The English Premier League wrapped up its fifth weekend of action on Sunday, Sept. 20.
Manchester City is the league’s surprise leader with a perfect 15 points from five games; Tottenham Hotspur remains firmly in last place with just two points from its opening rounds of fixtures.
Here are the key storylines from a busy weekend of EPL action:
Arsenal and Hull finally stumbled
The beginning of Arsenal’s season was so strong — four wins from four with a +7 goal difference — that it led many pundits to whisper words like invincible. You remember the Invincibles, of course: they were the Arsenal side of 2003-04 that won the Premier League without losing a single game. No other team has pulled off the feat since.
Well, it looks like it’ll be at least one more season until one does. Arsenal fell 3-0 to Brighton on Matchday 5 to kill its invincible campaign in spectacular fashion. The team was close to full strength — only defender William Saliba was missing from the starting 11, and he’s been missing all season thanks to his back injury — but it simply couldn’t get going against Brighton. The Seagulls were up 2-0 by halftime and never took their feet off of Arsenal’s neck.
Arsenal wasn’t the only undefeated team to crack this weekend: Newly-promoted Hull City fell 2-1 to Newcastle to end its four-game Premier League unbeaten run.
Man City, Brentford and Leeds remained undefeated
It looks like it’ll be at least one more season before a team pulls off an invincible Premier League campaign, but there are still three unbeaten teams in the race in 2026-27. Manchester City, perfect under new coach Enzo Maresca and high off a 5-3 win over Sunderland on Matchday 5 looks the likeliest to pull off the feat — but Brentford and Leeds have yet to lose this season either. (Brentford beat Chelsea 3-0 and Leeds drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace to maintain their streaks.) Both have two wins and three draws from their opening five matches; neither are receiving anywhere near the coverage they deserve for it. Ignore them at your peril.
