A three-way title race, and for once nobody is pretending otherwise
Ten games in, two points separate the top three. The managers have stopped saying it is too early
It is October, and the three clubs at the top of the table are separated by two points. In most seasons this would be the moment for managers to insist that it is far too early to talk about a title race. This season, oddly, none of them is bothering.
Part of that is the fixture list, which has already put the three against each other twice. Part of it is the sense that none of the three has a squad obviously better than the others.
“I would rather be where we are than where we were last year,” one of the managers said on Friday, which is about as close to a declaration as the sport allows in autumn.
The next meeting between two of them comes in a fortnight.