Five biggest surprises of the Premier League season so far | OneFootball

Just how bad Fulham are

Talk before the campaign started was of how well-equipped Wolves and Fulham were to handle life in the Premier League. Only one of those things was true.

Whereas Wolves spent big to bring in experienced talent ready to complement their title-winning squad, Fulham splurged a ridiculous amount of money on completely overhauling their starting XI to embarrassing effect.

The west London club are three managers and seven months in, and yet still no one at Craven Cottage has a clue who should be the backbone of that team.

They’ll be going back down to the Championship and won’t be blighting the Premier League again for a while.

The trajectory of Chelsea’s season

Maurizio Sarri’s appointment last summer was one filled with promise and looked, at the time, to be taking Chelsea in a new, exciting direction.

The Italian played a brand of football at Napoli that was widely regarded as one of the most thrilling in Europe, with Pep Guardiola proclaiming himself president of the Sarriball Fan Club.

What a difference eight months makes.

It’s been shocking to see the lack of development at Chelsea this term but what’s even more remarkable is the trajectory of how they’ve got to this point.

It’s easy to forget now, but Chelsea didn’t lose a game until November. They went 18 matches unbeaten at the start of the campaign and were spoken about as genuine title contenders.

It’s almost the complete opposite of what many expected to happen, and it really does feel like this will be the Italian’s only campaign in England.

A proper case of ‘what could have been’.

Everything about Solskjaer at Manchester United

It was categorically not a surprise that José Mourinho was shown the door at Manchester United.

The Portuguese tactician’s three-year tenure at Old Trafford followed his usual boom and bust formula so there was no shock in seeing him go before 2018 was up.

What has been shocking though, and continues to dumbfound almost everyone, is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as manager of Britain’s biggest club.

From his initial appointment, to the astounding early form, through to that night in Paris and the way he’s improved the forward players in particular, Solskjaer at Manchester United has been a weekly exercise in open-mouthed awe.

Is this just a short-term fix and ultimately not what the club needs? Maybe.

Do United fans care one bit right now? Probably not.

Unai Emery’s changing of the Arsenal mentality

This was always going to be something of a transitional season for Arsenal following the departure of their all-seeing-eye.

Arsène Wenger departed after 22 years to an outpouring of emotion but a realisation that he’d taken the Gunners as far as he could – and then stayed an extra 10 years.

In came Unai Emery and despite some bumps along the way (who remembers Anfield?), it has undoubtedly been a successful first campaign for the Spaniard.

Perhaps the biggest change Emery has made to this Arsenal side has been their change in mentality, specifically when it comes to games against the other top six clubs.

In Wenger’s last season, Arsenal managed five points against their rivals for Champions League football – this season, it’s 10 already, more than any in the previous decade.

It’s an incredible swing in such a short space of time and shows the real power of proper preparation and coaching.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka

Well, who saw this one coming?

From not getting into the matchday squad to becoming their star player, it’s been quite the season for Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

His rise has been truly remarkable to the point where not being called up to this month’s England team was as big a shock as any on this list.

He may only be 21 but the Palace academy graduate has showed maturity beyond his years for Roy Hodgson’s side and is, it’s not exaggeration to say, one of the first names on the team-sheet.

Both Arsenal and Bayern Munich have been linked with €45m moves for the right-back over the summer and that may look small change in 12 months time if his performances improve at the same rate.