Liverpool’s struggles and Man City’s stumble at Newcastle United bring welcome change after seasons of Premier League dominance - Stuart Rayner

It feels like a season of transition for both City and Liverpool and whilst they will probably still end it as the Premier League’s top two teams - particularly with Chelsea stuttering too - they might at least be drawn a little closer to the pack.

City are getting used to playing with an out-and-out centre-forward again, and one in Erling Haaland who does not automatically fit into the way they play.

The process has not really started yet, but they will also have to get used to Kalvin Phillips at the base of midfield, and need to move on from Raheem Sterling too.

They are capable of making all these things work and should be better for it in the long run but they cannot be expected to happen at the click of a finger.

Liverpool’s forward line is evolving too, although a daft red card at Crystal Palace mean the familiar face of Roberto Firmino has been seen more at centre-forward than Darwin Nunez’s. This year, though, feels like the one where they might be moving away from the Brazilian “false nine”.

More significantly, there is no Saido Mane either.

It puts how quickly Leeds United have adjusted to their own significant revamp into a very generous perspective, and there will have been no end of schadenfreude further afield when they put Chelsea to the sword 3-0 on Sunday.

Where Leeds have been clever is in signing players - Brenden Aaronson, Tyler Adams, Rasmus Kristsenen and Marc Roca - who do not know the league but do know Jesse Marsch’s style of play. Roca had not played under the American before but working for Julian Nagelsmann, another from the Red Bull coaching school, is a good introduction.

It does not feel as open as the season when Leicester City won the title. Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal have both started well but have a lot of ground to make up. If either could be in the title picture when the league goes on hiatus for the World Cup in November, that would be good for the spectacle because this league needs some levelling up.

English football has tended in recent years to look down its nose at certain leagues - Spain, Germany, Scotland, Italy - for being so uncompetitive whilst it has been going the same way.

Of the seven highest points tallies in English top-division history, six have come in the last six seasons - three for Pep Guardiola’s City, two for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and one for Antonio Conte’s Chelsea.

Had Everton been playing for three points for a win in 1969-70 they would have made the top five and Don Revie’s 1969 Leeds champions would have had three fewer points - 94 - but four times in the 60s both the top two sides suffered double-figure defeats. Last season City lost three, Liverpool two.

There is so much to admire about the sides Guardiola and Klopp have put together but sometimes teams can be a bit too good for the sake of the league.

As Ian Wright put it this week, were it not for Liverpool, the league would be terrible as a contest (he did not use that precise word).

It would be better if the gap was purely being closed by the pack getting better, but a more competitive league is in everyone’s best interests, even if we cannot expect fans of City and Liverpool to see it.