The Premier League history shows that the teams should not be concluded after what they show in the first round.
Sunderland after a resounding 3-0 victory over West Ham was suddenly considered to have many chances of relegation. West Ham was placed in dangerous areas and Graham Potter was out of time. Brentford, Burnley and Everton were listed in the same relegation group with West Ham, just because of the losses in the first round of the Premier League.
The hasty evaluation came to Man City. Guardiola's team was praised as a bright championship after Wolves (4-0). This victory helped Man City become the best Premier League team in the last 20 matches with 43 points, rekindling the speculation that Man City will return to the peak and Erling Haaland will win the top scorer.
Liverpool's 4-2 victory over Bournemouth revealed weaknesses in the defense of the defensive defense. Former defender Jamie Carragher immediately warned: “If Liverpool continues like that, I don't think they will protect the championship.” In another development, Chelsea was described as disoriented in a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.
Unfortunately for teams like Sunderland or Man City, history shows that the first round is not a reliable indicator of how a team will show during the season.
Looking back on the previous seasons, we can see a lot of evidence. The Sunderland themselves understood one thing that the victory on the opening day did not guarantee a smooth season. In the 2007/08 season, the black cat started with the decisive goal in the last minute of Michael Chopra against Tottenham (1-0), but by the end of the season they were only 3 points more than the relegation group.
A more noticeable warning story in the 2010/11 season. The opening round, the newly promoted Blackpool team was shocked with a 4-0 glorious victory over Wigan. But the next 37 rounds, they only won only 9 matches and received the relegation outcome. A beautiful afternoon in August was quickly erased in the fierce season.
Also in the 2010/11 season, West Brom lost Chelsea in the first round. While experts said West Brom was too weak to survive in the Premier League, Roberto Di Matteo's team (and was later taken over by Roy Hodgson) who was relegated at the 11th position in the rankings.
History is full of similar comeback. Portsmouth lost to Tottenham (0-2) in the first round of the 2005/06 season and before the last 10 rounds were still 8 points behind the last round. But they still have 20 more points to successfully relegation.
West Ham in the 2022/23 season stumbled in the first round with a 0-2 defeat to Man City. They lost all the first 3 rounds and ranked 16th at Christmas, before there was a spectacular acceleration to finish the 14th place and also won the Europa Conference League.
On the contrary, the start of difficulty does not mean burying the chance of winning, MU is a testament to that. In the 1992/93 season, Sir Alex's team started the campaign with two consecutive losses against Sheffield United and Everton. But by the end of the season, MU ascended the throne with 10 points more than the Aston Villa runner -up.
In the 1995/96 season, MU lost to Aston Villa (1-3) at the opening round. Commentator Alan Hansen satirized Sir Alex's young team with the famous saying “You cannot win anything with a kid”. But by the end of the season, the champion is still MU.
Or recently in the 2021/22 season, defeat against Tottenham in the opening round was unable to prevent Man City winning the second consecutive Premier League championship. The thing is for sure that the title will not be decided in August, no matter how convincing Man City, how loose Liverpool defense is or how much the Arsenal fans feel the hope.
