Six Games, Three Managers in Trouble: Your Premier League Matchweek 7 Preview

Six games into the 2026/27 Premier League season and the table already looks unrecognisable. Manchester City have won all six and sit top with 18 points. Arsenal, the defending champions, are three back. Brighton have scored 18 goals. And Liverpool — nine points, one goal off ninth place — look nothing like a side that expects to be anywhere near the title, for now.

Matchweek 7 runs Saturday to Monday, and it arrives with three managers already being asked to save their jobs in public. Here's what matters this weekend.

Manchester United sit 13th on six points — one win from six league games, factually has been described as their worst start to a season since 1986. The last fortnight has been brutal: a 1-1 home draw with a 10-man Tottenham that drew boos at Old Trafford, followed by a 2-0 Champions League defeat at Atlético Madrid in which United conceded inside the first minute.

The club's position, for now, is to hold. Major reporting outlets state after the Spurs draw that INEOS have decided against sacking Michael Carrick, stating there is no desire to move him on. Carrick himself has been flat about it — asked directly whether he feared for his job, he said he didn't feel under pressure.

The problem is the fixture. United travel to Leeds on Sunday, and as Alan Shearer put it while urging the club to stick with Carrick, Leeds will be licking their lips at a wounded United arriving at Elland Road. Leeds sit 7th and unbeaten at home in a ground that does not do sympathy. Fabian Hurzeler, Antonio Conte and Eddie Howe have all been floated in the press as successors.

Leeds United v Manchester United — Sunday 15:00, Elland Road. The headline act for obvious reasons. Seventh against thirteenth, and the single result most likely to decide whether Carrick is still in the job in November.

Manchester City v Ipswich Town — Saturday 16:00, Etihad. Six wins from six and Erling Haaland leading the scoring charts on six goals. City are playing like the problem has gone away, which it hasn't in the football world’s opinion.

Fulham v Hull City — Saturday 16:00, Craven Cottage. Fulham are bottom on two points with no win in six. Reports suggest Álvaro Arbeloa has been given two matches — Hull at home, then Coventry away on 24 October — to save his job. Appointed in July on a three-year deal to replace Marco Silva, with close to £50m spent on players he knew from Real Madrid, this is about as public as an ultimatum gets.

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal — Sunday 17:30, City Ground. Arsenal have lost once all season and need to keep pace with City. Forest are 15th and have been difficult at home.

Brentford v Liverpool — Saturday 16:00, Gtech. Brentford are unbeaten — two wins, four draws — and Liverpool have drawn three of six. A genuine banana skin.

Tottenham v Coventry — Monday 21:00, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs are 19th on three points and still chasing a first league win of the season after a summer outlay reported at over £300m. Roberto De Zerbi has led most sack-race markets since August. A Monday night under lights against newly-promoted Coventry is not where you want to be looking for your first three points.

During the September–October international break, the Premier League confirmed that an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought in February 2023, covering financial conduct between 2009 and 2018. One charge was dismissed.

No sanction has been handed down yet — that's a separate process — and City have formally appealed, maintaining their innocence and arguing the decision contains material errors of law, principle and fact. Their sporting position is unchanged in the meantime, which is why they can sit top of the table and host Ipswich on Saturday as normal.

But it reframes the whole season. Every City result now sits under a verdict that hasn't been sanctioned, and the gap they're building at the top is being built in the knowledge that a points deduction of any real size would change what it's worth. For everyone chasing, that's either an opportunity or an asterisk depending on who you ask.

Ten fixtures from Saturday afternoon to Monday night, with a manager's job riding on at least three of them. Match winner, both teams to score, correct score and first goalscorer markets are live now at Sportingbet — and when your weekend lands, your withdrawal doesn't sit waiting.

Lock in your predictions ahead of the weekend madness here.