It’s been a wild and crazy start to the 2015-16 Premier League. With hat tricks, upsets, new stars emerging and elite managers on the verge of being fired, it’s quickly becoming another fun year in English football.
As the Premier League enters it’s third month, it’s time to take a quick look back at which moments, which clubs and which people have had the most surprising impact on the season to date.
Here are the 8 biggest Premier League shocks during September:
8. Manchester United No. 1 on the Premier League table
No doubt the beneficiaries of a fairly weak September slate, the Red Devils have found themselves alone on top of the table after taking all nine points in September while former leaders Manchester City lost their last two in a row.
In that time, Juan Mata, Memphis Depay and Wayne Rooney among others have all reclaimed their top form.
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7. Leicester City, the Comeback Kings
Unbeaten through their first six matches, Leicester City claimed 12 of the first 18 points thanks to numerous comebacks: An 82′ goal to keep a draw with Tottenham Hotspur, an 86′ penalty to keep a draw with Bournemouth, a three goal spree from 73′-89′ to erase a 2-0 deficit to Aston Villa, and a 69′ goal to draw with Stoke City.
Though they didn’t have a comeback in them against Arsenal, Leicester City currently have the highest-scoring team in the Premier League.
Their defence must improve if the Foxes are to continue their fine early form.
6. Aston Villa in the relegation zone already
Last season, Tim Sherwood injected new life into a struggling Villa Park outfit. This season, the same scoring woes that had them dangerously close to relegation in the middle of the season have reared their ugly heads again.
There’s no doubt that the loss of Christian Benteke caused a drop-off in quality, but for the Premier League mainstays to be struggling this much could make 2015-16 one of the worst seasons in their long history.
5. Jamie Vardy has more goals than Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa and Wayne Rooney COMBINED
With six goals through the first seven matches of the season, Leicester City’s infamous striker has more goals than last year’s leading scorers from Arsenal (Sanchez, three), Man United (Rooney, one) and Chelsea (Costa, one).
Maybe it has to do with Leicester City’s relatively easy schedule, but maybe Vardy is just that good…
But most likely it’s the former, not the latter.
4. Arsenal lose first two Champions League bouts – neither one against their hardest opponent
On paper, an away match against Dinamo Zagreb and a home match against Olympiacos should have been easy pickings for Arsene Wenger’s team. But in a pair of shocking upsets, Arsenal lost both, being outscored 5-3 in the process.
With zero points on the table so far, Arsenal would have to win against unbeaten Bayern Munich just to climb into the third place spot.
3. West Ham United, the Giant Killers
Heading into a mid-September clash with Man City, West Ham United had claimed victory over Arsenal and Liverpool – beating both by a combined score of 5-0.
At the time, Man City were undefeated and looked like the most dominant team in the Premier League, but the Hammers smashed the Citizens with two goals in the first half that they would never recover from.
Following the win, West Ham would record a draw with Norwich City to take 3rd place on the table.
2. Anthony Martial’s incredible start with Manchester United
When the news broke that Man United had spent a king’s ransom on a little-known teenage striker from France, most people thought it was another case of the Red Devils overpaying for a flop. But Anthony Martial silenced all the doubters by scoring three times in his first two matches.
Since signing Martial, Man United have won three BPL matches in a row.
1. Chelsea 14th on the table
Who would have predicted that after two full months of the Premier League that the reigning champions would be just four points ahead of the relegation zone? With two wins, two draws and three losses through the first seven matches, the Blues are a full eight points behind the current leaders Man United.
Between losing Thibaut Courtois to injury, losing Diego Costa to a suspension and not getting enough out of Eden Hazard, Jose Mourinho’s boys just haven’t been the same this season.