Premier League surprises: Liverpool’s defending, Sunderland’s success, Nottingham Forests’s collapse and more

The final international break of 2025 has come to an end, and with that period passing, we’ll have uninterrupted club soccer until March. That brings a good time to reflect as the Premier League is through 11 matches, which is a chance to begin looking at trends around the league. But while some things, such as Arsenal, Manchester City, and Chelsea occupying three of the top four stages at this stage were expected, what are some of the bigger surprises around the league?

From Arsenal to Tottenham, we’ve got you covered in taking a look at some things that stick out, and if they’re sustainable

Liverpool’s defense can’t hold up

While it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Father Time has seemingly caught up with Mohamed Salah at 33, the demise of Liverpool’s defense is something to look into. The Reds had one of the best team defenses in the league last campaign, and they’ve now allowed 17 goals in only 11 matches. So many changes have been made to Arne Slot’s defense, with Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving for Real Madrid and Milos Kerkez coming in to start over Andrew Robertson, and that has unsettled everything. Looking at the Reds defend this season, they seem like a shell of theirsleves and the title defense backs that up. This early in the season, they already trail Arsenal by a whopping eight points, and that’s a gap that’s probably going to be too much to close. It’d be one thing if it were just trailing the Gunners, but sitting in eighth in the league, they’d have to pass so many sides who can put in more consistent performances. On their day, Liverpool can still defeat Real Madrid, but they can also lose to anyone as well. Consistency wins titles, and with this defense, Liverpool lack that.

Golden Boot chaser, Igor Thiago?

Seeing that Erling Haaland is leading the league with 14 goals in 11 matches isn’t a major surprise, but looking behind him at the Golden Boot standings may reveal a few. One is Igor Thiago as Brentford may have unearthed another gem. After losing their manager Thomas Frank and star attackers Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa, the Bees were expected to be bound for a relegation battle this season, but forward Igor Thiago has fired them into midtable with eight goals this season. He’s not shooting at an absurdly high rate with 25 shots in 11 matches, and he is overperforming a bit with eight goals from an expected goal tally of 5.66. That’s not worrisome though, because good finishers do outperform their xG. Only 24, and having netted an 18-goal season at Club Brugge before making the swap to Brentford last season, this is something that could be legit. Going back to Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney, finding forwards is what Brentford does, and its happening again right now.

The Black Cats are back

Sunderland’s return to the Premier League was a great moment after the club bottomed out in League One, but looking at their transfers, while Granit Xhaka was a good addition from Bayer Leverkusen, the expectation was this team could be good if given time, but might struggle out of the gate. Regis Le Bris has proven that time wasn’t needed to push Sunderland into a top four place heading into the international break. Robin Roefs has anchored a solid defense, center back Daniel Ballard is outperforming top strikers in the league, and the Black Cats are flying high. Goal difference is historically something to point to on if a team will stay in the top four, and with a goal difference of only four, it’s unlikely that that’s in Sunderland’s future, but a finish in the top half is. And if things keep turning up their way, there’s no reason why they can’t end up in a European spot either.

Tottenham can’t keep getting away with this 

Center back Mickey Van De Ven is the top scorer on the team with six goals in all competitions. Set pieces have been critical under Thomas Frank, and the defense has improved by leaps and bounds this season. Tottenham’s floor is very high with these two things keeping them up, but as the first North London Derby of the season with Arsenal looms, so do their flaws. They’ve gotten almost nothing from key signings Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons, who have one goal and five Premier League assists between them. They’ve also lacked any output from their strikers and struggled to move the ball up the pitch via their midfield. It’s a team that seems stagnant more often than not, yet it’s working for some reason. Frank does need time, considering that the ideas are there, but it’s also clear that if one team had to be looked at for overperforming, it’s right here.

The Tricky Trees tumble

This is an issue of Nottingham Forest’s own creation. This was a team expected to take a step back due to not having depth and competing in Europe, but the relegation zone was not supposed to be their fate. Suddenly Moving on from manager Nuno Espirito Santo was a surprise alone, but then going to his polar opposite in Ange Postecoglou was jarring in the worst way. It’s now onto Sean Dyche, the team’s third manager of the year before Christmas, to pull this team out of the relegation zone despite him not being able to balance attacking and defending in the way that Espirito Santo did. With a true star in the side in Elliot Anderson, this is a team who should be quite balanced, but everything from the top is keeping them from hitting form. The league phase of the Europa League can’t end fast enough because while this team is too good to get relegated, if they don’t lose the extra burden of fixture congestion soon, things could get interesting. 

What in the Newcastle

Losing Alexander Isak was always going to be a blow, but in Sando Tonali, Joelinton, and Bruno Guimaraes, the Magpies arguably have the best midfield in the Premier League. Defensively, they’re showing only allowing 14 goals in 11 games, but when it comes to the attack, nothing is working with them, only scoring 12 goals in 11 games. Maybe they’re putting all their eggs in the Champions League basket? Looking at European competition, Eddie Howe’s side are a different outfit. Sitting sixth in the league phase, they’ve scored 10 goals and allowed two in four matches. That performance can allow the Premier League to be overlooked for now, but when that comes to an end, form will need to pick up. It’s clear that Newcastle have the talent to jump up the table, but as things become more jumbled by the day, that will be quite tough to do. It’s important to balance multiple competitions, and if that doesn’t happen, it could lead to a sticky situation that Howe can’t get out of.