Here we are, about to get another
season underway for arguably the most exciting domestic league in the world!
The Contenders
The make-up of the “Big Four”,
traditionally comprised of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal,
has certainly changed. Without a doubt, Manchester City’s buying power under
the ownership of Sheikh Mansour has seen them overtake Liverpool who begin a
new era under former Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers.
After the climatic finish to last
season where United were pipped to the post on goal difference by their
neighbours City, bookmakers have installed City as favourites for this season
just ahead of United.
Roberto Mancini has been
frustrated with the lack of transfers at City, having only added Jack Rodwell
this summer. However, they do have Carlos Tevez back and committed to the club
after all the nonsense that went on between Mancini and him last season. Although
City scored the most goals (93) and conceded the least (29) in the EPL last
season, it will be a hard ask for them to defend their title, especially with
their owners wanting a better performance in the Champions League than last
season where they failed to get past the group stage.
United have certainly
strengthened their squad with the addition of Shinji Kagawa, finally giving them
some creativity in midfield, although they did bring Paul Scholes out of
retirement last season and he is still going! Even better still, Sir Alex
Ferguson has pulled off THE signing of the summer by getting in Robin van
Persie from rivals Arsenal. Without a doubt, a Robin van Persie and Wayne
Rooney tandem strikeforce will leave defenders shaking in their boots.
Surprisingly Sir Alex has let industrious midfielder Park Ji-Sung join Queens
Park Rangers, perhaps the marketing department just wanted to focus on
expanding their fan-base into Japan having done enough in South Korea.
Personally, I would make United
favourites for this season’s title. Sir Alex knows what it takes to compete on
all fronts.
The Notables
European champions Chelsea, under
the guidance of Roberto Di Matteo, should be in amongst it having added the
likes of Eden Hazard and Marko Marin to their midfield. However, they will need
Fernando Torres firing on all cylinders if they are to make a run at the title.
Because if he does not, Chelsea are very light upfront with Didier Drogba
leaving on a free transfer to Shanghai Shenhua after his contract finished up
and young gun Romelu Lukaku going to West Bromwich Albion on loan. Looks like
Daniel Sturridge will get his wish of playing more centrally. If Di Matteo
manages to sign a striker such as Porto’s Hulk, then that would certainly give
them more firepower.
Arsenal have gone seven years
without a trophy and that drought looks set to continue as the club continues
to lose key players. Arsene Wenger has finally spent some money bringing in midfielder
Santi Cazorla and forwards Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, the Ligue 1 top
goalscorer in 2011/2012. As is Wenger’s style, expect to see Podolski roaming
the wings similar to Thierry Henry when he first joined Arsenal from Juventus.
Giroud will now replace van Persie at the pointy end of the formation and he
looks physically ready for the rigours of the EPL. However, Arsenal really
needed to splash the cash on some decent defenders to shore up his leaky
defence that have let in 43 and 49 league goals in the last two seasons. A team
that lets in that many goals cannot be expected to win the coveted title.
Tottenham look set to lose playmaker
Luka Modric to Real Madrid meaning the playmaking duties will fall solely to
Rafael van der Vaart. Gareth Bale has been handed the number 9 shirt and could
play even further up the pitch with Spurs lacking strikers. Having failed to
negotiate a contract with Emmanuel Adebayor, who performed well for them on
loan from City last season, they currently only have Jermain Defoe as their
recognised senior forward. Pre-season has seen new manager Andre Villas-Boas
give youngster Harry Kane more of a run-out but AVB certainly needs to bring a
new striker in if they want to compete. To date Spurs have brought in midfielder-cum-forward
Gylfi Sigurdsson and defender Jan Vertonghen. Following AVB’s failings at
Chelsea, it remains to be seen whether he has what it takes to manage in the
EPL.
Liverpool are going through a
rebuilding phase under young manager Rodgers and it will be a couple of years,
if not a few, before they are back challenging for the title. However, an European
place is certainly not out of the question. For the Europe League that is!
After Newcastle's unexpected
success last season where they were pushing for a Champions League berth up
until the last couple of weeks of the season, you can expect them to be in
amongst the European spots again this season especially having kept their best
players together like Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and
club captain Fabricio Coloccini. After Ba's performances last season and with
an apparent release clause in his contract being a measly £7
million during the summer, there were no takers for his services much to the
delight of the Geordie fans. If Alan Pardew can add to his French contingent by
bringing in international defenders Mathieu Debuchy and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, that
would only strengthen a defence that leaked 51 league goals last season. That
figure could have been higher if not for Newcastle's new number 1 Tim Krul's
inspired performances between the posts.
The Rest
Bookmakers have set two of the
three promoted clubs, Southampton and Reading, as favourites for relegation
this season, along with Norwich who lost manager Paul Lambert to Aston Villa
and have brought in Birmingham’s Chris Hughton as his replacement.
Wigan and Swansea are next in
line with the bookmakers. Roberto Martinez, still with Wigan after a lot
publicity of him being Liverpool’s first choice to replace sacked Kenny
Dalglish, has managed to keep Wigan in the EPL despite flirting with relegation
for the past 3 seasons and can be expected to do so again. Swansea on the other
hand, are most likely destined to go down along with Southampton and Reading
having lost Rodgers to Liverpool and replacing him with Danish legend Michael
Laudrup. Not only do the Welsh side have a manager with no EPL experience, but
they have lost young midfielder Joe Allen who followed his previous manager
Rodgers to Anfield and failed to sign Sigurdsson permanently after his successful
loan spell last season.
WBA are most likely to get
involved in a relegation scrap especially having lost experienced manager Roy
Hodgson to national duty. It will be interesting to see how Steve Clarke goes
in his first senior role having been in and around big clubs as a coach and assistant
manager.
Despite winning promotion via the
playoffs, West Ham are expected to stay up having added no less than 8 players
to their squad and with experienced EPL manager Sam Allardyce at the helm.
QPR have strengthened their squad
well with a mixture of youth and experience so should maintain their EPL
status.
Well, enjoy the season all and
good luck to whomever you support!
