The first international break of the new season has arrived, and although the two-week break is longer than any previous autumn hiatus, it does serve as the only pause in the domestic campaign until November.
More than two weeks before another Premier League ball is kicked in anger, and this gives plenty of time for the latest narratives in the division to marinate. Who is riding the crest of a wave during the lengthy pause and who is already sweating due to poor results?
The table may only be taking its first shape of the season, but pressure does not wait for the league to settle. Early results can quickly become expectations, doubts can become questions, and questions can become something much harder to shift.
With the Premier League temporarily on hold, this is the perfect moment to take stock of where the pressure is building, where it is easing and which early-season narratives might have something more substantial behind them.
MARESCA PLUG AND PLAY
Manchester City have found the first serious daylight in the Premier League table, and although they were made to work for their win over Sunderland, the weekend ended up being the perfect combination of results for Enzo Maresca’s men.
Enzo Maresca is arguably reaping the rewards of inheriting such a well-drilled team from Pep Guardiola. The personnel may have changed slightly over the summer, but the core principles of this Manchester City side remain firmly intact.
This generates similarities to when Arne Slot took over as Liverpool manager at the start of the 2024/25 season. The groundwork laid by Jurgen Klopp beforehand, the Dutchman’s first campaign in charge could hardly have been any easier.
On Merseyside there was a sense of achieving success by just carrying on the methods of before. In the blue half of Manchester, that could be the best way to go about returning the Etihad outfit to the Premier League summit next May.
Admittedly, that may do current boss Maresca something of a disservice, but if he does go on to lead City to the title, observers will have every right to ask just how much of a job he actually had to do in order to win it and how much was simply just spending his inheritance.
SEAGULL’S SWEET SIXTEEN
Brighton go into the international break as the division’s top scorers, and they do so with 16 goals to their name. 16 goals in just five league matches. Fabian Hurzeler’s side are averaging an impressive 3.2 goals per game at the start of the season.
While they are finding those numbers without simply just rolling over cannon fodder. Admittedly, their 5-0 thumping of Coventry would have helped boost their tally, but they have also recorded three goals against Arsenal and Chelsea.
Not only that, but their 4-0 win over Aston Villa on the opening weekend of the campaign should not be overlooked either. Nor should their 1-1 draw with fellow unbeaten outfit Leeds – an output that looks rather minuscule when compared to other results.
As always with Brighton, the discussion will be framed around what their ceiling is and with the way that they have started, anything less than European qualification will be seen as a disappointment. Then again, it might not.
Because the East Sussex outfit are one of three clubs that seem to have no pressure attached to them, everything comes out of the wash as fine for themselves, Bournemouth and Brentford, and that leads us to the next narrative.
BEES STILL BUZZING
After missing out on European qualification in May, there was always a sense of whether Brentford would feel severe deflation at the start of this season and with the run of results that they have generated under Keith Andrews, it is clear to see that has not been the case.
The Bees’ unbeaten start to this new campaign continued with an impressive 3-0 win over Chelsea – the same score that they stung Tottenham for on the opening weekend and with the GTech Community Stadium seemingly a fortress, no other big six members will be keen to go there.
Brentford will be keen to pick up from where they left off after the international break. In a sense, this extended pause is perhaps the worst thing they could have wished for. The club now has to cool off after heating up at the expense of their West London rivals.
The fact that they brushed aside Chelsea with ease on Friday should not be considered a fluke, nor should their current fourth-place in the Premier League table – a standing that has not simply come about due to attacking output.
Although it would be easy to look at their 10 goals as the by-product of such a bright start, conceding four goals at the other end is just as, if not more, important right now. Both tactical elements are doing precisely what is required under Keith Andrews; Brentford are one of the best teams to watch right now.
SPURS SITTING BOTTOM
After surviving relegation on the final day of last season, Tottenham did something rather alien to them. They loosened their purse strings to a level that has never been seen before and, in doing so, optimism was rather high in the white half of North London over the summer.
That optimism has turned into pessimism and for good reason, Spurs still searching for their first league win of the campaign and that prolonged search now sees them sit bottom of the table going into the international break.
A team that went more than four and a half league games without a goal this season, a team that has too many moving parts for Roberto De Zerbi to currently assemble and with so many new arrivals into N17, it is fair to say that the Italian does not know his best starting eleven.
A new backline that is doing nothing towards gelling at present, Sandro Tonali’s £100m price tag being laughed at by Newcastle supporters after he departed Tyneside just a couple of months ago, and neither Dominic Solanke nor Omar Marmoush have scored this season.
The summer was meant to be a lesson learned by the club from top to bottom, an acknowledgement that the approach which had left them fighting relegation needed to change. Instead, Spurs have spent heavily without yet finding any evidence that the fundamental problems have been solved.
There is still plenty of time for De Zerbi to find the right formula, but the international break arrives at an awkward moment for Spurs. With the optimism of the summer already replaced by questions over recruitment, balance and whether this collection of players can actually function as a team.
For all the money spent, Tottenham currently look like a side still searching for an identity. And having spent so much to avoid another season of struggle, that is a particularly uncomfortable place to be. Can they solve the issue by the time November’s international break comes around?
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Have Manchester United fallen into the interim trap once again? Michael Carrick certainly earned the right to be the permanent manager of the club after last season’s uptick in results. Unfortunately for the Red Devils, he is yet to repeat the form that got him the role in the first place.
Is Chelsea’s chaos going to cost them in the long run? Nobody can accuse the Blues of being boring under new manager Xabi Alonso, but maybe a bit of boredom would help them when it comes to trying to get points on the board. That or a replacement for Enzo Fernandez in January.
Can Leeds continue their bright start to the campaign? There do not seem to be any signs of second-season syndrome at Elland Road as Daniel Farke’s men are currently unbeaten. If Dominic Calvert-Lewin can stay in the goals and, more importantly, injury-free, then all signs point to yes.
