The most astonishing set of results yet, in an already very unpredictable Premier League season, and the different environment in which the English top flight is operating have raised the prospect of unexpected champions.
With Manchester City having conceded five goals at home for the first time in 438 games the weekend before last against Leicester City, champions Liverpool continued the trend of extraordinary results at Aston Villa.
In their remarkable 7-2 defeat on Sunday, Liverpool became the first reigning English top-flight champions to ship seven goals in a league match since Arsenal against Sunderland in 1953, but goals flowing this season are anything but abnormal.
A stunned Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said his side did “all the things you should not do in a football match” as they “lost the plot” to play into Aston Villa’s hands.
“We played into their hands, with all the goals,” Klopp said. “Then the game has a specific direction.
“The first goal had an impact but it shouldn’t. We conceded goals like that in the past, but the reaction wasn’t good, and we lost the plot.”
The result came hours after Manchester United suffered their joint-heaviest Premier League defeat against Tottenham Hotspur, a 6-1 drubbing, with both games contributing to a total of 41 goals in a single Premier League round of matches.
“I want the Premier League to be a bit more like this season,” former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports. “When you are talking about 95 points to win the league, it is remarkable, but in some ways it kills the Premier League.
“I’d like to go back to when winning the league was mid-80 points. It just means you lose more games and there is more excitement, and the teams who finish fourth, fifth and sixth are not as far behind.”
“I think this season could be unique.”
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said his team’s 6-1 hammering was his worst day at the club.
“It’s a horrible feeling, the worst day I’ve had as a Manchester United manager and player,” said the Norwegian after his side, reduced to 10 men for the last hour, were ripped apart by Jose Mourinho’s Spurs.
Mourinho used the result to deliver a sharp riposte to critics of his “defensive” style, saying his team would have scored 10 if only they had a more attacking coach.
“Imagine if they have an attacking coach,” Mourinho said. “With a defensive coach, they scored ... six. With an attacking coach they'll score 10, 11, 12.”
With no fans in stadiums, home advantage is not as important as fewer matches, on average, are being won by home teams than in any of the last five seasons.
Carragher believes if teams like Villa, who only just avoided relegation last season, can humble Liverpool, with Everton remaining top of the table going into the international break, more surprises could be on the cards.
“There was no pre-season, it is a condensed league to get all the fixtures in,” Carragher added. “There is no time for coaches to work with their teams on the training pitch to iron out defensive frailties, as we have seen with almost every team this season.
“We might get a Leicester season (they won the Premier League title in 2015-16) and get a new champions, and even a strange top four, and I think that bodes well for the Premier League this season.”
