Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat of Chelsea in last Sunday’s London Derby marked the end of the Premier League’s third matchweek, meaning every team now has three games under their belts. New signings are starting to work their way into the fold; new managers are starting to impart their philosophies and structures on their players; and new trends are beginning to emerge.
With 35 games and eight months left until the end of the campaign, it is hard to make any definitive conclusions on how teams will look or perform later in the season.
There are still a few storylines that have emerged from the first three weeks of the season, from surprise teams to players regaining their form to new managers changing their teams’ identities. Here are three of the biggest storylines after three Premier League matchweeks:
Fulham’s Take on Tiki-Taka
Fulham have overseen a massive overhaul of their team this summer. It started with Marco Silva, the manager who stewarded their promotion to the Premier League in 2022 and success in the following seasons, running down his contract and moving to Portugal to coach Benfica; and extended onto the field, where they lost three of their four leading scorers, including Harry Wilson, who led the team not only in goals but also in assists.
The West London club turned to an unconventional source for their replacements: Spanish giants Real Madrid. They hired Álvaro Arbeloa, Real Madrid’s manager for the back half of the 2025-26 season, and signed youth products Gonzalo García and César Palacios for fees of $45 million and $12 million, respectively. Fulham also signed center-back David Affengruber from Spanish club Elche CF and midfielder Manuel Ángel from Real Madrid’s youth team.
Arbeloa’s influence on the team has been evident. Fulham ranks fifth in the league in possession per game at 61.6%, up almost ten percent from last season, and has completed the second-most passes behind Manchester City. They also lead the Premier League in touches in the opposing teams’ box with 115.
This uptick in possession has yet to translate to success on the score sheet. Through three games, Fulham have just four goals and have yet to win a point. Currently in the relegation zone alongside Coventry City and Tottenham, they have conceded the second-most goals and expected goals (xG) of any team in the league, and are one of seven teams who have yet to secure a clean sheet this season.
Fulham will have to be patient with Arbeloa and his squad. The team has new attackers that need time to gel, a defense that will need to learn to be more proactive in stopping counterattacks, and a manager coaching his first season in the demanding Premier League. Time will tell whether the experiment will work, but for as long as it lasts, it will be a focus for analysts and team officials across the league.
Premier League Reaction to Hull City: Paper Tigers, or the Real Deal?
Hull City were the overwhelming preseason favorites to be relegated from the Premier League. Oddsmakers had the Tigers at around a 25% chance of going back down to the EFL Championship, the highest of any team in the top flight.
There was plenty of reason to be skeptical of Hull City’s chances. They ended last season with just a +4 goal difference, finishing the regular season in 6th place but securing promotion through the playoff final. Their 66 goals conceded was fourth-worst in the league and seven more than Oxford United, who were relegated.
The Tigers also outperformed both their expected goals conceded and goals scored, the only team to do so by double digits (10.3 more goals scored than expected, and 14.1 fewer conceded than expected). A team that was 20th in shots, 19th in possession, and 23rd in xG conceded in the Championship, most experts had Hull penciled in as a no-doubt bottom-three team.
Unbelievably, Hull are the only team in the Premier League that has yet to concede a goal this season. They have done this despite playing against two of the top four finishers from last year’s Premier League, Manchester United and Aston Villa. After three games, they sit in third place having secured seven points out of a possible nine.
The Tigers’ playbook has not changed since their promotion to the Premier League. Hull rank last in both possession (about 28% of the ball) and shots (about eight per game) through three games, and have conceded 5.0 expected goals, seventh-most in the league.
While luck has been on the side of the Tigers thus far, there is a science to Hull’s game that statistics fail to represent. Out of possession, they stay compact: despite defending the most out of any team in the league, Hull have conceded only the sixth-most shots. Their xG against may be unfit for a team that has not allowed a goal, but within the context of a squad that plays with so little of the ball, it is actually quite impressive.
They will almost certainly not remain in third, but Hull have shown they will be no pushovers this season. Their playstyle will require them to live on the margins and fight for every inch, and for every 1-0 win they will probably have a few backbreaking 1-0 or 2-1 losses. For now, however, the formula is working as well as it could.
Arsenal Prove Why They’re Champs
Although they currently sit tied with Man City at the top of the table, Arsenal proved last Sunday why they’re the team to beat this season. Following Morgan Rogers’ goal to put Chelsea ahead after 77 seconds, the Gunners took a stranglehold on the match, scoring two unanswered goals to take all three points from their London rivals. Their suffocating press and patience in build-up allowed them to control the match even after equalizing in the 25th minute.
Hull City may be the only team with three clean sheets, but Arsenal’s defense has been the most solid out of anyone in the Premier League this season. They have allowed just 0.9 expected goals this season, a third of second-place Man City’s figure, 2.7. Across three games, they have faced 24 shots (least in the PL) and 6 shots on target (second-least).
It is frightening to consider that Arsenal is maintaining this level of defensive solidity without their starting center-back and right-back from last season, William Saliba and Jurrien Timber. Summer signing Ezri Konsa has been filling in for the injured Saliba in the center of the Gunners’ defense, but should he go down, Christian Mosquera, a talented youngster from Spain, is more than suitable to take his place. Fullbacks Piero Hincapié, Ben White, and Ricardo Calafiori also have positional flexibility across the back line, giving Arsenal the best defensive depth in all of Europe.
Their attack may also be evolving to another level. Martin Ødegaard, Arsenal’s creative outlet in the midfield, has had a hot start to the 26-27 season. His two goals across Arsenal’s first three games are already double last season’s output, a campaign plagued by nagging injuries and a lack of rhythm. If Ødegaard can recreate his statistical output in previous seasons – he had three straight seasons of 15+ goals and assists before a down year in 2025 – Arsenal’s attack may be even more prolific than the one that won them last year’s title.
