EPL 2017/18: What three weeks of Premier league football tell us about last season's top six 

Tottenham Hotspur

Kane is yet to score in the new campaign

Mauricio Pochettino is having to contend with a host of hoodoos. After his side dispatched Newcastle in the opening week of the season, the curse of Wembley seems to haunt Spurs again. A move away from White Hart Lane (mandated by the need for a new stadium which is currently being built) to the national stadium, where Spurs have managed just two wins from 11 games since 2007, has proven to be daunting.

A mouthwatering clash against Chelsea in the second week saw Spurs huff and puff only to be dispatched by two classy Marcos Alonso goals.

A regathered Pochettino side was dealt further misery against Burnley who snatched an injury time equaliser in Spurs' new home. Not as if the demons at Wembley weren't enough, Spurs have had to contend with their talisman Harry Kane still being unable to score in the month of August in the Premier League.

Spurs might yet shrug off the superstitions and come into their own as the season progresses but Pochettino's men have got to stop dropping points considering they always seem to fall short in their title pursuit.

Having sealed the signing of highly rated defender Davinson Sánchez from Ajax, Pochettino has spoken of making further additions to his side that lost right-back Kyle Walker over the summer. New inclusions will give the Lillywhites much-needed depth but they need to hit the ground running fast.

Another season of 'coming close' to the title will be a superstition that Pochettino's men might not be able to contend with.

Arsenal

Arsene Wenger with more to ponder over the international break

If there ever was an amusement park for clubs, Arsenal and its fans would often ride the rollercoaster for the sake of familiarity. An enthralling 4-3 win on opening day saw a pumped Emirates beaming with hope at the dawn of the new season. Lacazette wrote the headlines for the Gunners who made a buoyant come back to get the better of a spirited Leicester.

However, much of the opening day euphoria perished after Stoke's new signing Jesé Rodriguez won the game for The Potters through his calm finish a week later.

With Alexis Sanchez back in the mix, Arsene Wenger's men travelled to Liverpool with resurging hope. But, like the case in recent years, the Arsenal did not show up, once again. A shaky defence experimented with a three man defensive formation and received an absolute hammering at the hands of Liverpool.

Raising more eyebrows, Wenger made the baffling decision to bench his star striker Lacazette who has shown promising signs in the past few games.

The results on the pitch are only a subsidiary of the problems that have been brewing at the club. Contracts of star players are running into the final year and adequate replacements have not been made in the hope that the lure of football at the Emirates will be sufficient to keep hold of the current crop.

With players' heads dropping and voices rising in decibel count against him, Wenger yet again finds himself in familiar territory, albeit in a new campaign. His decisions have been cornering him and with his back against the wall, what will he conjure this time around?