To everyone’s surprise, the Premier League season has provided us with some unforgettable moments.
Whether they be terrible mistakes, shocking signings or stunning results, the English top flight never fails to surprise us.
Here are my top three flops and surprises of the campaign so far.
Flops
Manchester United signing Fred
While signing new players can be unpredictable – especially if they’re from the Ukraine league – a gamble is always taken on the success of the player in the intensity of the Premier League.
The off-season saw Manchester United sign then-25-year-old Brazilian midfielder Fred for a sum of £52 million.
So far in the season, Fred has only seen the pitch a total of around 800 minutes, which translates to a bit more than eight games.
Through those eight games, Fred has collected just one goal and no assists, leaving much to be desired by the £52 million man.
Fulham
After a pre-season transfer window which saw Fulham spend a whole £100 million, their current season seems rather underwhelming.
The Lily Whites sit 19th, 13 points from safety, a far from ideal position considering their haul of a transfer window at the start of the season.
This window saw marquee signing Jean-Michael Seri join from Nice amid interest from English giants Arsenal and Chelsea.
Seri, along with the 15 other players brought in – not to mention 7 of them being on loan – have not truly gelled, leaving lots to wish for from the promising team.
Arsenal’s defence
Defence. All Arsenal fans and players’ favourite word.
It is clear Arsenal have addressed their defensive woes, signing goalkeeper Bernd Leno, centre half Sokratis and defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira before the season kicked off.
New Arsenal boss Unai Emery has failed to address the club’s defensive woes. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
But to have less clean sheets than the likes of Cardiff and Bournemouth and the same amount as Southampton and Burnley is extremely disappointing.
Although the struggles have improved recently, it is still apparent that the issue will need to be sorted in the next transfer window.
With Arsenal scoring the third highest amount of all goals in England’s top flight, it is clear they can be real title contenders should they sort out their defensive problems.
Surprises
David Brooks
The start of the 2018-19 season saw the emergence of Bournemouth young gun David Brooks.
Brooks was picked up from the Championship in the off-season for a fee of £10 million, a bargain price for the 21-year-old starlet.
Brooks has bagged himself six goals and four assists so far for the Cherries, although he recently sustained an ankle injury leaving him out for some weeks.
The boom of the young star has drawn attention from European giants Real Madrid and Tottenham, with both clubs inquiring about a potential move.
The ceiling is high for Brooks and only time will tell how the promising young player develops.
Wolves
After a dominant season in the Championship which saw Wolves comfortably win the division, manager Nuno decided to completely re-design his squad in the summer, spending £110 and only starting three players from his Championship-wining side.
Irishman Matt Doherty is one of the few Championship-winning players to feature in Nuno’s Wolves plans this Premier League season. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)
Known as the giant killers, Wolves’ record against the top six teams is nothing short of exquisite, winning four, drawing four and losing only three in all competitions so far, knocking United and Liverpool out of the FA Cup.
Currently Wolves sit seventh in the Premier League table, and staying in that position by the end of the season could put them in the Europa league play-offs depending on cup results, a huge feat for a recently promoted club.
United under OGS
United struggled under Jose Mourinho, almost falling to seventh place midway through the season.
Although things have really picked up after the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with United only suffering one Premier League loss so far in 2019.
OGS has utilised marquee signing Paul Pogba, who had a bad relationship with Mourinho and struggled while he was in charge.
Pogba now has 11 Premier League goals and nine assists, proving to be a versatile player on the attack.
Ole has given the United defence confidence, getting the best out of Victor Lindelof and goalkeeper David De Gea.
Coming off back-to-back defeats against Arsenal and Wolves, the top four race is now uncomfortably close and it’ll be very interesting to see who wins fourth place and a Champions League position.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Whilst on the Manchester United flop this season, you can add as a Flop their whole defensive unit including lauded keeper De Gea this season. Last season (17/18 year) they conceded just 28 goals in 38 EPL matches and De Gea proved he was then the best keeper in the world. This season they conceded that many goals by Christmas, and are now totalling 40 goals conceded in 30 EPL matches, with De Gea having his worst season yet at ManU, conceding goals he would not have dreamed of conceding last season. With plenty of tough matches still to come this season for ManU, the defensive pain is not over yet.
Juzzmonk
Roar Rookie
Hi Zubin, Chelsea under Sarri was definitely considered for the flops section but I'm thinking that it's more of a rough patch, rather an issue bugging them for the whole season like Arsenal's defensive problems. I decided to go with Arsenal's defence because they did address the issue in the off-season transfer window but the improvement was much less than expected. After all Chelsea are still only 3 points off top 4 and definitely in contention for a champions league position. Thanks for the feedback and I hope you can see the reason for my choosing of Arsenal's defence rather than Chelsea under Sarri.
Zubin Daver
Roar Pro
Hey Juzzmonk, the EPL is surely the best and most exciting league in the world. The top four race is surely heating up. As a Liverpool fan, I am glad we are not in the middle of the dog fight and are fighting for the title. However, in my opinion, more than Arsenal's defence flopping ( which they have been for the last 3 seasons), I would have rather fit Chelsea under Sarri in there. He came with a reputation of attacking football, started the season very well only to have hit rock bottom now. What do you think?