So, the start of the Premier League season hasn’t gone too well for a number of clubs – and they’re not all the perennial strugglers you might expect.
For while you would think Everton and Bournemouth may be among the lower echelons, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Chelsea all find themselves in the bottom half of the table, five games in.
That was not what the SBOTOP Premier League betting odds ordered.
A handful of teams have some mitigating factors but not many, particularly the Red Devils and the west Londoners.
Following their last-day survival, the Toffees’ failure to strengthen this summer always suggested they would struggle again but a seemingly encouraging run of early fixtures provided an opportunity to get points on the board.
While an opening weekend defeat at home to Fulham showed some signs of improvement but.no end product, the next week’s capitulation at Aston Villa was a reminder of their vulnerability.
When they then dominated for spells at home again only to go down to a late goal against Wolves, the natives were really getting restless.
A 2-2 draw at Sheffield United preceded the first international break of the season before a new striker made his home debut against Arsenal on Sunday.
Given what had gone before, the home team could be forgiven for being obstinate with zero ambition but one piercing move and stylish finish from the substitute Leandro Trossard sufficed for a first win at Goodison Park in almost six years.
It was another galling afternoon for Sean Dyche as his side succumbed to a third 1-0 defeat in three home matches. A struggling Everton have now lost four of their opening five games for the first time since 2005-06 and the manager can be thankful that the wantaway owner Farhad Moshiri is unlikely to contemplate another change at the top.
Everton’s performances do not warrant such talk. Indeed, Dyche needs to be backed and can organise his troops.
Yet their woeful run of results would have undoubtedly tested Moshiri’s patience back in the day when he had the resources and ambition to demand better. The next run of games for them appears pivotal to what level of struggle awaits.
Of course, Everton are far from the only big club struggling, even if their light is more predictable.
All is not well for the Red Devils right now with uncharacteristic defensive errors (not just from defenders) combined with injuries to key players, proving far from helpful.
Luck has not been on their side since an opening victory over Wolves – when fortune did favour them – and some players are still to find their groove, yet despite some negative media, there appears to be some be genuine quality and much more can be rightly expected.
Likewise, Newcastle have yet to settle fully but have had a really testing run of fixtures in which they should gave gained more points than they did.
On Sunday there was a meeting between Bournemouth and Chelsea, the big spenders from west London.
After four points from the opening four matches, Chelsea needed a win, something that represented a spark. Instead, there was only frustration and even fewer Premier League highlights.
Raheem Sterling hit the underside of the crossbar with a free-kick at the start of the second half but there were not too many regrets in terms of glaring missed chances as they threatened in a vague and increasingly empty sort of way.
Bournemouth will take the point, especially as they were in containment mode for the majority, although they did almost nick something late on as things became more open.
What manager Mauricio Pochettino wanted to highlight was the long list of injured and unavailable players; it was up to 12 on the south coast with Moises Caicedo (knee), Marc Cucurella (illness) and Noni Madueke (muscular) the latest additions.
Chelsea might have spent around a billion pounds on new signings under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali but nothing can insulate a manager from this volume of absentees. He had only three players on the bench who had kicked a ball for the club.
While their lacklustre start to the campaign continued with the first goalless draw of the new Premier League season, it should be noted the Cherries are yet to win in the league under Andoni Iraola.
Gary O’Neil helped keep Bournemouth up last season but was replaced this summer by highly-regarded Iraola who has become only the second Spanish manager to remain winless in his first five Premier League games, after Pepe Mel at West Brom in 2014.
This is Bournemouth’s first time not winning any of their first five league games since 2008-09 when they were in League Two.
The omens don’t sound too healthy but the jury remains out, just as it does for Everton, Chelsea and the United’s of Manchester and Newcastle.
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