The Big 6 Review: GW7 brings firsts for two London clubs

With every Big 6 team winning their game except Manchester United, there’s a temptation to make them the subject of this piece. Chelsea and Spurs recorded firsts of their own, but Man Utd has continued to look like the worst of the lot. Let’s talk about it in this week’s Big 6 Review.

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Tottenham: First win of the season

It took Spurs seven games to record a win, but it has finally come. This game also saw James Maddison start his first league game of the season, after being sidelined with a severe injury.

Maddison scored to put his team ahead, contributing the first of three goals. Omar Marmoush and Ben Davies scored the rest, but not before Coventry City equalised to scare the home side.

Most importantly, Spurs and Coventry are now level on points, with both sitting one point behind Man United. By the end of Gameweek 8 next week, Man United’s position could look really ugly.

Arsenal: Sometimes scraping wins is all you need

Arsenal has not even been the second-best team in England this season, performance-wise. However, they have got better results than everyone except Man City, and so deserve to be second.

In another game that looked less than comfortable for Arsenal, Riccardo Calafiori and Bruno Guimaraes showed when they were needed the most. The Gunners remain three points behind the league leaders.

Man City: Haaland is getting into form

Haaland recorded only his second multi-goal haul of the league season. His first came in Gameweek 2. In the last week, however, Haaland has been on fire for Man City. He scored a brace in the Champions League to bring the scoreline to a more respectable 4-2, and continued with another brace against Ipswich.

City, for their part, are now seven wins from seven, though they have been hard-fought. Enzo Maresca will be very uncomfortable with Man City’s defending, but he’d soon have the international break to focus on it.

Manchester United: Weak

I’m sorry, but there was no other word I could use. Michael Carrick’s men looked off. Not only did Leeds have answers, but they were easy answers too. Man Utd fans are now calling for Carrick’s sack, and you cannot blame them.

READ ALSO: Fulham 1–1 Man United: Point gained or two lost?

With how Manchester United finished last season, everyone expected better. Especially with three new central midfielders. Carrick needs to start putting points on the board more consistently, otherwise he won’t get the time to implement whatever ideas he has.

Liverpool: 2 red cards, 3 points

Liverpool had two “extra” men on the pitch by the time the final whistle was blown. In the extra time of half-time, Brentford midfielder Yehor Yarmoliuk made a stupid move that earned him a red. Being one of the players responsible for stopping Liverpool’s attack, his absence helped the Reds.

As of then, the Bees were 1-0 up. The game predictably changed after the red, and by the 70th minute, Victor Munoz and Alexander Isak had put Andoni Iraola’s men ahead. It became Liverpool’s third win of the season, pushing the Reds to fifth.

Chelsea: Is that… defensive solidity?!

Chelsea had a very good game against Everton. It was their first clean sheet of the season. Moises Caicedo and Jordan Henderson were exceptional in distribution, but they didn’t do much defending, neither did they need to.

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Pedro Neto is not known for his goalscoring. Well… He hasn’t been at Chelsea, anyway. But it was he who produced a brace to push the Blues into the top four.

Chelsea’s win record with Henderson in the line-up is looking good. I did not expect it to.

The Premier League table is taking shape, and while you can expect it to continue changing, you can also see those that’d struggle. If Chelsea continues like this, they’d keep climbing up the table, and may even challenge for the title. There’s still room for improvement for all Big 6 sides, but again, the season is young.

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