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The seemingly-endless English Premier League is back upon us with Manchester United and Fulham kicking off the new season on Friday.
Players who got to the final stages of the Copa America and the European Championship were barely given three weeks off but now they get ready to go again with the season streaming exclusively on FUBO in Canada. Here are questions to ponder as the new season gets underway.
- Can anyone stop Manchester City? No. Well, maybe the courts. City go for a record fifth-straight title and even though they’ve only added one new player, so far, Brazilian winger Savinho, they still have more depth and class than anyone else. The 115 charges of financial violations over the past decade still hang over their heads and the hearings are expected to start ‘soon’ but with City’s bottomless pit of money, you can expect this to drag out in the courts for at least a couple of years. The problem with City is they have spent so much on quality backups, not even injury impacts them. They spent significant parts of the season last year without key players like Erling Haaland and Ederson and still held off fierce challenges from Arsenal and Liverpool. Expect more of the same, sadly.
- Who is the most likely to challenge City? After running them close the last two seasons, it will be Arsenal again. They hung around longer last season than the one before, but ultimately fell short in the end again. Mikel Arteta will be even better this year in management, but they’ve still only added one player so far, in defender Riccardo Calafiori. With the demands of Champions League and having so many players involved in the international tournaments depth could be an issue if the starting core grow tired. Remember there’s no winter break for players this year. And there’s still a few questions to be asked at the back.
- Will Liverpool face a drop-off without Jurgen Klopp? Most pundits are still picking Liverpool to finish third. They’re the only club in the Premier League yet to make a single signing this offseason. New coach Arne Slot has Klopp’s leftovers purring in preseason, they’ve won every match, including impressive wins over Arsenal and Manchester United, and have looked the part. But again, they had so much of their core playing through the summer, and last season looked like they could steal the title from City before collapsing and looking exhausted at the end. Slot does like to press, though not as intensely as Klopp and his style does employ more possession so that may keep them a bit fresher, but if they don’t add to the squad they could be vulnerable.
- Who’s next to challenge? The usual suspects, Spurs, Manchester United, maybe Newcastle. Spurs have added intriguing pieces, in particular striker Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth. And a second year in manager Ange Postecoglu’s system will help. But you still get the feeling they’ll be light in midfield. For many it was stunning United brought Erik Ten Hag back as manager. And they have spent some money. But serious questions linger as to whether or not Ten Hag can handle a job this big. After two full seasons on the job it’s still hard to pinpoint what their identity is or what style suits them best. Capable of shockers like beating City in the FA Cup Final, but then you can also see them losing to Fulham. Consistency will be their key. Newcastle still hold the loftiest of ambitions as the richest club in the league, but they’re still handcuffed by spending too much too soon. They have to spend another year balancing the books before they can really splurge.
- How much business is yet to come? A lot. City and Arsenal have money to burn and will still want to strengthen, you’d expect Liverpool and Manchester United to add to their squads. Then there’s Newcastle who are looking to raid teams like Crystal Palace, but have to sell before they can spend the kind of money they will want to. It’s going to be a frantic two weeks before the deadline. Names like Ivan Toney from Brentford and Palace’s Marc Guehi are said to be in demand but no concrete bids have come in yet.
- Speaking of spending, are Chelsea any good? You’d hope so. They haven’t been shy spending money, and will still be trying to bring more players in. The problem is they’ve spent so much money under their new owners, and have changed manager so many times, there’s been no cohesion. They’re dancing with Napoli to bring in striker Victor Osimhen who would be the biggest signing in the EPL this season if they can pull it off. New manager Enzo Maresca is coming off a successful campaign bringing Leicester back to the Premier League but this is a massive step up, and he has impatient ownership peering over his shoulder. They have the talent to push for Top Four, but do they have the chemistry?
- Can Aston Villa build on their success? Unai Emery has done an amazing job at Villa busting up the monopoly and getting into the Champions League. But as Newcastle will tell you from their experience last year, it’s not easy. The added pressure and demands of playing in the top competition can stretch clubs. They’ve got some brilliant young players like Ollie Watkins who are desperate to prove themselves on the biggest stage. They’re going to need more depth, more rotation to push on in that competition and get back into the top four this season. I’ll bet Emery can do it, but one key injury could have a massive impact.
- Which clubs are best bets to go down? It’s easy to say the three that came up, Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton. Of those three though, Leicester probably have the best chance to stay up with new manager Steve Cooper at the helm. Crystal Palace are fending off offers for several of their young stars, and if they feel resigned to losing them need to give themselves time to spend the money to replace. If they don’t, they could be in trouble. Same with Wolves who keep selling stars and sooner or later could slide a bit too far into trouble.
- Any dark horses to surprise? West Ham have spent a lot of money under new manager Julen Lopetegui. If his tactics work they can get back to making the teams in the top six uncomfortable. Also Everton don’t have any money and are looking for new owners, but Sean Dyche has done a good job stabilizing them, and in their last year at storied Goodison Park before moving into their fancy new waterfront stadium next season, don’t discount the emotional boost their passionate fans can bring in their last season in their historic home.
- Will VAR be any better? Well, it couldn’t get any worse. they are supposedly using the semi-automated offside system we’ve seen in this summer’s tournaments. But I still don’t have any faith in the league to run it properly so I still expect some controversy.
- Who will win the Golden Boot? Haaland probably for the third year in a row. Though depending on the adaptation of Liverpool to Slot’s system, I’d expect a strong challenge from Mo Salah in what is likely his last season in the EPL, and Ollie Watkins will push on as well.
- Who will be the Player of the Season? Most likely it will come from whomever wins. Many are suggesting this is Kevin De Bruyne’s last year with Man City, and he’s always a good bet, if not him then Phil Foden who had a tremendous season last year but was disappointing at the Euros for England. If Arsenal pull it off you’d have to bank on Declan Rice being the top man, and outsiders Liverpool could do it on the shoulders of colossus captain Virgil van Dijk.
- Which managers are on the hot seat? Ten Hag is at the top of the list, Eddie Howe will feel very uncomfortable if Newcastle struggle out of the gate and of course, Maresca because, well do we really expect Chelsea owner Todd Boehly to get through a season without firing anyone?
- Which are the newcomers to watch this season? Last year names like Watkins at Villa and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer burst onto the scene. Here’s some youngsters who will be hoping to have a similar impact this season. Lucas Bergvall of Tottenham, and 18 year-old Swedish playmaker who should thrive under Postcoglu’s attacking style. Amad Diallo joined Manchester United last January and showed flashes in attack, he’s going to be given a full season to prove he’s the key to getting United back near the top.
- Could we see an English team win the Champions League? Manchester City are desperate to win the Champions League again and it will likely be their priority over the league if they had to choose one. Liverpool are back in the top competition after a one-year absence and their squad is still peppered with quality that have won it before. Arsenal have never been Champions of Europe, they will be one of the favourites to at least get to the quarterfinals. Aston Villa will enjoy an amazing experience being in the competition they won way back in 1982, but the top-end quality looks to be overmatched against the top continental clubs.
Friday: Manchester United v. Fulham.
Saturday: Ipswich v. Liverpool; Arsenal v. Wolves; Everton v. Brighton; Newcastle v. Southampton; Nottingham Forest v. Bournemouth; West Ham v. Aston Villa.
Sunday: Brentford v. Crystal Palace; Chelsea v. Manchester City.
Monday: Leicester v. Tottenham.