Is Arsenal’s status as Premier League title contenders at risk? What can Chelsea count on from Jadon Sancho? And how good is Manchester United strike Rasmus Hojlund?
Read on as I attempt to answer these three burning questions from three of the Premier League’s biggest clubs.
Is Rasmus Hojlund better than everyone thinks?
Manchester United’s best player in their all-important 2-1 win over Brentford, in which Erik ten Hag’s job was very likely on the line, was undoubtedly young attacker Alejandro Garnacho on the left wing.
But Rasmus Hojlund was another young Manchester United attacker who also had a fantastic performance and, from the perspective of predicting future performance, may have had the most important display of any starter on the Red Devils.
Hojlund was one of world football’s brightest breakout prospects in the 2022/23 for Atalanta, parlaying a promising all-around performance in Serie A into a big-money move to Old Trafford.
In his first season with Manchester United, Hojlund flashed potential despite a fairly mediocre statistical season, scoring 10 goals in 25 starts as he just about equaled his stats with Atalanta in the previous season.
But scoring goals is more difficult in the modern Premier League than Serie A, and Hojlund did a lot more than score goals, dribbling the ball and winning fouls at a rate that promised he could be the all-around striker Manchester United are looking for.
So far in the 2024/25 season, Hojlund has started just two games, but the second of those starts featured the decisive goal against Brentford, with the young Man United striker lofting the ball delicately over top keeper Mark Flekken in the sort of fashion you’d expect from a 30-year-old vet.
The finish offered shades of Ruud van Nistelrooy, the legendary Premier League striker who is now Ten Hag’s top assistant at Manchester United. Hojlund has credited Van Nistelrooy with helping him closely, and Manchester United supporters will be curious to see if the relationship bears fruit already this season.
What stood out the most about Hojlund in the win over Brentford, though, wasn’t the winner, but rather the off-ball movement, flicks, and interplay between Hojlund and teammates Bruno Fernandes and Garnacho, especially,
He may only be 21 years old, but Hojlund plays the game with the awareness and industry of a player who has been in the Premier League for more than just one season.
Manchester United fans are praising Garnacho and Hojlund with full force, and while it may seem as though the adulation is falling on listless ears, it may be within a calendar year that Hojlund’s play on the pitch becomes a boisterous din.
Who is the real Jadon Sancho?
Jadon Sancho immediately made an impact for Chelsea off the bench in a 1-0 win over a dangerous Bournemouth side on Sept. 15, finding the decisive assist. Then, Sancho went on to assist in two more games, including seven dribbles completed in a barnburner against Brighton.
Although the 2024 Champions League Finalist didn’t add to his goal or assist tally against Nottingham Forest on Oct. 6 before the international matches, the 24-year-old did have another above-average performance against one of the league’s best defenses with three key passes and three dribbles completed.
It looked like Sancho was clicking with his teammates and on his way to finding his best level in the Premier League after returning to form on a six-month loan to Borussia Dortmund last season, washing away the bitter stench of his tenure at Old Trafford.
However, Sancho reminded both Manchester United and Chelsea fans of the player Erik ten Hag banished to the bench, performing so poorly in Chelsea’s marquee matchup with Premier League leaders Liverpool that he was subbed off after 45 minutes.
With Mykhaylo Mudryk completely out of the squad, Sancho did his best to do an impression of the former Shakhtar man’s worst performances. He was completely invisible, and had he been at even half his usual playmaking capacity, perhaps Chelsea would have at least gotten a point out of an eventual 2-1 loss to Liverpool in what was a hard-fought match.
Sancho’s stats were goose eggs against Liverpool, in stark contrast to his two tenures at Dortmund, in which you could scarcely pick out a match – Champions League or Bundesliga – in which Sancho failed to make at least any sort of a positive impact.
Because even when Sancho wasn’t at his best in Germany, he still managed to at least create something. In England, Sancho is having too many matches when he fails to produce, especially in big games.
Since Sancho led Dortmund to the Champions League Final and was beyond brilliant against Kylian Mbappe’s PSG, it’s hard to believably call Sancho a flop in big games; that’s lazy, reductive thinking.
But it is fair to wonder if Sancho has the physical and technical consistency to be a world-class player in a less expansive league, week in and week out. Chelsea, at worst, are going to have a difference-maker off the bench in Sancho, but, even speaking as a fan of his game, the jury is still out on his ability to be world-class outside of Germany.
At least in Chelsea’s case, it may not matter as much, because unlike Manchester United, they won’t be paying nearly 100 million euros for his services if they want a permanent transfer at the end of the season; Sancho will only cost 23-29 million euros, with the Blues gladly paying the higher end of that range if they place well in the league table.
Is Arsenal blowing their best chance?
When Manchester City superstar defensive midfielder Rodri, one of the favorites to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, went down with a torn ACL, all eyes immediately shifted to the Emirates Stadium.
That injury was viewed as Arsenal’s best chance to usurp Man City and establish themselves as champions after two hard-fought title races in which the Gunners blew their lead in equivocal fashion, with the final results ultimately favoring the Citizens more than the North Londoners would have liked.
This past weekend, Man City found the last-gasp winner to pull ahead of Wolves and secure all three points, whereas Arsenal could not overcome their own big-name injuries and an early red card to star center back William Saliba.
The Gunners 2-0 loss to Bournemouth raises serious questions about the squad. Yes, they will be much better with their two best players, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, at 100 percent.
However, a lot of the problems Arsenal have in 2024/25 remain the same from previous iterations of the squad that failed to win the Premier League title over Manchester City.
Firstly, their depth at key attacking and midfield positions remains questionable, and their overall goal-scoring star power in the attack is severely lacking after a quaint offseason that featured no real attacking signings.
Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori will pay dividends for the Gunners but not in a scoring sense. And with Manchester City fronted by Erling Haaland and Liverpool featuring a multitude of scoring options alongside the league’s best player in Mohamed Salah, Arsenal are losing the arm’s race.
Their biggest cause for concern in the Premier League title race, though, has more to do with Liverpool, who have raised their level under new manager Arne Slot. The Dutchman has gotten more out of Luis Diaz, Ryan Gravenberch, and others than Jurgen Klopp did.
Cody Gakpo, Gravenberch, and Diaz are like the cliche “new signings” when comparing their 2024/25 output thus far to what they did last season. Liverpool, not Man City, are first in the league compared to Arsenal’s third, and they have made the tactical improvements this summer with a new manager that Arsenal truthfully have not under Mikel Arteta.
As Slot improves Liverpool and even Enzo Maresca does the same with Chelsea, a microcosm may be placed on Arteta after the initial – and well-deserved – praise of his ability to raise Arsenal back to title contention wears off.
When that time comes, Arteta will be scrutinized more closely in comparison to the mentor he is chasing, Pep Guardiola, and the rising tide of Maresca, Slot, and predecessor Unai Emery.
To say that Arsenal are not in title contention, among the favorites, or a great team would be wholly unfair. But to say that they are better than Manchester City or Liverpool at this snapshot in time would not be objectively true when looking at the table.
Arsenal have to be more self critical. They were caught up in the praise of two second-placed finishes after lull periods from Chelsea and Liverpool, and now that these two teams are improving with Aston Villa in the mix, they are finding that their level still isn’t at that definitive, championship status they should have been pursuing starting in 2023 after their first big title challenge.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.