EPL 2020: Premier League, News, Table, Results, Results, Everton, Aston Villa,...

Who expected the Premier League ladder to look like this after five rounds? Not us.

Everton at the top, unbeaten in their five games. Villa with four league wins out of four for the first time since 1930, including the reigning champions’ notable 7-2 breakdown.

It’s still early, and (almost) no one predicts that these two will still make the top settlement at the end of the 38th round. But this start of the season was exceptional.

So two underdogs stunned the best league in the world.

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Everton’s epic rise

When Carlo Ancelotti was appointed manager of Everton on December 21, 2019, the Toffees had only just returned from the relegation zone under interim boss Duncan Ferguson. They had 19 points from 18 games. At the end of the season they had 49 points (38 games).

By then it was clear that the three-time Champions League winner had significantly improved the fate of his team. Part of this is down to the standard new manager bounce – it opened with only one loss from its first eight league games – but few would deny the impact it had on the blue half of Merseyside.

It was crucial that he was then supported by the club owners in the transfer market. Rather than settling for one superstar player, Ancelotti spread the tens of millions of pounds he received over a series of arrivals. The Brazilian Allan and the French Abdoulaye Doucoure in midfield. Talented English youngster Ben Godfrey in defense.

None of them would have stolen the headlines alone. Together they could lead Everton to Champions League football.

The group’s biggest arrival was James Rodriguez, the Colombian star of the 2014 World Cup, who fell out of favor with Real Madrid and decided to reunite with his favorite coach for the third time in his career. It’s hard to imagine the hugely popular player at Liverpool – or at least Goodison Park – ending up at the top without Ancelotti.

Then there was the key role change for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, which Ancelotti quickly moved forward and centrally into a role that was more like the role of a traditional poacher. Instead of roaming the park (especially down the right flank) and falling deep in search of the ball, the English striker now has the option of waiting for the ball to come to him – and then clinically burying it in the net .

He is Everton’s fastest runner and sprints more than almost any other player in the park in almost every game. That hasn’t changed. Neither has its physicality and air skills. But with James Rodriguez pinging one long ball at a time from behind the line to collect it, and with lots of crosses coming him into the advanced positions inside the box, the number of chances – and goals – is up shot.

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It’s a game plan that has benefited immensely from the improved attack creativity and control in the middle of the park that Everton’s redesigned midfield offers. Just look at how it went against Liverpool: a raking James Long ball found Calvert-Lewin behind the Liverpool lines. It led to a corner that led to a Michael Keane goal. Calvert-Lewin (now worth A $ 65 million, according to transfermarkt.co.uk) scored his own goal with an increasingly trademarked header after an Olympic high jump.

The results speak for themselves: Calvert-Lewin has now scored seven goals in five league games, making him the first Everton player to score in each of the club’s first five league games since Tommy Lawton between 1938 and 1939.

This is not intended to alleviate the problems with toffees. James doesn’t like following back on what Liverpool largely took advantage of in the first half. Key figure Richarlison is set to miss three games for his shocking tackle late in the Merseyside Derby. Jordan Pickford still seems like an unsteady pair of hands between the sticks.

But this team has already proven that they can challenge the champions over 90 minutes and made a statement that they are not happy just to be known as the “other” team in Liverpool.

Late Villa Banger sinks foxes

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From relegation fighters to 90-year-olds

Everton finished 12th last season so their rise to the top of this campaign is very impressive. Even more amazing is Villa, who was inches from relegation last season just so Captain Jack Grealish could save her on the final day.

While Villa splashed the money on a slew of new players in the last off-season and overtook almost their entire squad after their promotion to the top division, this year it was about quality over quantity.

Chelsea loanee Ross Barkley was the key man in Villa’s 1-0 win over Leicester. In the final minutes, he scored two hits with a rocket for him in two Premier League games for the Villains.

At the age of 26, the 33-man English midfielder is in his prime and is eager to perform to secure a place on the plane for the 2021 Euro Championship.

“It is a real coup for our club to win a player of Ross’ quality and I am sure that he will be successful here and improve our team,” said coach Dean Smith upon arrival.

Other big signings had an immediate impact: Ollie Watkins (three goals and one assist), Emiliano Martínez and Matty Cash are significant improvements on the first team, while Bertrand Traoré has shown brilliant flashes and has solid long-term prospects.

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Dean Smith’s reorganization of his previously leaky defense has also proven critical to her advancement. Martinez in goals and cash on the right have strengthened the defense, but so has Ezri Konsa in the center of the defense.

The versatile youngster spent a long time in the center-back and right-back last season. But things changed when Konsa returned to the central defensive role for the final four PL games of the last campaign. Villa remained undefeated and only cashed twice. Changing roles has been a major factor in her survival and Konsa’s good form has continued into the new campaign.

Four more unbeaten games set the overall record since switching to eight games, six wins and two draws with only four goals conceded (and two of them were Mohammed Salah!).

Then there is Jack Grealish. Last season’s talisman captain looked very determined at times to keep his childhood club in the top division, even if it meant carrying the entire club’s hopes on his shoulders.

Once again, most expected him to leave in the off-season when the heavyweight clubs knocked out. He stayed and reaped the rewards. If nothing else, he looks like he is loving his football. Villa fans will be too.

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Heavyweights start slowly

Part of the reason the top of the table reads this is no doubt due to their rivals’ slow starts. Last season Liverpool started with five out of five wins. The season ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea was perfect after five rounds – Everton’s 13 points from five rounds would have put them in third place alongside Manchester City. In 2017-18, both City and United had 13 points from their first five games.

This season Liverpool have been humiliated by Villa. Tottenham demolished Man United but had a three-goal lead over West Ham in the last ten minutes. It’s similar for all top teams: inconsistencies, mistakes and defensive sloppiness have cost them time and again.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said after beating Newcastle 4-1 this weekend: “The season started for us today.

“We reached the speed of the game and it showed.”

It didn’t take Everton or Aston Villa four games to catch up. You have been traveling at pace since day one – at Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s great pace.

The pressure on the heavyweights is on to catch up.