FOR once, the Premier League has a refreshing look to it.

Both Manchester clubs are outside the top four, Southampton are fifth and Hull seventh.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea might occupy the Champions League places but it’s good to see the established elite finally having their superiority challenged.

Although I would still be surprised if United and City didn’t join that quartet in the top-six come the end of the season, the longer both don’t get things their own way the better.

Take United. All the talk since the weekend defeat to West Brom has been about how they are are languishing in 12th, with just about every critic turning on manager David Moyes.

It’s all been about how United are struggling and whether Moyes is up to the job.

West Brom deserved their 2-1 win at Old Trafford yet that has often been secondary to analysing the weaknesses of Moyes and his men.

Nobody seems keen to mention that this could actually be good for the Premier League. The longer United flounder, the better for everybody else.

One of the key things that has happened since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure is that United have lost their aura, the feeling that by just turning up they already had the advantage.

Playing a Ferguson team had that affect, but not any more and teams are beginning to realise it.

Perhaps that is also rubbing off on the others, with Aston Villa fighting back for a 3-2 victory over Manuel Pellegrini’s City despite being outplayed in the first-half.

If teams go into matches believing they are inferior to the opposition, the chances are they will come out second best.

In the eyes of the Premier League, United are not the all-conqueroring force they once were, for the moment at least, and if the champions can falter, so can the bigger clubs around them.

Such an approach might just make for an interesting season ahead.