champion race
Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool
Last season only two teams fought for the English crown: Manchester City and Arsenal. The Gunners got off to a good start and held the lead for a long time, but ultimately failed. To avoid a repeat of the situation, three great players were bought for each line: Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber. After this, the Londoners’ squad became the most expensive in the world, so Mikel Arteta will have no excuse not to take a step forward.
Manchester City have changed little, swapping Ilkay Gundogan for Mateo Kovacic and attracting Josko Guardiola. But City conceded the fewest goals last season (along with Newcastle), so the main difficulty for them will be the question of motivation, which may not be at the same level after winning the treble. A similar question is being asked of Liverpool, who have improved their midfield with the help of Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister. Last year, the Merseysiders dropped to fifth place and their ambition should increase.
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Fight for a place in the Champions League
Manchester United, Newcastle and possibly Tottenham and Chelsea too
The aforementioned trio of season favorites should surely be in the top four, but there will be a serious fight for another position. Newcastle will have to play on several fronts, which could be a problem even with the arrival of Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes. Manchester United are removing the burden and have already added Andre Onan, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hoilunn to the squad. In theory, these steps make the Red Devils favorites in the race for the top 4.
In theory, Tottenham and Chelsea could join this race, but there are too many doubts about them. First, they have changed head coaches, who will need time to generate interactions between their players on the field. Secondly, there are questions about the lineup: the Spurs have a lot riding on whether Harry Kane leaves or not, and the Aristocrats must decide which core they will have first.
beginners
Burnley, Sheffield United, Luton City
Burnley, as it seems now, are better prepared for the Premier League: they had an excellent last season under the leadership of young coach Vincent Kompany, losing only three games out of 46 and winning a record number of points in the tournament in the past. nine seasons. And in the off-season I made a good purchase of young footballers. This is a thoughtful approach, working for the future and not just achieving success in the next season.
The other two teams, Sheffield United and Luton Town, are much more modest. The Blades appear to have weakened during the offseason, having sold a couple of important players. And although the Hatters tried to strengthen themselves before their historic debut in the Premier League, they will predictably turn out to be the cheapest team in the championship.
bomber race
Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham)
The range of candidates for the title of top scorer in the English championship is very small. It is worth saying “thank you” for this to the Norwegian grenadier, who under the guidance of Pep Guardiola reached a new level, scoring 36 goals in 35 games. The only one who can offer even a semblance of competence, Harry Kane, is close to moving to Munich, or completely losing motivation and staying in London. Last season’s third sniper, Brentford’s Ivan Tawney, has been suspended until January for betting.
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main stars
Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
The Premier League traditionally has plenty of stars, but in the previous draw the Scandinavian god of the area undoubtedly stood out above all others. One of the championship’s most interesting newcomers, Tonali isn’t too bright, but where, if not in the Premier League, can he be brought to the fore in the spotlight? It’s been a while since Salah has scored more than 25 goals, but even without that he’s still a great player who has a huge impact on his team. Saka and Rashford are already familiar characters, but no less interesting. They are still quite young and sometimes come to the fore in clubs, but they could use a little more stability. But Kane’s possible departure to Bayern could mean a real loss for the championship. In the Premier League there will be a less important club, at least for a while, until a worthy replacement is found.
New coaches
Mauricio Pochettino (Chelsea), Angelos Postecoglou (Tottenham), Andoni Iraola (Bournemouth), Gary O’Neill (Wolverhampton)
Among the new coaches, Pochettino and Postecoglou will, of course, be the ones who will receive the most attention. They were entrusted with two great clubs that are currently in a crisis from which it is necessary to get them out. Only the source data is different. Mauricio already has a name of status and experience of successful work in the Premier League, his squad is very decent, so you just have to clean it up and put it in order. Another thing is Angelos, who has never before worked in an important club or in a strong championship, and here he can also lose his best player.
Iraola, who in three years of working with Rayo Vallecano took the club to First Division and established himself with the team there as a strong midfielder, will try to encourage Bournemouth. And O’Neill, who was fired from there, completely unexpectedly had an opportunity at Wolverhampton, who parted ways with Lopetegui three days before the start of the season. He was very strange.
Expected progress
Club – Burnley
Everton’s return, if only to the strong middle country ranks, can hardly be considered a step forward in that regard; most likely it will turn out to be simply a return to where it should be. But whether Burnley pull off such a trick is another question. The club used to play in a worker-farmer style under the leadership of Sean Dyche, who became a true club legend during his ten years with it. And now he has been replaced by young Kompany, who is playing a completely different game. This is not surprising, because he can be considered a student of Guardiola. Vincent has a very interesting team at his disposal, which was reinforced in the summer with 80 million euros, so it will be very interesting to see him in the initial season.
Player – Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Everton
Injury problems have always plagued the talented striker, who has missed less than a month due to injury in just one of the last seven Premier League seasons. However, this did not stop Dominic from making a real breakthrough in 2019-2021. At that moment it seemed that he was the new top English striker. But in the next two Premier League games he was again affected by injuries: Calvert-Lewin missed a total of 203 days and participated in only 17 games per season. If he finally manages to stay healthy, it is very possible that he will return to his best numbers.
