitike, the team has faced struggles finding the net, especially with Isak going down with an injury before the most recent Brentford fixture. The defense has also had its fair share of struggles, conceding 14 goals in its first nine matches of the season. With only nine match weeks in the Premier League season, we can never count out Liverpool to win it all again at the end of the season, even if they are seven points behind current Premier League leaders, Arsenal.

**Arsenal’s dream start **

Arsenal couldn’t ask for a better start to its 2025-26 campaign. Six points clear from Manchester City at the top of the table, Arsenal has had seven consecutive wins without conceding a goal. Goalkeeper David Raya is leading the way with defenders Myles Lewis-Skelly, Riccardo Calafiori, Jurrien Timber and Gabriel Magalhães in the backfield. Arsenal have shown promise in their offense and defense, but in the past have struggled to keep consistency as the season progresses whenever they start on top. The Gunners hope to change their recurring story, and finally win England’s Grand Old league.

Manchester United finally finding its form?

Manchester United has struggled to find its identity since Ruben Amorim’s takeover in November 2024, but has had one of the better starts to its season in a while with a 5-2-3 slate being eighth in table. Manchester United have won three straight fixtures in impressive fashions beating Brighton 4-2, Liverpool 2-1 and Sunderland 2-0 before taking a draw against Nottingham Forest. With Amorim’s back against the wall this season, we can expect Manchester United to score some impressive wins and questionable losses and draws, their story for the last few years. Forward Bryan Mbeumo and midfielder Bruno Fernandes have led scoring with six goals combined through 10 matches played. Mbeumo as a newcomer looks to be Manchester United’s new main guy and hopes to keep form as they progress throughout the season and hopefully contend for a Europa League, Conference League or even possibly a Champions League spot.

Takeaways

With Arsenal clear at the top by six points for now, the race still remains tight with Manchester City at second — Liverpool just behind them in third with one point separating the two teams and Sunderland sitting in fourth. No one would have expected this top four beginning of the season, but it seems we’re going to witness a crazy, tight season until the end.