Liverpool – A
Liverpool have improved majorly from last season's disappointing campaign but questions still remain over Jurgen Klopp’s side when it comes to breaking Manchester City's dominance.
Nine points better off than this stage last season, Liverpool have successfully rebuilt an ailing midfield and look more than likely to reclaim a top four place and with it, Champions League football, having missed out last season.
Whether they can realistically aim higher remains to be seen and is very much dependent on their misfiring forward line click into high gear again.
Darwin Nunez has yet to live up to his promise and continues to be wasteful in front of goal, Luis Diaz is hot and cold, Diego Jota is absent through injury and the Reds becoming even more reliant on Mohamed Salah – which opposition teams have figured out.
It’s become an increasingly familiar sight to see teams double up on Salah, keep him quiet and then watch his fellow attackers struggle to make an impact. It’s a problem that Klopp needs to solve, be that through tactics or transfers, if his side are to kick on again.
Luton Town - D
A side that few expected to be promoted last season and even fewer believed would avoid relegation are going the way the form books predicted but while they’re likely to be playing in the Championship next season, they’re enjoying Premier League life while it lasts.
A 1-1 draw with Liverpool that could have so easily been a famous victory but for a late Luiz Dias leveller in injury-time and an even later goal from Declan Rice to deny the Hatters a 3-3 draw against Arsenal are the highlights so far, but while the games were memorable ones, they point to Luton’s biggest problem – seeing out results.
Dropping eight points from winning positions might not seem like much but when you consider how rarely they’re in front and that those eight points almost equal their points total for the season so far – nine - their lack of resilience will most likely play a big part in their relegation.
Having spent just €22.75m on summer signings, Luton can’t be accused of gambling with their future to chase a more permanent Premier League place and having secured most of their summer signings from the Championship, they’ll at least be well prepared when they return there.
Manchester City – B
While there’s every chance that we’ll still see the now traditional second-half of the season surge from Manchester City, it’s hard to shake the sense that this current iteration of Pep Guardiola’s all conquering side is on a downward trajectory.
City are seven points off from where they were at this point last season and looking like the exertions of that treble-winning season may have actually caught up with them.
With just one win from their last six league games, the champions look strangely lethargic and devoid of ideas up front if plan A of 'give it to Haaland’ doesn’t come off.
With 14 goals so far this season – 10 more than anyone else at City – Guardiola has become increasingly reliant on the Norwegian star to dig his side out of trouble and the Sky Blues are in danger of becoming one-dimensional up front.
Injuries certainly haven’t helped. Kevin De Bruyne’s long-term absence has been keenly felt along with niggles for Haaland and Jeremy Doku, but it’s their summer transfer activity that appears to have done the most damage. Losing Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan and Aymeric Laporte in one fell swoop has taken a good deal of experience away from the club.
Manchester United – D
The psycho-drama that has taken hold at Old Trafford is probably one of the most entertaining elements of the league for non-supporters of the Red Devils, and there appears be little chance of things settling.
From failed gulf-state takeovers to players briefing against an increasing beleaguered manager and a Champions League collapse, the club continues to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons. That’s not even including the €85m signing who is being made to train with the kids.
On the pitch, things remain bleak. Hopes that Erik ten Hag would be the man to finally turn the club around and get them back on their perch have faded and the biggest surprise when looking at the league table is that they remain as high as seventh.
Losing 13 of their the 25 games they’ve played in all competitions means that they’ve already lost as many times as they did throughout the entirety of last season, while many of the players not looking particularly bothered.
With another bad run of results Ten Hag could be gone before the Christmas decorations come down and a replacement could get a short bounce from the malcontents within the squad, but even then, a top-four finish looks unlikely.
Newcastle United – C
It's fair to say that Newcastle overachieved last season. Disappointing campaigns for Champions League regulars Liverpool and Chelsea opened up a place in the top four which the Magpies grabbed with both hands.
A clear plan has been in place since the takeover of the club by the Saudi Public Investment Fund to grow things sustainably on the pitch and while Champions League qualification probably came ahead of schedule, they didn’t deviate from their approach, making relatively modest summer signings.
The arrival of Tino Livramento, Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes, while in keeping with the slow squad building, was perhaps a bit lightweight given that Newcastle would now have to balance the rigours of midweek Champions League with domestic football.
The suspension of Tonali for gambling offences didn’t help Newcastle, nor does their seemingly never-ending injury list but it’s fair to say that the Magpies have struggled with the adjustment to the Champions League, finishing bottom of their group and seeing their domestic form slump.
There is hope however. Missing out on the Europa League parachute place will lighten Newcastle’s schedule while their injury crisis appears to abating somewhat. They’re not too far off where they were this time last season and will hope to make another big push in the New Year to work their way back into the top four.
Nottingham Forest – D
Another summer of a scatter-gun transfer policy saw the club bring in a staggering 14 new players, down from the 22 of last season, sure, but still a massive group of players to try and integrate to your squad.
Little wonder that Steve Copper struggled to successfully integrate so many new faces into a squad already bursting at the seams.
Forest made a decent start to the season, bouncing back from an opening day defeat to Arsenal, taking seven points from their next four games but since then have struggled in front of goal, averaging less than a goal a game.
Winning just one of their last 12 games has seen them drop perilously close to the relegation zone and Copper has paid for that slump with his job – replaced by Nuno Espirito Santo – a move which has angered fans and doesn't seem like it will move the needle much on the pitch.
Despite their poor form, Forest remain five points clear of the relegation zone and while they’re unlikely to set the table alight at any stage, it’s not going to take much this season for them to stay up.
Sheffield United - D
Bottom of the table with the worst defensive record in the league and the fewest goals scored, even the most pessimistic of Sheffield United supporters didn't expect things to be this bad.
Manager Paul Heckingbottom was never able to find the right balance between keeping things tight at the back and offering any kind of threat up front and any adjustments he made to make his side look more of a threat would usually backfire at the other end of the pitch.
The club's board took action at the start of December, sacking Heckingbottom who had led his side to 11 defeats from their first 14 games. Chris Wilder was appointed for his second spell at the club, having led them from League One to the Premier League over the course of three seasons, after being initially appointed in 2016.
Wilder appears to have made an immediate impact. His first game in charge was a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool but they looked a much more balanced side in that game, showing more fight and followed up that display with their second win of a season - a 1-0 win against Brentford, before taking a point away to Aston Villa.
It remains a massive task to move the Blades out of the bottom three and it may well prove a bridge too far for Wilder but at least there's some hope around Bramall Lane now.
Tottenham Hotspur – B+
The fun times are back at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Having yawned through the Mourinho era, shrugged their shoulders during Nuno Espirito Santo's reign and drifted towards despair as Antonio Conte did everything he could to get sacked, Spurs fans can smile again.
Ange Postecoglou's unrelenting positivity on the pitch and off it has lifted the gloom that had settled in at Spurs since Mauricio Pochettino's exit and has the London club playing the kind of football that their supporters crave.
Some sniffiness surrounding Postecoglou's appointment and his lack of pedigree quickly disappeared as Spurs made a blistering start to the campaign that saw them go five points clear at the top of the table at the end of October, leading to giddy talk of a title challenge.
Injury problems hit Postecoglou's small squad however and they took just one point from their next five games and the manager stubbornly stuck to his gung-ho approach despite not have the personal needed for such an approach.
The Australian has been criticised for tactically naivete and a lack of pragmatism over his tactics but he stopped the rot without sacrificing his principles and if he’s given funds to reinforce in January a push for the top four is likely.
West Ham United – B
Fresh from winning the Europa Conference League, West Ham have started the season in much the same way they ended the last and David Moyes' side are, if not flying high in the league, certainly coasting along.
Firmly secure in the top half of the table with some of the season's trickiest games already behind them, the Hammers have strolled into the knock-out stage of the Europa League and are generally, having a lovely old time.
A return to form for frontman Jarrod Bowen has been aided by the inspired signing of James Ward-Prowse from Southampton. The dead-ball specialist has three goals and ten assists so far this campaign and helps to make the Hammers one of the most dangerous sides from set pieces in the league.
Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez have both hit the ground running following their moves from Ajax with Kudus giving Moyes another big option up front and Alvarez offering defensive protection in midfield.
The only real complaint that Hammers fans can have is Moyes tendency to be risk averse and go safety first against the bigger sides - a disappointing 5-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup ended what would have been a real shot at silverware as the Hammers exited the quarter-finals with a whimper.
Wolverhampton Wanderers - C
Flying under the radar so far this season, it's still difficult to quite work out this Wolves team.
A poor start in which they took just four points from their opening six games saw them drift towards the bottom of the table before they suddenly sprung a shock 2-1 victory over Manchester City and then took a point from high-flying Aston Villa.
Gary O'Neil, who was appointed just a week before the start of the league appears to be still working out what his best side is and just how to get the best from them.
When it clicks they can be a match for anyone - as we saw with Chelsea on Christmas Eve - when it doesn't they can lose to Sheffield United.
Sitting comfortably in midtable and likely to stay there for the season, O'Neil is hoping to bring in January reinforcements - most notably up front with Viktoria Plzen's striker Rafiu Durosinmi and West Ham's Michail Antonio reported to be targets.
Goals have been hard to come by for Wolves and if O'Neil gets the backing he's seeking, he'll easily steer the side towards safety.
