Arsenal power, Spurs and Man Utd silliness exposed by 6 Premier League tables
The tables don’t lie, apparently, so you’d better believe us when we tell you that Arsenal are fighting like a champ, while Man Utd and Tottenham are as absurd as ever…
If you haven’t already noticed, we love a table here at F365. Which is convenient because we have loads of thembased on the metric of your choice.
And when you have devoured it all, you can create your own. The fun should never stop.
However, you’re busy, so with a quarter of the season now played, we’ve looked at all the tables and selected six to tell some of the stories of 2025/26 so far…
Arsenal prepare their path to the title
We start with the table that’s boiling the most p*ss so far this season. One that shows how much Arsenal rely on set pieces to achieve their goals.
We know this is true because only three teams have scored fewer goals from open play. The Gunners are 15th in this table because of the alphabet. They might as well be 17th, with only Forest, Leeds and Wolves below them.
OPEN GAME TABLE GOALS
Is this a problem? Jamie O’Hara thinks sobut no one comes to take away set pieces from Arsenal.
The opposite seems to be true, according to this table. If everyone stopped giving Arsenal the corners they depend on so much, they might not be missing on the horizon a quarter of the way through the season.
Of course, Arsenal’s title quest isn’t all about dead balls. This And This are just as important in their early season success. David Raya has faced one shot on target in the last four games, FFS. At this point, Mikel Arteta could probably win the title as a goalkeeper.
Tottenham’s problems at home
In north London, Tottenham Hotspur remains completely crazy.
Away from home, Spurs have the best record in the Premier League.
They took 13 points from 15 available, winning by at least two goals at Manchester City, Everton and West Ham, while leaving Leeds with maximum reward.
But at home, it’s a mess. For the clearest illustration of the stunning contrast between Tottenham on their home turf and Spurs on the road, click the ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ buttons below…
Tottenham have not won on their own turf in the Premier League since Thomas Frank’s first game in charge on matchday one when Burnley were beaten 3-0.
Since then, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Chelsea have all won in north London, while Spurs needed a late leveler to deny Wolves a first victory they are still seeking.
It’s a problem that predates Frank, but the new boss shows no signs of wanting to solve it. In 2025, Sunderland have collected the same number of Premier League points at home, despite having nine fewer games.
LEARN MORE: Thomas Frank downplays Spurs’ work and it could kill him
United beat the best but struggle with the laggards
Manchester United are equally absurd.
At the ends, they have been tipped for both a relegation battle and title feeswhile the truth almost certainly lies somewhere in between. They’re not as bad as their start suggests, but no one should get carried away with a four-game unbeaten run either, although it’s certainly a relief for Ruben Amorim.
Like Spurs, United win and lose points when they really shouldn’t.
Against the opposition in the first half, United are mustard. In such matches, they have taken more points than anyone else beating Liverpool, Chelsea, Sunderland and Brighton. They only lost to the top two, but they deserved at least a point against Arsenal on the opening day.
United are back, aren’t they? Well, not quite. Because they are always fighting against bottom half opposition.
They beat Burnley – just – but dropped points at Forest and Fulham while taking nothing away from Brentford. Only Forest and Wolves have taken fewer points against 11th-bottom teams.
United’s problem is probably similar to Spurs’: they are happiest when the opposition attack them. When they are expected to take the initiative, that’s when they run into difficulties. Saturday’s meeting at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium should therefore be revealing.
Sunderland the Prem proud of their resilience
Sunderland are one of the stories of the season so far. They barely tore up the championship but here they are, bloodying the noses of the big boys while mixing in the top four. You would have to be a Geordie – or a Coventry fan, oddly – for not appreciating what the Black Cats do.
What is behind their superb start? Mainly, a massive recruiting campaign with huge successes and some failures. Granit Xhaka is the best place to do business this summer.
Xhaka is certainly the driving force that has made Sunderland the most resilient team in the Premier League so far.
The Black Cats had to rally for many of their points – almost half of them, with eight of their 18 gained by losing positions.
From six deficits, Sunderland won spectacularly against Chelsea and Brentford, while taking a point from Villa despite playing most of the match with 10 men.
Villa’s creative concerns are not there yet
This draw at Sunderland is typical of Villa’s shortcomings, particularly early in the season when they were unable to win a rigged raffle.
At the Stadium of Light, they had 71% possession against a team playing a light man, but they were outnumbered in shots and shots on target.
Having more of the ball is a running theme in Villa’s season, as is a lack of creativity.
Unai Emery’s men are fifth in the possession rankingsbehind only the top three and Chelsea, but second bottom of the table in big chances created, with only woeful Wolves worse.
CREATED TABLE OF GREAT ODDS
In just one game this season – Burnley at home – Villa finished with better xG than their opponent. This seems… unsustainable.
Liverpool’s luck runs out spectacularly
We couldn’t end this report without some illustrations of Liverpool’s trip to the edge of a cliff…
The Reds started the season on fire – in terms of results, not performances – but we wondered if their stodgy performances could eventually bite them in the ass. However, we did not anticipate that they would last for a month.
Their four-game losing streak after a perfect start saw Liverpool slip from first place, ultimately allowing six teams to look down on them on Halloween.
SHAPE CHART
The Reds regained four places by beating an Aston Villa team that strangely refused to do any of the things Arne Slot admitted his team had no answers for. But the four red dots next to their name on the form board saw Liverpool go from almost title favorites to winners, while speculation swirled over Slot’s long-term future, something that would have been unthinkable in September.