It seems to be that the general attention so far this season is focused on teams that are struggling and under-performing.
The highly-coveted ‘sack race’ fills the majority of the talk on the airwaves and the column inches, with a new club in crisis and a new manager in danger of losing his job every Monday.
You could argue that its always been a bit like that, in England especially, but there is a new weight to it this season with so many of the renowned ‘top six’ struggling to inflict their authority on the league.
Tottenham have been in disarray long before the 2019/20 campaign kicked off but they finally went to the well last week – replacing Mauricio Pochettino with the infamous Jose Mourinho.
Speculation is rife about Unai Emery’s position at Arsenal at this moment in time and even though there have been recent improvements in performances and results, you have to wonder whether the availability of Pochettino will have a few ears burning at Old Trafford.
With all eyes on what is going wrong with the big boys, it’s allowed a few of the smaller clubs to creep under the cracks.
Sheffield United and Chris Wilder deserve immense credit for their start to the season while Burnley had quietly moved into the top six at the weekend.
But it’s a team that many had predicted would have been best placed to break into the top six before the emergence of Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City.
BRAGA VS WOLVES – ALL THE ODDS
Nuno Espirito Santo and Wolverhampton Wanderers are currently sat in fifth place in the Premier League table.
They find themselves seven points behind Chelsea who occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot at this stage and there may be mumbles around Molineux that qualification for Europe’s elite competition may well be in their grasps this season.
Its remarkable how well the team from the Black Country are doing domestically considering that old anchorage of having to deal with the Europa League and all those annoying extra games that brings.
Except Wolves and their fans have embraced Europe’s less-attractive sibling and they are the ones who are currently enjoying an away day in Portugal as they face Braga on Thursday evening.
A few tricky results at the start of the season may have left a few uneasy twitches in Wolverhampton, particularly the 5-2 defeat at home to Chelsea but Espirito Santo’s side found a high level of resilience and have been unbeaten in their eight league games since then.
That huge 2-0 victory at the Etihad over the champions Manchester City spurred that unbeaten run on, and with Wolves having accumulated the most draws in the league so far (7), its clear they have made themselves hard to beat.
There are rumours that the Wolves boss might well be in the running for the manager’s job at the Emirates stadium should they get rid of Emery, with BBC Sport reporting that he is being considered by people from inside the club.
Looking at the work the former Porto manager has done since joining Wolves in 2017 you can make the case for why he would be coveted by one of the biggest clubs in the country.
A return to his homeland awaits Nuno on Thursday night, where his side can seal their place in the last-32 of the Europa League with a win at the picturesque Municipal Stadium.
Looking at the potential of both Arsenal and Wolves currently, perhaps Nuno may be best staying in the Midlands.
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