Premier League Round Six: The good, the bad and the ugly

The Bad

Missed Opportunity

Speaking of Arsenal …

The Gunners had a glorious opportunity to further derail Chelsea FC’s season – and get back on track themselves after a horrendous loss away to Dinamo Zagreb – instead, Arsenal played poorly and dropped all three points by way of a 2-0 defeat.

With the defeat, Arsenal failed to take advantage of Manchester City’s home defeat to West Ham – something Manchester United were able to do – and have now fallen out of the top four.

Winning at Stamford Bridge is difficult – and Wenger has always had problems when facing Mourinho – but if Arsenal were ever going to do it then now was the time.

Arsenal have another tough road match this weekend when they face high-flying Leicester City.

Sexy Stoke

Stoke City were a trendy pick to be an exciting team this season after they made some strong acquisitions during the summer transfer window. Robbie Earle of NBCSN even referred to Mark Hughes’ side as “sexy Stoke.”

The reality has been far less attractive for Stoke City supporters. The Potters sit 18^th in the table as one of three winless sides remaining in the Premier League.

Coming off of consecutive defeats – home to West Brom and away to Arsenal – The Potters desperately needed a victory. Through one half of football it looked as though they would get three points.

The problem is that Stoke City were facing Leicester City — the definitive never-say-die side of the season.

I have always said that preseason expectations have to be thrown out at some point during the season to allow room for present realities to set in. The present reality is that Stoke City are not playing like a talented side.

Do I believe Stoke City are a bottom three side on talent? No, not at all. Are they playing like one? Yes, the table does not lie.

Stoke City is a perfect segue to the next topic …

The Relegation Battle

Here is how the table is shaping up:

17. Aston Villa: 4 points

18. Stoke City: 3 points

19. Newcastle United: 2 points

20. Sunderland: 2 points

While the season is in its very early stages, it is never too early to start worrying about your club being dragged into a relegation battle for the rest of the season. The problem begins when you look at which clubs are in front of these four.

Southampton, Chelsea FC, AFC Bournemouth and Liverpool FC are the opposition directly ahead of 17-20. Realistically, Aston Villa, Stoke, Newcastle and Sunderland are not going to catch and pass Chelsea FC or Liverpool FC. It is just not going to happen. That leaves Southampton and Bournemouth, both of whom playing considerably better than any of these four sides.

Outside of that, the only sides you could reason to tail off and fall back to the pack are West Brom (8 points) and Watford (9 points).

Realistically, the relegation candidates are Aston Villa, Stoke City, Newcastle, Sunderland, Bournemouth, West Brom, Watford and, potentially, Southampton. The sides currently occupying 17-20 in the table are already in danger of falling too far behind the teams they could realistically finish in front of.

This is especially worrying when you consider that Newcastle and Stoke made so many signings this summer that were supposed to take them to the next level.

These sides must significantly improve their play or they could be facing an increased fixture list and a truckload of highly-paid, disgruntled players who think they deserve to be in the Premier League instead of the Championship.

Next: The Ugly