Which Premier League clubs have had the easiest and hardest starts to the season?

Every club ranked 

The Premier League returns this weekend with matchday 12 of the league campaign, which happens to mean that the new season is now almost a third of the way through. And while it may be too early to truly deduce which teams should be pencilled in for a tough relegation fight next year and which ones may already have one hand on the Premier League title, enough football has certainly been played to give football fans a rough idea of how each club is doing.

However, not all fixture lists were created equal. And while some clubs may have had an easier run of things up until this point, others kicked off their new league campaign under immediate pressure after being tasked with locking horns with some of the most talented and valuable squads that the English top-flight has to offer. So which Premier League clubs have had easy starts to the season and which ones have to run the gauntlet thus far? Using Transfermarkt’s market values to evaluate the strength of each matchday squad from all 11 matchdays so far, we’ve been able to calculate which clubs have faced the toughest opponents to date and which ones had an easier run of things. So let’s take a look.

Which clubs have had the easiest start to the season?

When we take a look at which clubs have faced the least valuable matchday squads so far, many of the results may surprise most football fans. For example, despite sitting dead last in the league table with just two points from their opening 11 games of the season, Wolves have actually had the easiest run of all Premier League clubs so far this season. According to Transfermarkt data, the average market value of their opponent’s matchday squad has so far stood at just €446 million. Which makes sense since the Molineux side have already faced Leeds United, Sunderland and Burnley and duly sacked Vítor Pereira when he failed to beat any of them.

Just above Wolves are Nottingham Forest, whose opponents have typically had a matchday squad market value of €446m, with Leeds United just above the Reds with an average of €448m and Tottenham with an average of €461m. In the case of Forest and Leeds, these numbers undoubtedly underline the poor start to the season both clubs have had as they both linger near the bottom of the table. While Spurs’ average also hints at Thomas Frank’s side perhaps having an easy run of things as they’ve crept up to fifth in the league table.

Which clubs have had the toughest start to the season?

In terms of which clubs have faced the most valuable squads in the Premier League in their opening 11 games, none other than Manchester United come out on top with arguably the toughest run of fixtures among all clubs in the English top-flight. Rúben Amorim’s side have already faced Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham, which gives them the highest average of €609m for an opponents matchday squad market value. Which means Man Utd’s opponents in the opening stages of the Premier League have typically had matchday squads that boasted €164m more in market value than the teams Wolves have come up against.

Just below the Red Devils are newly-promoted Burnley, who have had to face the aforementioned Old Trafford giants and four other members of the so-called “Big Six”. That puts their average at €571m, which is just above Liverpool (€541m), Brentford (€538m) and then Bournemouth (€530m) as the five clubs that have had the toughest starts to the new season based on the market values of the teams they’ve faced so far this season. Which undoubtedly explains Burnley’s slow start to the season, gives context to Brentford and Bournemouth’s mid-table performances and maybe even provides some further context to Liverpool’s struggles in the league so far.

What about the title contenders?

Fans of the Anfield club will then duly note that their run of fixtures puts them not only among the most difficult in the league but above the other clubs competing for the league title this season. According to Transfermarkt's market value data, Liverpool's opponents in the league have on average had squads that are €54m more valuable than Arsenal's and €21m more than Man City's. Whether that's enough to explain why Arne Slot's side are languishing in eigth place seems unlikely, but it does hint at tougher tests to come for Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola's title challengers.