1. Managers get top billing
THE PREMIER LEAGUE MAY still be playing second fiddle to super powers Real Madrid and Barcelona in terms of its ability to attract the very top players, but English football has never been so stacked with world class managers.
Four Englishmen, four Italians, two Frenchmen, two Spaniards, two Welshmen, one Scot, one Argentine, one Croat, one Dutchman, one German and a Portuguese make up the united nations of bosses currently employed by the 20 mega-rich clubs.
The most eye-catching appointments have been in Manchester, as two former Champions League winners and old foes Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are tasked with making their respective clubs great once again — both domestically and on the European stage.
Chelsea’s decision to give fiery Italian Antonio Conte the top job is an intriguing one, while it will be interesting to see how newcomers Claude Puel (Southampton), Walter Mazzarri (Watford) and Aitor Karanka (Middlesbrough) get on in their debut campaigns in the top flight.
Elsewhere, there are fresh challenges for Ronald Koeman at Everton and David Moyes with Sunderland, while Claudio Ranieri and Mauricio Pochettino both have real struggles on their hands to replicate last season’s achievements.
Jurgen Klopp will be expected to drive Liverpool on in his first full season, and who could forget the league’s longest serving manager Arsene Wenger, approaching 20 years in the job and without a raft of key players for Sunday’s clash with the Reds.
2. Title race as open is as it’s ever been
12 months ago, Leicester City were heavily-tipped for the drop after the departure of Nigel Pearson. What followed was nothing short of a miracle as the Foxes went from surprise packages to unlikely champions after prevailing in a title race with Tottenham.
Without taking anything away from their triumph, the top clubs really didn’t show up for the most part last time out.
A top-four finish should be significantly tougher as Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool are all expected put greater challenges together after opening the chequebooks to strengthen their squads.
Then you’ve got sides like Spurs, Southampton, West Ham, Stoke and Everton, who will all have genuine aspirations for the European spots.
Ranieri has already accepted that it won’t be back-to-back joy for the current champions, but you would like to think their goal is the top half of the table even with the added strain Champions League football will put on their squad.
This promises to be as open a contest as we’ve seen in recent times and it’s anyone’s guess who will prevail.
3. The new boys
While Aston Villa, Norwich City and Newcastle United all begun life in the Championship last weekend, Burnley, Middlesbrough and Hull City are preparing for returns to Premier League football after claiming promotion in their place.
But some of the newcomers are looking in better shape than others.
Under Aitor Karanka, Boro have held onto the bones of their squad while adding ten new recruits including former Barcelona and Man United goalkeeper Victor Valdes, ex-Man City striker Alvaro Negredo, Dane Viktor Fischer from Ajax, Dutch midfielder Marten de Roon and Brazilian full-back Fabio Da Silva.
Burnley have brought in Jon Flanagan on loan from Liverpool as well as Charlton pair Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Nick Pope, but they still look short on quality, while Hull City appear to be in all sorts of trouble.
Manager Steve Bruce walked out a couple of weeks ago, with Mike Phelan installed in a caretaker role. With no arrivals, a couple of departures and Michael Dawson, Moses Odubajo and Allan McGregor all missing for the opening weeks through injuries, things are looking bleak for the Tigers right now.
4. Summer signings
Over £600m has been spent by Premier League clubs since the window reopened on 1 July, and we’ve still got three more weeks until it shuts.
As you may have expected, the Manchester clubs have been the major players as they flex their financial muscle to cater for the needs of their new managers. Paul Pogba’s world record move from Juventus for £105m tops the lot and they have also bought £30m Eric Bailly from Villarreal and Henrikh Mkitaryan for £26m from Borussia Dortmund.
City have paid £50m for John Stones, around £37m to Schalke for winger Leroy Sane, £26m to Dortmund for Ilkay Gundogan and £27m to Palmeiras for Gabriel Jesus. They join Spanish winger Nolito, a £13.8m purchase from Celta Vigo.
Granit Xhaka, Arsenal’s biggest signing at £40m, looks a quality player but not exactly what they need — which is a world class centre-half and a prolific goalscorer. N’Golo Kante is a smart buy for Chelsea at £30m and Michy Batshuayi has the potential to be a fine addition even if they have paid over the odds at £30m.
However, that seems to be the standard fee these days. It’s the same sum Liverpool have given Southampton for Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum was £5m less from Newcastle United.
5. Opening round match-ups
The first set of fixtures throws up several subplots, beginning with the champions’ visit to the KC Stadium on Saturday afternoon. As already mentioned, Hull are short on numbers and caretaker boss Mike Phelan admitted today that they will find it difficult to compete in their current state.
That’s one of seven games on Saturday, and Sunday afternoon sees Bournemouth host Man United in Jose Mourinho’s first league game in charge, before Arsenal and Liverpool go at it in arguably the biggest game of the weekend at 4pm.
Then it’s over to Stamford Bridge for Monday Night Football as Chelsea entertain West Ham in a London derby. As an added bonus, Gary Neville returns to the Sky Sports studio after announcing his comeback last week.
It’s good to be back.
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