Both Manchester clubs and Chelsea have made superb starts to the new Premier League season while Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool aren’t far behind but in all five cases there is still room for improvement. As the European fixtures begin to take their toll and we enter the gruelling winter months, England’s top five will need to be flexible, adaptable, and show a willingness to iron out those final few flaws.

With that in mind, we’ve picked out the biggest tactical issue for each team – and suggested how they can fix the problem.

Manchester City

The Problem

Any team willing to commit men forward on the counter, and aims to burst through the centre, can cause Man City problems. The remarkable openness of Pep Guardiola’s formation means Fernandinho is often left alone to guard two City centre-backs, which will surely become a major problem as the season wears on and tiredness creeps in.

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Crystal Palace should have been 2-0 up last weekend before eventually falling to defeat, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Benteke causing problems for that wide-apart triangle at the bottom of the City formation.

The Fix

Guardiola’s best solution to this is fielding Fabian Delph as an inverted left-back, as he did in the 2-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek. Delph, naturally a central midfielder, has the positional intelligence to float infield and add a fourth body to the mix, supporting Fernandinho when counter-attacks begin to develop.

With Delph inside, Guardiola could even instruct Fernandinho to drop deep and form a back three, allowing City to cover a wider area of the pitch during their long periods of possession.

Manchester United

The Problem

Jose Mourinho has successfully moulded United into a team of his own. They are defensively organised and ruthless on the counter, but like many Mourinho sides they can struggle to raise the tempo when required – particularly in the opening hour of matches. This isn’t a problem for now, but will become a serious issue should confidence wane or legs become tired during the hectic Christmas schedule.

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The psychological toll of his management is usually cited as the reason for his difficult third seasons, but equally important is this tempo problem. Being assertive and creative from the opening minute becomes vital to maintaining momentum when confidence is low, which helps to explain why Mourinho is rarely able to get his teams out of a rut.

The Fix

Trusting the more creative midfielders in the side is the only way Mourinho can overcome this issue. Greater fluidity during the first half of matches could be achieved by releasing Ander Herrera into a more expansive role alongside Henrikh Mkhitaryan, which also means putting more trust in Nemanja Matic to prowl defensive midfield alone. We began to see Paul Pogba roam forward more after the Serbian’s arrival, but since his injury things have become slightly more laboured.

Pressing from the front and making runs beyond Romelu Lukaku, Herrera would not only raise the tempo but give United more long-ball options. With more runners, United can force the opposition defence to frequently backpedal – a crucial element in pulling formations apart and creating space in the final third.

Chelsea

The Problem

A lack of variation in Chelsea’s tactical approach could see the wins dry up for Antonio Conte’s side. Their 3-4-2-1 formation is currently too narrow, with Eden Hazard and Willian both drifting infield to support Alvaro Morata even when the space is clearly in wider areas.

Consequently, Chelsea’s performances can be midfield-heavy, relying too much on Victor Moses and Marcus Alonso for width. This was most notably a problem when they drew 0-0 with Arsenal, who easily stunted their build-ups by blocking the passing lines through the middle. Chelsea didn’t react to this fairly simple tactic, suggesting a bit more variation wouldn’t go amiss.

The Fix

Hazard and Willian (or Pedro) must be instructed to seek out the spaces themselves, hugging the touchline in matches when gaps are clearly opening on the wings, which would essentially switch their formation from a 3-4-2-1 to a traditional 3-4-3.

In these matches, Moses and Alonso could under-lap their team-mates, creating an inverted shape that would most likely confuse mid-table opponents and allow Conte to maintain balance in the centre of the pitch. On the other hand, his clever use of Cesc Fabregas as a deep-lying playmaker in the 2-1 win at Atletico suggests Conte has some tricks up his sleeve.

Tottenham Hotspur

The Problem

For all their tireless running and tightly choreographed passing triangles, Spurs can be a little bit too predictable. Almost every attack can be traced through the same roots, namely the swirling bodies in central midfield and some excellent overlapping from the two full-backs. Occasionally, this means a well-drilled defence that stays ultra-narrow – and cuts off the passing lines to Christian Eriksen – can leave Mauricio Pochettino’s team looking a bit blunt.

The Fix

To ease the pressure on Eriksen, Pochettino should field Dele Alli and Son Heung-min together behind Kane and instruct both players to make runs ahead of the England striker. For this to work Spurs would need to drop Eric Dier and move Eriksen into a deeper midfield role, trusting Moussa Dembele (or Moussa Sissoko) to do the lion’s share of the defensive work.

Not only would this allow Eriksen to dictate the tempo without being crowded out in the number 10 space, it would also give Spurs more long ball options, forcing the opposition to re-think their strategy and move out of their narrow shell. It isn’t something Tottenham can afford to do every week, but when facing bottom half sides it is a tactic worth considering.

Liverpool

The Problem

Liverpool have been making needless individual errors ever since Jurgen Klopp’s appointment, which suggests there is a structural problem underlying the odd decision making of Dejan Lovren and company. The main issue is an over-expansiveness in central midfield that leaves them caught short at the back, leading to panicky miskicks.

The Fix

It might seem a tad drastic, but Liverpool might benefit from shifting to a Conte-inspired 3-4-2-1 formation. Adding a third central defender would limit the area of the pitch each centre-back needs to cover (and thus potentially minimising individual mistakes), while one of these three could step forward to snuff out the counter-counters, like David Luiz does at Chelsea.

Furthermore, Nathaniel Clyne and Andrew Robertson could really benefit from being given more licence to roam forward and Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah would make perfect inside forwards. When the goals dry up and Liverpool start drawing against mid-table clubs, it’ll certainly be worth a try.