Premier League: Early Season Winners and Surprises

Last Updated on septiembre 8, 2026 5:35 pm by Erwin Noguera

Hull City have not conceded a goal all season.

Three matches, three clean sheets, seven points, and third place in the table, for a promoted side that opened the season as the shortest-priced relegation favourite in the division at 3/10.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur have not scored once. Between them, six matches and zero goals.

En Casino Gambyl, La acción trasciende el campo. Explora todo. Liga Premier Noticias, predicciones y cuotas de apuestas mientras disfrutas de una experiencia completa de casino en línea, con acción rápida y un juego intuitivo.

Here is what three matchweeks have actually told us.

The Table After Three

Manchester City and Arsenal are the only teams with perfect records, level on nine points with identical +5 goal differences. City lead on goals scored: seven to Arsenal’s six.

Hull City are third on seven points, unbeaten.

Chelsea are fourth on six, having scored eight goals, the joint-highest total in the league alongside Brighton.

En la parte inferior, Fulham and Coventry City are the only clubs without a point.Aston Villa and Tottenham have one each, and neither has scored.

Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town have both conceded eight, the league high.

The Winner: Hull City

The story of the opening month, and it is not close.

Hull opened with a 2-0 win over Manchester United: centre-back Nobel Mendy scoring on his debut from a Regan Slater free kick, after Semi Ajayi had opened the scoring. Both goals came from set pieces. Since then they have added a second win and a 0-0 draw at home to Aston Villa en sábado.

Three matches, three clean sheets. In a league where Chelsea and Brighton have already scored eight and two clubs have already conceded eight, a promoted side keeping consecutive shut-outs is the most striking single fact of the season so far.

What makes it credible rather than lucky is that the defensive record is not the whole story; they have collected two wins and a draw, which requires scoring as well. This is a functioning team, not a bunker.

We flagged this early, and we are going to say so. After the Manchester United result, we wrote that Hull’s 3/10 relegation price “should already look different” and that “a team capable of that result is not the worst side in the division.” Third place and a clean sheet record three weeks later is a better outcome than we expected.

What to consider. The last time Hull won their first two Premier League games, they lost the category. Now, last season, the promoted teams performed well above expectations, so you could consider that this start is a continuation of that trend rather than a fluke.

The Favourites Are Doing Favourite Things

There is nothing surprising about Manchester City and Arsenal sitting top, but the manner is worth noting.

City ground out a 1-0 win over Coventry on Saturday — unglamorous, and exactly what a title-winning side does against a newly promoted opponent. Elliot Anderson, the £116 million signing, has settled quickly after a heavy-legged start.

Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea on Sunday was their first genuine test, and it is the result of the round. Morgan Rogers put Chelsea ahead early. Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard turned it around to preserve the perfect record.

Coming from behind against a direct rival, at home, in the first difficult fixture of the season, is the sort of afternoon that separates contenders from teams having a nice August. Arsenal have now beaten Coventry 3-0, won at Villa Park, and recovered against Chelsea.

Chelsea: Eight Goals and a Defeat

The most entertaining team in the league, and the most unresolved.

Chelsea have scored eight goals in three matches, matching Brighton for the league’s best attacking return. Xabi Alonso’s side are clearly not short of ambition or firepower. Morgan Rogers (signed from Aston Villa in the summer) scored again at the Emirates, adding to his debut goal against Fulham.

They also lost, having led. Fourth on six points is a perfectly respectable start, and the goals suggest the ceiling is high. The Arsenal defeat suggests the floor has not been established yet.

The Surprises Nobody Wanted

Aston Villa: one point, no goals.

Unai Emery’s side have started worse than any team in the division relative to expectation. They sold Morgan Rogers y Youri Tielemans while generating more than £100 million in profit, were beaten 4-0 by Brighton on the opening weekend, lost at home to Arsenal, and have now drawn 0-0 at Hull.

The context makes it worse. Villa qualified for the Champions League. Adding midweek football to a side that cannot currently score in the league is not the ideal scenario. We named them the biggest faller in the division a fortnight ago. Three matches later, they have not scored a goal.

Tottenham: one point, no goals.

Spurs drew 0-0 at Nottingham Forest on Saturday and remain scoreless. They also lost at home to Newcastle in Matchweek 2, in a game where Amar Dedić set up Anthony Elanga’s opener.

There is more time here than at Villa, no European commitments crowding the calendar, and three matches is a small sample. But a team that has not scored after three rounds attracts attention, and it will keep attracting it until somebody finds the net.

Where We Were Right, and Where We Were Wrong

Right on Hull. Covered above. The best call we have made this season.

Right on Villa. We wrote that selling Rogers and Tielemans invited a question their summer had already raised. One point and no goals from three matches is a harsher answer than we predicted.

Wrong on Fulham, and badly. On 20 August we named them among five clubs likely to surprise, on the basis that the whole bet was on Álvaro Arbeloa. Three matches, three defeats, zero points, including 2-3 at home to Chelsea on the opening weekend and 2-3 at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Gonzalo García has done his part — he scored on debut, becoming the first Fulham player to score on a Premier League debut since Chris David in May 2014, and added a second. The rest of the team has not. Fulham are one of only two clubs in the division yet to take a point, and the argument we made three weeks ago is currently indefensible.

Unresolved on Sunderland and Forest. Both drew at the weekend: Sunderland 1-1 at Brentford, Forest 0-0 with Spurs. Neither has collapsed, and neither has taken off. Ask again in October.

What Comes Next

Two fixtures next weekend define the picture.

Chelsea host Hull City at Stamford Bridge. The league’s joint-best attack against the only defence yet to concede. If Hull leave with a point, the conversation about them changes permanently.

Manchester United host Manchester City in the first Manchester derby of the season. City arrive perfect. United were beaten 2-0 at Hull on the opening weekend and drew 2-2 at Everton on Saturday.

Three matches are not a season. It is, however, enough for a promoted club to have kept three clean sheets and for two established European sides to have failed to score a single goal between them. Somebody is going to have to explain that.