In competition if you're the favourite, you're going to be challenged in a variety of ways. This is no different, if Ash is on the defensive in the match it makes sense. Gladion, Kiawe and Prof Kukui all want a piece of Ash. Gladion because of losing in the finals against his rival, Kiawe was his friendly rival and then Kukui because the facade of the Masked Royal is gone.
Ash was only a favourite once no matter about the general public's opinion.
Kanto - Always the underdog because of Gary,
Johto - Always the underdog because of Gary leading to a coming of age situation,
Hoenn - There was no rival until the league and even then Morrison/Tyson were league rivals.
Sinnoh - Hi Paul and Tobias
Unova - The reset so to speak
Kalos - Alain existed and Ash never beat him even though Ash was the anomaly of the Kalos league
Alola - Ash was the favourite because he needed this win
Journeys/Galar - No one knew of Ash even though he should've been known Globally because of his placements in regional leagues.
(16, 8, 8, 4, 8, 2, 1)
Honestly I'm happy that Ash is finally having an easy time for once, even though the presentation is off with us not seeing Ash's team often enough. But we also don't know if 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt is going to hit.