Ranking Arsenal’s top six rivals after dramatic opening Premier League weekend

The opening weekend of the 2026/27 Premier League season has played out in its entirety, and it's safe to say Arsenal have justified their status as favourites for the title.

The Gunners strolled to a perfunctory three points against Coventry City on Friday night, starting the defence of their crown with a resounding victory. Goals from Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard saw off Frank Lampard's men and saw Mikel Arteta's team make something of a statement on opening night.

Not only will Arteta have been delighted with his own team's performance, but he certainly won't have been particularly concerned with what his rivals were able to produce. On the whole, the rest of the top six disappointed, and Arsenal supporters were able to bask in some schadenfreude.

With that said, here are some early-season power rankings for the rest of the top six, based on what we witnessed over the weekend curtain-raiser.

Tottenham may not have had many of the forwards they expect to use next season available to them for their trip to Brentford, but they did have most of the defenders they're likely to roll out on a weekly basis. Despite this, they produced a diabolical defensive display at the Gtech Community Stadium, conceding three goals and well over three expected goals.

While Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi might add value to Spurs in possession, their inability to negate a fluid Brentford attack would've seriously concerned Roberto De Zerbi. These additions are supposed to have been how Spurs have levelled up during the off-season, but they looked all at sea on their debuts.

The dire nature of this showing from the Lilywhites has certainly quashed the optimism around De Zerbi's side and the idea that they could mount a charge for Champions League qualification. They'll improve on this horrific performance in West London as they get more of their players back, but it's reasonable to suggest they won't be making inroads into the top six just yet.

Arsenal don't need to be remotely worried about their North London rivals for the time being.

Much like Spurs, the pre-season optimism around Manchester United has immediately been punctured following their opening weekend fixture. The Red Devils were comfortably beaten by a Hull City side widely tipped to finish rock bottom of the division.

Defensively, they were caught out somewhat unfortunately with two set-pieces. This can happen, and Michael Carrick won't be overly concerned with what he saw on this front. It's what his team did in possession which raises serious questions about their credentials moving forward.

Up against what should be the worst defence in the league - at least on paper - United created very few clear-cut chances despite dominating the ball. Their attackers, who largely thrive in transition and did so last season, struggled to break down a stubborn low block. With more teams likely to adopt this pragmatic tactical approach against them this season as they take the north-west outfit more seriously, they're more likely to find it difficult as an attacking team.

On top of this, the new double pivot didn't look convincing, with Andrey Santos offering little on the ball and Youri Tielemans looking unsurprisingly defensively lightweight.

Carrick's team aren't likely to trouble Arsenal in the title race.

What stood out most about Liverpool on the opening weekend was the severe lack of depth in Andoni Iraola's squad, which is going to prove to be a huge issue if they don't make a number of signings between now and the end of the window.

In attack, in particular, the Basque manager had so few options to pick from. The Reds finished the game with 20-year-old Lewis Koumas on the pitch, while 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha played over an hour out of position on the right.

Performance-wise, there were reasons for positivity which neither Spurs nor United could boast, but there were also plenty of concerns for Iraola to take back to Merseyside.

Liverpool looked extremely vulnerable in transition, with their marauding full-backs and ill-disciplined midfielders leaving Virgil van Dijk and Jeremy Jacquet on an island throughout. If they don't fix this issue, they'll get exposed far too often to challenge Arsenal for the title.

That said, there was enough on the offensive side for Iraola to be encouraged. It took them time, but in the second half they started to threaten with some neat combinations in and around the box, as Newcastle tired.

Like Liverpool, City's first league match under their new manager yielded a mixed performance. Unlike their Merseyside counterparts, however, they emerged with all three points.

A late fightback against the Cherries papered over some of the cracks in the Citizens' first post-Pep Guardiola encounter. The positive for Enzo Maresca is that his side were able to pile the pressure on late in the game, and eventually this pressure told, and they ultimately emerged victorious.

However, it's what the Italian's team did in the opening hour which will concern him. Defensively, they were undone by one nice move from Bournemouth, but generally were pretty effective at negating Marco Rose's outfit's attack. On the ball, they struggled to progress it into forward areas frequently enough - perhaps a symptom of not having Rodri - while there was very little ingenuity around the box, with most of their threat coming from set-pieces.

They can certainly challenge Arsenal for the title, but their first performance of the season didn't make them look like the most likely contenders to dethrone the Gunners.

Chelsea's first match under Xabi Alonso was far from perfect, but there were plenty of encouraging signs. Most notably, the balance in their attack looked right.

Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers are perfectly suited to these inside forward roles, with neither being a true ten nor a true winger. Their profiles also perfectly complement each other, with Palmer taking the creative burden and Rogers largely filling an off-ball role, where his job is to crash the box and get shots off.

The England duo dovetailed with Joao Pedro nicely, and this led to a fluid attacking performance away at Craven Cottage.

That said, there are reasons to temper expectations over the Blues based on their outing against Fulham. Robert Sanchez's disastrous display highlighted how not having a goalkeeper of the requisite quality can hinder a team, no matter how good they are.

On top of this, there were teething issues defensively with the new back three system. Intelligent Fulham movement caused the Chelsea backline issues throughout, and the players will need to grow more accustomed to this system if they're to mount a title charge.

Overall, the West Londoners looked the most accomplished of the pretenders, but none of them will have Arsenal quaking in their boots.

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