Shock Of The Season

So perhaps for the sake of your enjoyment, dear reader, Soccer Source should predict humdrum fixtures each week.

It'd be a huge shock if Man Utd, Chelsea and/or Arsenal did anything but win with ease

Yeah, right.

To give you an idea of the enormity of this result, it'd be as if the Detroit Lions went into Dallas and pounded on the Cowboys.

To put it into context, in the past five full seasons, Arsenal have lost at home FOUR times, to West Ham in the 2006-2007, West Ham again and Chelsea in the 2005-2006 season and Manchester United in 04-05. And now, we get Hull City - Hull freakin' City! - a team that only got promoted through the finishing third in the Championship last season and winning the playoffs, and a team that almost everyone thought would be relegated this year.

So, what does it all mean? Well, possibly not much, given how early in the season we are. Hull now have 11 points, which is great, but they'll need at least another 25 points from their last 32 games if they want to stay up. They're certainly off to a good start, though, and could be this year's newly-promoted surprise package, a la Ipswich in 2001 and Reading two years ago.

As for Arsenal, as amusing as it always is to see 'The Professor' in a rage, it's early enough in the year that the only thing this could hurt is Gunner pride. They haven't drawn this season, which means that despite the two losses - they also lost away to Fulham - they have an impressive points haul. The only potential worry is that they've had a cream puff schedule so far - WBA, Newcastle United and Hull at home, Blackburn, Fulham and Bolton Wanderers away - and have dropped six points. The may find they need those points once they've played Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa et al.

--Smoods