5 things we learned from the first half of the Premier League season

It is half-time in the Premier League. After yesterday's round of matches, almost all teams have now played 19 of the 38 matches they will play this season. It has been one of the more exciting seasons in recent times. Manchester City blew everyone away last season to win the league with a record 100 points.

This season, however, there has been stiffer competition with Liverpool the unofficial champions of the first round. Not even the most optimistic Reds fan could have predicted this turn of events.

Jurgen Klopp's men are top of the table, 6 points ahead of another huge surprise; Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester City's terrible form of late (3 losses in four games) sees the Cityzens drop into third place, 7 points behind Liverpool.

The race for the last UEFA Champions League spot looks to be a straight shootout between the London clubs; Arsenal and Chelsea. Maurizio Sarri's men have blown hot and cold in a manner similar to Unai Emery's Gunners.

The sacking of Jose Mourinho by Manchester United was certainly the biggest story of the first round. Under caretaker manager; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer; the Red Devils have now won two games in a row, scoring 8 goals.

Here is a look at 5 observations from the first round of games:

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#5 Teams with a large core of British players/managers are struggling

British managers like Dyche are struggling badly this season

The English national team has certainly had a productive 2018 campaign. It got to the semi-finals at the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. The Three Lions also managed to top their group in the maiden UEFA Nations League competition ahead of favourites Spain and Croatia.

However, in the Premier League, teams with a large core of English/British players are struggling badly. With the exception of bottom-placed Huddersfield Town and 19th-placed Fulham, 7 of the teams in the bottom half have a majority of British players in their ranks.

There are 5 British coaches in the league, none of them are in the top half of the table currently.

Last season, Burnley stunned everyone by finishing in 7th place and getting a Europa League slot. This season, the Clarets have been one of the league's whipping boys. Sean Dyche's men sit in 18th place and have won just 3 games so far.

Neil Warnock's Cardiff City have played robust, energetic typical-British style football. The result; 17th place with 4 wins in 19. Southampton has won twice in three matches since Ralph Hasenhuttal took over after Mark Hughes was sacked.

This supports the idea that England's improvements were largely down to the influence of foreign coaches at club level. Apart from Eddie Howe's Bournemouth, the situation looks bleak for these teams with a British manager/core of players

#4 Big money summer signings are delivering for their teams

Richarlison has been majestic for Everton

£1.26b worth of talent was brought in by Premier League clubs in the summer transfer window. Like every other season, the signings have been a mixture of the good, the bad and the struggling so far.

Quite a number of clubs broke their own transfer records to bring in new talent. Surprisingly, a large number of these expensive signings have done very well in the first half of the season.

Richarlison became Everton's record signing when he joined the Toffees from Watford for £40m. The 21-year-old Brazilian who is now a full-fledged international has shone brightly with 9 goals and 1 assist for Marco Silva's men.

Liverpool broke the transfer record for a goalkeeper when they landed Alisson Becker from AS Roma for £67m. A Brazilian international (like Richarlison), he has been brilliant for the Reds and is a big factor in the team's current unbeaten run.

Kepa Arrizabalaga became the most expensive goalie just a week after Alisson. Chelsea paid Athletic Club de Bilbao his full release-clause of £71.6m. The 23-year-old has gotten better for the Blues as the season has gone on.

The same can be said for Riyadh Mahrez after his club-record £60m move to Manchester City from Leicester City. The Algerian winger has added an extra edge to the Cityzens.

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#3 Defence will determine who wins the Premier League

Alisson and Van Dijk have been massive for the Reds

Goals have not been in short supply this season in the Premier League. The current top four sides have scored a whopping total of 167 goals in just 72 matches.

However, it is the team with the best defence that currently tops the table. Liverpool's attack has picked up in recent weeks. Yet the frontline featuring Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Xherdan Shariqi and others are not as prolific as they were last season.

It is the backline ably marshalled by Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker and centre-back Virgil Van Dijk that has seen the team get to its present position. The defence has let in just 7 goals so far this season.

Until its late run of bad form that has seen it concede 8 goals in 4 games, Manchester City's backline was just as good as the Reds. With Aymeric Laporte as the leader, Pep Guardiola's men were cruising along until things started to unravel at Chelsea.

What this shows is that despite their famed attacking ethos, both Klopp and Guardiola recognize the importance of a solid backline. Same goes for Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs.

At this juncture, it is safe to say that whichever team has the best defence at the end of the season will most likely be Premier League champions.

#2 The battle for the POTY will be fierce

Aubameyang is a leading candidate for the POTY award

In a normal Premier League season, an outstanding candidate would have emerged by now for the Player of the Year gong.

However, this season has been very different in that regard. So many players across the various clubs have shown quality, some are beginning to pick up and asking people to take notice of what they can do.

The obvious favourite at this juncture would have to be Chelsea's Eden Hazard. The Belgian has been the go-to guy for the Blues this season. He is largely responsible for Sarri's team still being in the UEFA Champions League places.

However, he is by no means guaranteed to win the award as he hasn't been the only one pulling up trees. At Arsenal, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been delivering aplenty for the Gunners and currently tops the scorers' chart.

Raheem Sterling and Laporte (Manchester City), last season's winner, Salah and Van Dijk (Liverpool), Harry Kane (Liverpool), Richarlison (Everton) are some other players who have impressed.

It promises to be a fascinating fight-to-the-finish to see who gets the award this season.

#1 Lots of Messi-lite players stepping up

Hazard is doing his best to emulate Messi this season

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have changed the makeup of European club football considerably. Despite playing alongside some top strikers (Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry, Luis Suarez, Samuel Eto "O", Raul Gonzalez, Karim Benzema, and others), these two have been their team's primary source for goals.

This has paved the way for imitation across Europe with lots of teams now looking to their wide players/midfielders as their main goalscorers.

The Premier League has been greatly influenced by this (the man who started it all; Guardiola is in the Premier League). As such, teams in England's top divisions are increasingly looking to players other than their main strikers for goals.

Without Hazard, Chelsea would be nowhere near the 4th spot they currently occupy. Strikers Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud have managed only 6 goals between them (the same number of goals Pedro has scored).

Sterling is easing the goalscoring burden off Sergio Aguero's shoulders at Machester City. Lucas Moura and Heung Min-Son have provided 13 goals already to compliment Kane's 12 for Spurs.

Anthony Martial has outscored Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford at Manchester United while Roberto Pereyra is Watford's leading goal-getter. This is a pattern that looks set to continue for the rest of the season.