Aston Villa inside the drop zone as six Premier League clubs chase a first win

Three matches into a Premier League season is far too small a sample for firm conclusions, but the early relegation picture already has an unfamiliar look. According to the Premier League table, six clubs are still searching for a first win, three of them have yet to score at all, and Tottenham Hotspur — a club rarely discussed in this context — sit 17th, one place above the dotted line.

The bottom six after three games

Per the Premier League table:

• 15th — AFC Bournemouth: 2 points, form D,D,L; 4 scored, 5 conceded
• 16th — Nottingham Forest: 2 points, form D,D,L; 2 scored, 3 conceded
• 17th — Tottenham Hotspur: 1 point, form D,L,L; 0 scored, 5 conceded
• 18th — Aston Villa: 1 point, form D,L,L; 0 scored, 5 conceded
• 19th — Fulham: 0 points, form L,L,L; 4 scored, 7 conceded
• 20th — Coventry City: 0 points, form L,L,L; 0 scored, 5 conceded

Spurs and Villa: level on everything

The strangest feature of the early table sits at 17th and 18th. According to the Premier League table, Tottenham and Aston Villa are identical in every column: no wins, one draw, two defeats, no goals scored, five conceded, one point and a goal difference of minus five. Nothing in the numbers separates a club currently safe from one currently inside the drop zone.

Both are also part of a curious drought. Three of the bottom four — Spurs, Villa and Coventry — have failed to score in any of their three matches.

Pointless, for very different reasons

Coventry's problem is blunt: three defeats, no goals, five conceded, per the table. Fulham's is narrower. They have scored four times — a better return than ninth-placed Leeds United, according to the table — but seven goals conceded and three defeats have left them pointless. The attack is functioning; the defence is not.

Winless, but not sinking

Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest complete the winless sextet, each with two draws and a defeat. Forest's two goals scored and three conceded is a tidy if unproductive start; Bournemouth's four scored and five conceded points to livelier, looser matches. Just above them, Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town sit on three points apiece after one win and two defeats. In fact, according to the table, five clubs from Crystal Palace in 14th down to Villa in 18th are covered by just two points — and a goal difference of minus one is all that keeps Bournemouth and Forest clear of the uglier numbers below.

Perspective, and what to watch

Three games prove little. Tables look strange in early September and very different by late October, and no side's fate is settled now. But the numbers frame the questions the coming rounds must answer: can Tottenham and Villa find a first goal, let alone a first win? Can Fulham stop conceding? Can Coventry score at all? According to the Premier League table, those are the problems around which the relegation battle currently turns.