Sports
Assessing every London side’s start to the 2023-24 Premier League season
The 2023-24 Premier League season is well underway, and at the time of writing, it is a battle between local rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the top of the table.
It has been a dream start to the campaign for both Spurs and the Gunners, but whether or not they can maintain it for the entirety of the season remains to be seen.
If either Ange Postecoglou or Mikel Arteta’s side could go on to win the title, it would be the first time since Chelsea’s success under Antonio Conte in 2017 that the famous piece of silverware returned to London.
The capital is by far the best-represented city in the top flight, with seven London clubs currently plying their trade in the Premier League. That said, let’s take a look at all of their respective starts to the season.
Tottenham Hotspur
Not many people gave Spurs a chance back in the offseason, even more so when Harry Kane left. But Postecoglou is working wonders at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The North London side are unbeaten after nine games, with seven wins and two draws. They are two points clear of Arsenal.
Spurs’ standout results to this point are the 2-0 win over Manchester United, the 2-2 with the Gunners and the 2-1 win over Liverpool.
Arsenal
You could forgive Arteta if he was still ruing a massive missed opportunity to win the Premier League last season. Instead, he has picked his players up and the Gunners are looking hungrier than ever.
It was another busy summer at the Emirates, with Declan Rice the marquee signing at a club-record fee of £105 million. But he could be the difference in making this a title-winning side.
Arsenal have won six and drawn three at this stage, with their recent 1-0 win over Manchester City a massive statement.
West Ham United
The Europa Conference League success spared West Ham their blushes last season. But many thought that merely papered the cracks, and David Moyes’ side were tipped to struggle once again.
A quiet transfer window, in which they lost Rice to Arsenal, sprung to life late on, and James Ward-Prowse looks like an inspired signing.
The Hammers are currently ninth with four wins, two draws and three defeats.
Crystal Palace
Roy Hodgson returned to Crystal Palace in March when they were just three points above the relegation zone, and he turned around their fortunes to secure an 11th-place finish.
However, they were still expected to struggle under the guidance of the oldest manager in the league this season.
That hasn’t been the case though, as the Eagles are 11th having won three, drawn three and lost three.
Chelsea
Mauricio Pochettino restored fresh optimism in his Chelsea side before the start of the season, but it took them a while to get going.
The Blues had just a solitary win over Luton Town after their first six games of the campaign, with defeats to Aston Villa, Nottingham Forrest and West Ham far from good enough.
The West London side did win two in a row prior to the international break and drew with Arsenal last weekend. They will be hoping to kick on against the Bees, as they’re the heavy favourites in the Chelsea v Brentford odds.
Fulham
Fulham are arguably exactly where you would expect them to be at this point of the season, if not slightly better off.
Marco Silva’s men were a respectable 10th last season, and they are on course to thereabouts in midtable again this season, in 13th.
The Cottagers have won three, drawn two and lost four of their eight games to date, and perhaps just need to find a bit more consistency.
Brentford
After two solid seasons back in the top flight, finishing 13th in 2021-22 and ninth in 2022-23, Brentford have not started this campaign as well as they would have hoped.
The Bees are, of course, without their talisman Ivan Toney, and they might be missing him more than people expected.
Thomas Frank’s side have won just twice all season when beating Fulham and Burnley, drawing four and losing three.
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