Premier League 2014-15: Five things we have learnt so far

Finally EPL returns this weekend after a 2 week hiatus for international matches (which definitely felt longer for football fanatics). There where were quite a few surprising results in European Qualifiers with heavyweights like Germany,Spain,Netherlands faltering against less fancied opponents but its good to expereince the excitement of club football again.Though the league is still in nascent stage,here’s taking a brief look at five things we have learned from the Premier League so far-

#1 Team to Beat- Chelsea

Fabregas and Costa have atelepathic understanding

Jose Mourinho’s ‘Little Horses’ have grown into a Thouroughbred this season.Having identified lack of firing power and breaking down teams set up to defend as main weaknesses from last season, ‘The Special One’ quickly addressed those concerns early in the transfer window by bringing in Diego Costa and Fabregas.Both have made a blistering start to their Chelsea career and have propelled Chelsea to the top of the table with nearest challenger Manchester City sitting 5 points behind. Given the squad depth and lack of apparent weakness in the squad,Chelsea surely are early EPL title favorites.

#2 Most Entertaining Team- Manchester United

Arrival of Louis Van Gaal and nearly $200 million influx ofnew talent has surely shaken up things things at Old Trafford.They have been highly entertaining so far with newmarquee signings Di Maria and Falcao making for a potent attacking threat up front with RVP and Rooney for comapny butUnited squad is far from settled with obvious shortcomings in defence which were glaringly highlighted in 5-3 defeat at the hand of Leicester City.They currently sit at no.4 but tougher test awaits them next month in form ofChelsea,Man City and Arsenal .

#3 The Consistently Frustrating Team- Arsenal

The season which began with so much promise with the arrival of new signing Alexis Sanchez has started to feel like the same old story for Arsenal fans.Injuries to key players,failure to sign a world class defensive midfielder and centre back in the transfer window,abject performance against big rivals like Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund makes it likely that Gunnners will be fighting for champions league qualification rather than challenging for the title at the end of season which is a pity for such a talented side.

Time for a change maybe?

#4 The Overachievers- Southampton

Caption

Many of the bookmakers shortened odds on Southampton being relegated after the mass exodus of the core of the team(Lallana,Shaw,Lovren,Lambert, Chambers)and the higly rated manager Mauro Pocchettino but boy have they been proven wrong with Saints currently sitting pretty at 3^rd in the tablefar away from the releagtion battle. AppointingRonald Koeman was a very shrewd move and he has rebuilt the squad with some astute signings.With Pelle and Schniederlein in top form Southampton might even be challenging for the European places at the end of the season.

#5 The Disappointments- Liverpool

It was always going to be difficult for Liverpool to adjust to life without prolific Luis Suarez and so it has proved.With departure of their talismanic strikerand injury to Daniel Sturridge,Liverpool look like a pale shadow of the team that terrorised EPL defenses last season.They didnt help themselves by going for quantity over quality in transfer window andnew signings like Balotelli and Markovic have been below par.With added pressure of champions league to contend withit will be interesting to see how Brendan Rodgers turns this around.