The Premier League is back with its trademark drama, and there is one team that is currently thriving amid the chaos. Liverpool romped to the title by a mighty ten points last season, losing just once in their first 30 games to finish well clear of perennial runners-up Arsenal. Once again, the Reds have started the 2025/26 campaign in blistering fashion.
Arne Slot’s men have rocketed out of the blocks, reeling off three straight wins, including a last-gasp winner away at Newcastle United before a nervy 1-0 victory at home to Arsenal, with Dominik Szoboszlai’s late free-kick stunner enough to dispatch The Gunners at Anfield. Before the campaign got underway, online sports betting sites had made the Merseysiders the favorites for the title, and those odds have shrunk even further after the first three games of the season. The latest Bovada sports betting odds currently have Liverpool listed as a 5/4 frontrunner, well clear of both Arsenal and Manchester City.
If that wasn’t enough, the Reds have also added striker Alexander Isak to their already supercharged frontline, bringing in the Swedish hitman for a British record fee of £125m. But while they are parading their new hero around Anfield, managers elsewhere are already facing the suffocating heat that defines English football’s top tier. The calculus for a Premier League manager is cruelly simple: win, or prepare for the axe. And for this trio, that axe could be swinging sooner rather than later.
Embed tweet here – https://x.com/bovadaofficial/status/1956086653413679143?s=46&t=Jxc74bqcdlQ9Bjed4TR1Jw
Ruben Amorim
Manchester United’s aura has faded into anxiety in the decade-plus since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. However, Ruben Amorim’s reign currently stands at ground zero, and the end could well be nigh.
The Portuguese manager’s record is damning: 27 points from 29 Premier League games—a paltry 0.93 per game, a return that would all but guarantee relegation over the course of a full season—dragged the Red Devils to their lowest finish since the Premier League began last season. His much-vaunted 3-4-3, a symphony in his homeland, has crashed in England. United look stiff without the explosiveness of Marcus Rashford, with players reportedly bewildered and unsold on their manager’s vision.
The shattering Carabao Cup exit to League Two’s Grimsby Town wasn’t just an upset—it was humiliation, catalyzing unrest in the dressing room and pushing bookmakers to slash sacking odds. Amorim’s post-match interviews, laden with frustration, barely disguised his own doubts. Even the narrow 3-2 home win over Burnley felt hollow, celebrated with wild relief usually reserved for historic nights, not a scrape against newly promoted opposition. Even so, Amorim post-game spoke like a manager ready to walk out the door.
A deeper look at United’s metrics exposes more rot: an expected goals deficit, one of the league’s weakest defenses, and an attack that never fires consistently. This once-mighty club is now a crisis in motion. New signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo look like bright sparks in an otherwise gloomy Old Trafford. Both of them have their work cut out if they are to save their gaffer’s job.
Unai Emery
Unai Emery’s reign at Aston Villa should be cast in bronze, transforming the Villans from potential relegation candidates to Champions League quarterfinalists. Yet now, the blessing of even more European qualification is shadowed by its burden. Expectations have soared, but the summer’s PSR-imposed transfer freeze clipped their wings. The result? A team void of reinforcements that has stumbled out of the blocks.
A goalless opening day draw at home to Newcastle hardly set alarm bells ringing, but their 1-0 away reverse at relegation candidates Brentford a week later certainly did. Then, the disastrous 3-0 home loss to Crystal Palace on matchday three sent Villa Park into full-blown panic mode.
Villa’s numbers paint a sharp regression: chance creation has collapsed by nearly a quarter, while their expected goals tally hints they’re lucky to have avoided greater punishment. Emery’s intricate tactical plans falter without fresh blood or squad depth, and the fixture list grows crueler with every upcoming European matchday. But even before further games roll around, their record through the first three is already cause for concern: three games played, two games lost, no goals scored.
The Villa faithful, emboldened by rare continental nights brought to them by their current Spanish boss, are somewhat forgiving, for now. Emery’s track record gives him a thread of safety, but make no mistake—the mood at Villa Park is shifting, and patience is finite. If things don’t pick up in the coming weeks, don’t be surprised to see the former Arsenal manager on the unemployment line.
Graham Potter
Graham Potter was supposed to be the architect of West Ham’s next era; instead, he is the face of its regression. His side has managed just five wins in 22 league games—a sobering 22.7% win rate. Losses to Sunderland and Chelsea – the latter of those a 5-1 drubbing on home turf – alongside a demoralizing Carabao Cup exit to Wolves, have eroded faith everywhere from boardroom to terraces.
Defensive calamity stalks every match: West Ham are conceding over two goals per game, undone repeatedly by a high defensive line hopeless against pace, and an insistence on building from the back with players ill-suited to the task. Fans grumble about a lack of grit, and confusion reigns on the pitch.
Rotating the squad to save legs for bigger matches has backfired, signaling indifference for cup runs the fans crave. The bookmakers now put Potter at 11/10 to be the first Premier League manager sacked—odds that reflect collective impatience more than mere speculation. A shock 3-0 away victory at Nottingham Forest has stemmed the tide somewhat, but if more defeats return in the coming weeks, the Englishman’s head will almost certainly be on the chopping block.
