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Loyalty, history and $5 beers: Why fans still come out to see the Chicago White Sox

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Loyalty, history and  beers: Why fans still come out to see the Chicago White Sox

CHICAGO — Seventy times a year, Barry Antoniazzi tosses on his black No. 27 jersey with “Bagodonuts” stitched onto the back, dons a firefighter helmet covered in Chicago White Sox pins and walks a block and a half to his baseball sanctuary.

Antoniazzi grew tired of paying for parking at Guaranteed Rate Field, so 11 years ago, he moved to W. 35th Street and S. Parnell Avenue where, in a normal year, he can hear celebratory postgame fireworks from his residence.

This is, of course, no normal year, and the skies over the ballpark are quiet nearly every night. The White Sox haven’t won a home game in more than a month, and stand on the doorstep of undesirable history as they limp toward the 1962 New York Mets’ record of 120 losses.

And yet, Antoniazzi’s faith in the franchise hasn’t wavered, even though his house of worship has become a house of horrors that has hosted one defeat after another. On Tuesday, Antoniazzi, a paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department, watched his beloved, beleaguered club drop its 26th game in 27 attempts at home. Just as no two snowflakes are exactly alike, the White Sox have repeatedly found new and increasingly painful ways to lose in a season that has felt like one long, extraordinary blizzard on the South Side.

On Monday, Cleveland Guardians rookie spot starter Joey Cantillo retired the first 20 hitters he faced. On Tuesday, a line drive to the thigh knocked out Guardians starter Ben Lively after two innings, but the team’s bullpen covered the last seven frames to seal a shutout. On Wednesday, Lane Thomas delivered a pair of two-run infield singles to fuel a Cleveland sweep.

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Antoniazzi traveled to San Francisco last month to complete his mission of watching the White Sox in all 30 ballparks. He’s drawn to Guaranteed Rate Field for the chance at seeing something new — he’s never witnessed a no-hitter in person, for instance — and to support a team he insists can only go up from here.

“We’re not going to be this bad forever,” he said. “We’re going to get better. So when we do get good, I can say, ‘I stuck with them through thick and thin.’ That’s what keeps me coming back.”

Antoniazzi is not alone in his loyalty; some of the few thousand fans in attendance each night are true diehards, willing to stick with their team even as it careens towards the worst season in baseball history. But what inspires others to pass through the turnstiles? Why do they choose to devote several hours to watching a predictable ending unfold on the diamond instead of, say, cruising along the Chicago River on an architectural boat tour, or riding the Centennial Wheel at Navy Pier, or watching pennant races play out on the TVs at Timothy O’Toole’s Pub, or shopping on Michigan Avenue, or even just lounging on the living room sofa?

The White Sox sold 11,429 tickets for Monday’s game, though the true attendance count appeared to be less than half of that. There was a slight uptick Tuesday, maybe because of a $5 beer promotion or because fans wanted to snatch up some of the last Campfire Milkshakes of the season. Or there’s another reason, one that has grown in importance as this impressively bad season has worn on: witnessing the train wreck, one loss at a time.

“We’re here to see them make history,” as one fan put it.

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For others, the wins and losses don’t particularly matter. Many attendees were in town for business, and had a night to spare and a couple beers to guzzle. Brent Poole, from near Winnipeg, said he consumed the best hot dog of his life at Tuesday’s game. As they weaved through the concourse in center field, Poole and Russ Palm studied the statues of Charles A. Comiskey, Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox. Poole hadn’t visited the stadium in 25 years; it was Palm’s first visit.

“Even though people aren’t here,” Palm said, “it’s still fun to come see this. Every park is different.”


The Campfire Milkshake has been one of the few bright spots in the 2024 White Sox season. (Matt Dirksen / Getty Images)

Dan Murby traveled to Chicago from Boston this week for work, and since he’s already attended a Bulls game and a Blackhawks game — and since the Cubs were on the road — he spent Tuesday night leaning against a right-field drink rail as the White Sox sputtered toward their 113th loss. Dylan Jones and Gavin Orr, in town for the International Manufacturing Technology Show, hail from upstate New York, where, Jones said, “There’s nothing near us.” Jones visits Chicago every other year, and he tries to attend a White Sox game on each trip, no matter the team’s standing.

“I’m not even a baseball fan,” Jones said. “I just like some entertainment.”

One couple, with their wedding scheduled for Sept. 26, opted to treat Monday’s contest — their first baseball game — as a “first of firsts to start off our life together.”

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If their union can survive the 2024 White Sox, it can persevere through anything.

The small crowds make the scene almost eerie at times. As a concessionaire pushed an ice cream cart around the concourse on Monday, he sounded a bell that echoed throughout the venue. After a harmless Guardians groundout or a first-pitch strike by a Chicago pitcher, one could identify a fan’s individual claps from several sections away.

On Monday, one fan, staring out at a sea of empty forest-green seats, texted a buddy that he’s seen “livelier wakes on a Monday night.” That morbid feeling can take its toll. Out in center field, a middle-aged man stood behind a thigh-high railing, watching loss No. 112 because a friend gifted him four tickets, and so he took his son and his son’s two friends. When asked how long he has been a White Sox fan, the pain in his voice was palpable as he lamented, “My whole life.”

At least on this night, in this place, he had company in that.

“We’re at rock bottom right now,” said Nate Lutzow, who spent his 24th birthday at the ballpark on Tuesday. “I wish the team was better. That’d push me to be here more.”

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Still, there are silver linings. Some parents capitalized on the small crowds to take their children to their first game without having to navigate a chaotic scene with a toddler. Some took the opportunity to check the ballpark off their list in their bid to experience all 30 venues. A Philadelphian used his daughter’s relocation to Chicago as an excuse to see his 27th ballpark. A trio of New Yorkers spent last weekend taking in the Yankees-Cubs series at Wrigley Field and stuck around an extra day to catch the other team in town. One Clevelander donned a white Steven Kwan jersey and a black White Sox hat at Monday’s game, since he purchases a cap at every ballpark he visits.

Plenty of Guardians fans either made the 55-minute flight or the five-hour drive west past windmills and RV company billboards or happen to reside in the Windy City. Visiting fan takeovers have become the norm as the season has progressed.

Chris Ramos walks with his brother, Pat, and their friend, Jacob Swartley, to Guaranteed Rate Field for every game. They were running late for an Aug. 31 affair against the Mets, and as they approached the entrance, they heard an eruption of cheers from the crowd.

“We’re like, ‘Oh, what happened?’” Ramos said. “Look at the phone. Pete Alonso home run.”


The 1899 Cleveland Spiders lost 134 games, but most still consider the 1962 Mets and their 120 losses to be the record the White Sox are chasing. (Quinn Harris / Getty Images)

The diehards have certainly been tested this season. Randy Johnson attended games at Comiskey Park with his grandparents. He has bricks and seats from the old building, baseballs autographed by Frank Thomas and battle scars from decades as a White Sox fan. He made his friend, who has a Cubs tattoo on his right forearm, wear a White Sox jersey to Tuesday’s game.

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“You get to see the Sox play,” Johnson said. “We’re South Siders. Win or lose, it’s the place to be.”

Swartley and the Ramos brothers have occupied seats in the right-field corner at nearly every game for more than a decade. They launched a blog, “From The 108,” in 2016 and a podcast two years later. They’re as invested in the club as anyone.

“Other years, when the expectations were actually there,” Swartley said, “were much sadder than this year.”

Still, there have been games this year in which the team’s pitifulness has threatened their motivation. Pat lives three blocks from the ballpark, but he couldn’t convince himself to ditch his couch Monday night.

“It’s tough to get out of the house on a Monday night,” Chris said, “and then to see these guys? Even us, who try to come to so many games, we’re like, ‘Ehh, not tonight.’ I could totally understand why someone who has to make even a 15-minute drive here would go, ‘Nah, not until they show me something.’”

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The three friends debated the worst-case scenario for the White Sox over the final few weeks of this wretched regular season. The club figures to soar past that record mark of 120 losses.

“At this point, why not?” Pat said. “We came this far.”

“I think it would be more brutal to lose 119,” his brother countered.

“They’d need to get on a heater for that to happen,” Pat said, “so it’d be fun for a little bit.”

“They’d have to rip off 10 wins in a row,” Chris added.

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Pat pointed out that their season-long winning streak is four games.

“But they’ve had many 10-game losing streaks,” Pat said.

“As much as we enjoy coming to the ballpark,” Chris said, “I think the three of us are pretty much ready for this year to be over.”

It has been a season like few fanbases have ever endured, challenging the level of commitment of anyone who frequents Guaranteed Rate Field.

“I know we’re terrible this year,” Antoniazzi said, “but it doesn’t change the fact that I love baseball. I love the White Sox.”

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(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic. Photos: Quinn Harris/Getty Images; Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire)

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Tyreek Hill alleges police officer pinched his neck during arrest, 'trying to get me to do something to him'

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Tyreek Hill alleges police officer pinched his neck during arrest, 'trying to get me to do something to him'

Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill made allegations against one of the police officers who arrested him Sunday in Miami. 

Hill alleged during an interview on Amazon Prime Video ahead of the team’s “Thursday Night Football” game against the Buffalo Bills that one of the officers pinched him on the neck and tried to antagonize him.

“What people don’t know about, whenever I was handcuffed behind my back, the officer was pinching me on my neck, like trying to get me to do something to him,” Hill said. “It’s just crazy, next level crazy.” 

Bodycam footage released by the Miami-Dade Police Department did not show a full uninterrupted shot of Hill’s neck during the arrest, but it did show the hands of multiple police officers’ hands near his neck at different times. 

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Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill reacts after a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sept. 8, 2024. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

Hill did not specifically name the police officer he alleges tried to antagonize him. The officer who put Hill in handcuffs is 27-year veteran Danny Torres. 

Torres has since been assigned to administrative duties. The Miami-Dade Police director placed Torres on paid administrative duty after she said she reviewed the body camera footage from officers that day. Torres’ lawyers told Fox News Digital they are demanding that the officer be reinstated immediately.

“We call for our client’s immediate reinstatement, and a complete, thorough and objective investigation, as Director Daniels has also advocated. Our client will not comment until this investigation is concluded and the facts are fully revealed,” the lawyers said in a statement. 

The footage showed Hill was originally pulled over for speeding while approaching Hard Rock Stadium Sunday. Hill was told by an officer to roll down his window, and he handed the officer his driver’s license and repeatedly told the officer not to knock on his window. The footage also shows the officer asking Hill to keep his window down. The incident escalated when Hill didn’t comply.

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When the officer asked Hill to exit his vehicle, the wide receiver said, “I’m gonna get out, I’m gonna get out.” As the officer opened the door and removed Hill, the receiver said, “I’m getting out!” Then another officer grabbed Hill by the back of the head and neck area and forced him to the pavement to put him in handcuffs.

Hill was released after about 25 minutes, when his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, arrived. Hill was then heard telling officers he would “see y’all in court” before reentering his vehicle.

Hill and his attorneys called for Torres to be fired in a statement released Tuesday. On Wednesday, he doubled down on that stance in a team press conference.

DOLPHINS’ TYREEK HILL NOT BLAMELESS IN INCIDENT WITH POLICE OFFICERS, ESPN’S STEPHEN A SMITH SAYS

Tyreek Hill arrest

This bodycam image released by the Miami-Dade Police Department shows Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill being arrested during a traffic stop Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024.  (Miami-Dade Police Department via AP)

“Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. He gotta go man,” Hill said. “Because, in that instance right there, not only did he treat me bad. He also treated my teammates with disrespect. He had some crazy words toward them, and they ain’t even do nothing. Like, what did they do to you? They were just walking on the sidewalk. He gotta go man.” 

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The incident has incited several arguments about whether Hill or the police officer was in the wrong.

ESPN star Stephen A. Smith suggested Hill wasn’t excused from blame, but he insisted police acted with excessive force. 

“When it comes to Tyreek Hill, we also can’t let him completely off the hook based on the statement that was made by the police department in Florida,” Smith said Tuesday on ESPN’s “First Take.” 

“They said he was ‘uncooperative.’ We have a responsibility on this show and any kind of platform we can do make sure we’re doing anything we can to save lives, to make sure we’re doing what we can to ensure that somehow, some way, you get to live another day and fight that battle. We know how wrong they were. The police were excessive. No excuses. They should be ashamed of themselves, the way they acted. They just went overboard. Totally true.”

Former NBA star Charles Barkley made an appearance on Fox Sports 910 in Phoenix and criticized the media for focusing on Hill’s race throughout coverage of the incident. 

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“I hate that we’re gonna throw it in the media because you know the guys are gonna quickly go to race, and it bothers me,” Barkley explained. “We got so many fools in the media who love to play the race card. I said, ‘Wait a minute, they just did the same thing to Scottie Scheffler.’”

Tyreek Hill speaks to media

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill speaks during a postgame news conference Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Hill said Wednesday the incident will not result in him taking a knee during the national anthem for Dolphins games, nor will he call for police to be defunded. Kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial injustice became a flashpoint in the NFL during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the movement.

“Not for real, because like I said, I’m not going to mix the two,” the star wide receiver said. “I’m not going to take a knee. I’m not going to ask to defund the police. I’m not going to protest.” 

The Miami-Dade Police Department had not responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment at the time of publication. 

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Can Joey Bosa play Sunday after missing Chargers practice because of a back injury?

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Can Joey Bosa play Sunday after missing Chargers practice because of a back injury?

First he returned to the field. Now Joey Bosa is back on the injury report.

The Chargers’ star outside linebacker who has struggled with groin, hamstring and foot injuries in the last two seasons did not practice Thursday because of a back injury.

The Chargers practice in El Segundo on Friday before traveling to Charlotte, N.C., to face the Carolina Panthers at 10 a.m. PDT on Sunday. The final injury report will be released Friday afternoon.

After the Chargers’ 22-10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders last Sunday, Bosa was wearing a large bandage around his midsection to hold a bag of ice on his lower back. He was a limited participant during practice Wednesday.

Bosa, who was carted off the field in Week 11 last year because of a foot injury, entered training camp eager to prove he still is a Pro Bowl player.

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Chargers linebacker Joey Bosa (97) celebrates after sacking Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew (15).

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The sight of the 29-year-old chasing Raiders across the field at SoFi Stadium, racking up seven tackles with one sack and a forced fumble, confirmed Bosa’s potential when healthy.

“He’s that player,” coach Jim Harbaugh said this week. “You saw it in the production, the tackles, in the hustle, and he was great against the run and unblockable in the pass. I mean, huge game.”

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Bosa’s return, coupled with a similarly dominant game by Khalil Mack, helped the Chargers make a stellar first impression under first-year defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. The former Michigan coordinator who followed Harbaugh to the pro ranks after helping the Wolverines to the national championship said having Bosa and Mack together and healthy was the thing “you’re kind of dreaming about.”

Mack also had a game-wrecking performance against the Raiders with three tackles, 1½ sacks, a fumble recovery and a tipped pass that led to an interception.

“They kind of drive the engine of our defense,” Minter said Thursday, “the way they play, the energy, the physicality, the key, key plays.”

Although Bosa and Mack make possibly the best edge-rushing duo in the NFL, the Chargers still have depth behind the Pro Bowl players with second-year player Tuli Tuipulotu and free-agent signing Bud Dupree. During the preseason, Bosa said it was like having two sets of starters on the edge. Minter even lined up all four together at points during Sunday’s win.

Thursday, the Chargers also were without safety Alohi Gilman, who missed practice for a second consecutive day because of a knee injury. Defensive back Ja’Sir Taylor (fibula) was working with strength staffers on the side and in the weight room.

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Running back Hassan Haskins (toe), receiver Joshua Palmer (knee) and linebacker Denzel Perryman (thigh) were limited participants.

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Three games in is too early to trust the Premier League table… or is it?

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Three games in is too early to trust the Premier League table… or is it?

Nothing heralds the beginning of autumn more than people stating that it is “too early to look at the league table”. Listen to some and you might be convinced there was once a glorious era when those interested in football didn’t even glance at the standings until eight, 10, maybe even 12 games in.

The truth is that, even back in September 1888, when league football as a concept was only a week old, publications were printing the tables (albeit without the number of points won, as that detail had not been invented yet). Similarly, in the 1980s and 1990s, the BBC’s Ceefax news service and ITV equivalent Teletext happily displayed league tables to UK viewers after one round of games, because that was the point of that particular page. Seeing your team top of the pile after a surprise 5-0 opening-day win is a joyful sight, no matter what decade you are operating in.

Where anti-early-table campaigners may have a point is when it comes to extrapolating how a season will go, based on the nascent standings.

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Clubs have been crowned champions after starting badly, and Carlisle United won the first three games in 1974-75, their only year in the top flight, and finished last. But equally, in some seasons you can get a grasp of how things are going to turn out after only three games.

As the graph below shows, 2023-24 was one of those, with a 0.8 correlation between the table after three weeks in late August and its final form in the middle of May.

So, with a mere 7.9 per cent of the 2024-25 Premier League season completed, we asked some of our club writers how much they think the table reflects their club’s prospects for the rest of it.


Manchester City: Top of the league with a 100 per cent record and the leading scorers after three games. Is a fifth successive title inevitable?

Sam Lee: Whenever Pep Guardiola has been asked about City’s performance after these opening three games, he has not focused on many, if any, technical details or the actual quality of their displays, but the amount of commitment the players have shown in specific circumstances, such as defending throw-ins and tracking back. Those, he says, are signs that they have not dropped their motivation after winning the title for a fourth year in a row.

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We examined Man City’s streak of 49 successful throw-ins. For fun.

Stuff like that will probably give the biggest indication of their levels this season, because their quality is not in doubt, but whether they actually win the league again or not is another thing entirely. Arsenal and Liverpool have missed out by the tiniest of margins in recent years, and that can even happen to City when races are so tight. But it seems that, come the end of the season, they “will be there”, as Guardiola likes to say.


Liverpool (second): Maximum points, with the division’s best defence. That’s a mirror of 2018-19. Will the rest of 2024-25 pan out in the same way? And if so, is that a decent first season for head coach Arne Slot?

Gregg Evans: Let’s not get carried away, like last season when everything looked so sweet in the early months of the campaign. Granted, this has been a decent start under Slot and, if there’s one major difference, it’s the amount of control Liverpool are starting to find in games. They appear to be better equipped to go ahead and then hold onto a lead — the issue at times was conceding the first goal so often — so that’s a good sign.

Yet to get anywhere near their 2018-19 points tally of 97, which incredibly wasn’t enough to win the title as City got 98, there needs to be a significant change in the treatment room. Liverpool didn’t fall out of last season’s title race in March and April because the players weren’t good enough, they slipped away when injuries started to bite and levels dropped on the back of rushed returns by first-team faces.

It’s simple: keep the players fit and fresh, and Slot’s side have a great chance of finishing second, or one place higher.

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Arsenal (fourth): Two points dropped at home in the third game of the season, just like in 2023-24. That draw with Fulham, technically, cost them the title. Will 2024-25 be different?

Art de Roche: The main difference between last season and this one was supposed to be that Arsenal would be more settled. Mikel Arteta’s starting line-up did not evolve much with this summer’s transfer business, which has allowed some players to pick up where they left off, but the past two weeks have been tough.

New signing Mikel Merino suffered a shoulder injury in his first training session, Declan Rice was sent off against Brighton & Hove Albion and Martin Odegaard was forced off with injury playing for Norway on Monday night. While Rice will return from suspension after Sunday’s north London derby, it means Arsenal will miss the entirety of what was meant to be their first-choice midfield for at least one game. And that just increases the importance of negotiating an extremely tricky opening to the season, with a visit to Manchester City to come next Sunday.


Will Odegaard’s ankle injury undermine Arsenal’s title bid? (Mateusz Slodkowski/Getty Images)

Despite being two points off Guardiola’s side at this point last year, Arsenal still took the title race to the season’s final day. How they fare away to Tottenham Hotspur and then City in the next 10 days may determine their ceiling for 2024-25, so going into those matches with belief in each other and the system will be essential.


Newcastle United: They are fifth. Finishing there would be progress (and possibly bring Champions League qualification). Job done?

Chris Waugh: If you offered that as a final position to most Newcastle fans now, surely a decent proportion of them would take it following a turbulent summer in which the first XI simply was not strengthened and the Marc Guehi saga came to define their window. Performance-wise in these early games, Newcastle have yet to resemble an Eddie Howe outfit; there has been a lack of intensity and energy in their game. On the ball, they have been frustratingly wasteful, with a passing accuracy rate of just 73.96 per cent — the lowest in the Premier League.

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But there are two ways of evaluating Newcastle’s start.

The pessimistic one is that they have been extremely lucky. There is an argument they have deserved to lose all three of their opening fixtures given the balance of play and, if they continue to labour in this way, results will turn against them.


Howe has guided Newcastle to their best start since 2011-12 (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)

However, the more optimistic one, which this correspondent tends to subscribe to, is that Newcastle are unbeaten, are off to their best start in a league season under Howe and have accumulated their highest number of points after three games of a top-flight campaign since 2011-12. They are yet to really get going and, once fitness levels are boosted and now that everyone inside the club can refocus with the transfer window having closed, they will improve and have a strong platform from which to build.

The club’s stated target is securing European football for 2025-26, but fifth place would still represent quite the achievement, given the lack of fresh faces.


Aston Villa: Seventh right now — that’s where Newcastle finished after being in the Champions League disrupted their 2023-24 season. Will Villa do better than that, or not?

Jacob Tanswell: Villa had injuries last season, too. And still finished fourth. They were not a team that used excuses, nor did they let an intense schedule balancing domestic and European football allow minds to become tired. In the end, they ground out Champions League qualification and that type of staying power will be needed.

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Unai Emery’s side have started pretty well with two wins and one defeat — the latter coming against Arsenal in a game that could have gone either way. Villa will be aiming for a top-six finish provided injuries do not derail their hopes. Emery’s background in balancing European competitions with consistency in the league will be relied upon but a relative rejuvenation of the squad over the summer should keep it fresh.


Villa’s only defeat came to Arsenal – a game decided by fine margins (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Tottenham (10th): Good going forward, susceptible at the back, sat in mid-table. Which of those elements will change between now and the end of the season?

Jay Harris: Spurs were the protagonists in the biggest transfer of the summer, committing £65million ($84.9m) to sign striker Dominic Solanke — but he picked up an ankle injury on his debut in the opener against Leicester City and has missed the two games since. When Solanke is up and running, head coach Ange Postecoglou will be confident his side can show a ruthlessness in front of goal that was missing in their 2-1 away defeat against Newcastle. Centre-back Micky van de Ven was unavailable at St James’ Park too, so when Spurs have their full-strength XI available they should quickly start climbing the table.


Injuries have given Postecoglou a slower start to the season than in 2023-24 (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

The only problem is things might get worse before Postecoglou’s side see any improvement, as they face Arsenal, Brentford and Manchester United in the next three league games.

Last season, Tottenham roared out of the blocks with eight wins and two draws from the first 10 matches before fading. This one could end up being the opposite.


Chelsea (11th): A win, a draw and a defeat. Which will the club have more of by the end of the season?

Liam Twomey: The lesson of their first three Premier League games of 2024-25 is that Chelsea under new coach Enzo Maresca are, unsurprisingly, a work in progress. Losing at home to Manchester City on the opening weekend was expected, though the comfortable manner in which the champions held Maresca’s team at arm’s length that day even when without several of their key starters was dispiriting.

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One clinical four-goal half against Wolverhampton Wanderers masked the kind of chaotic game more associated with Mauricio Pochettino’s 2023-24 tenure. Chelsea were at their most convincing in the opening 45 minutes of their third match, against Crystal Palace, but lost control after the break and with it, two points.

Maresca’s squad has the talent to finish in the top four, but they are young, learning a new style of play and arguably remain a little unbalanced. Chelsea will win more than they lose, but there are going to be more mistakes along the way.


Chelsea have shown flashes of cohesion in their opening three games (Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

The main priority for Maresca is to ensure the gap to whoever is in fourth place does not become insurmountable during these early weeks, as it soon did under Pochettino.


Manchester United (14th): Last season’s eighth-place finish was the club’s lowest since they came 13th in 1990. Could this squad feasibly finish in the bottom half?

Mark Critchley: Ask Erik ten Hag and he would tell you that his team finishing eighth was the freak result of an unrelenting injury crisis. But you could coherently argue United were lucky to end up that high — sort the final 2023-24 Premier League table by expected goal difference and United’s -12.5 puts them 15th. So yes, this squad are capable of a bottom-half finish, according to the underlying numbers at least.

Plenty has changed since last season, though. Five new signings filled every priority position targeted at the start of the summer window, Ten Hag’s backroom staff has been reshuffled and new co-owner INEOS’ key appointments to a reformed internal structure are in place.

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After Arne Slot debunked Erik ten Hag’s tactical setup on live TV, how worried should United fans be?

But on the evidence of United’s opening three games, plenty of familiar issues remain. So does Ten Hag. And with no sign of the injuries letting up either, an improvement on last season is hardly guaranteed.


United’s defence has some familiar-looking gaps in it (Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Everton: Bottom after three games, again. Is another relegation battle inevitable or is this just what happens to Sean Dyche in August?

Patrick Boyland: Certainly part of this is just Dyche’s record in August. His teams are notoriously slow starters and he has the second-lowest win percentage (12 per cent) of anyone to manage more than 10 Premier League games in the first month of the season.

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Dyche will be backed – and will back himself – to turn Everton’s start around

Everton have looked undercooked heading into the new campaign, a raft of pre-season injuries and the injury absence of key defender Jarrad Branthwaite leaving them vulnerable to a sloppy start. Dyche’s apparent unwillingness to make changes to an underpowered first team and blood some of the new signings has not helped either.

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But a fourth successive relegation battle is not inevitable. There is over 92 per cent — 35 of the 38 games — of the season still to go, and there was enough in the first 87 minutes against Bournemouth last time out to suggest they can improve.

With tricky trips to Aston Villa and Leicester City coming in the first two matches after this international break, though, things could well get worse before they get better.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

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