London, Aug 16: The new Premier League kicks off with Manchester City aiming for a fifth consecutive title in what may (or may not) be Pep Guardiola and Kevin de Bruyne’s last season at the club, while Arsenal look to go one better than last season, when they pushed Manchester City to the last match of the season. Manchester City have lost Julian Alvarez, but new arrival Savio impressed last season as he helped Girona finish third in Spain.
Arsenal have brought in defender, Riccardo Calafiori in another quiet summer in the transfer market, but are still pursuing Spain international midfielder, Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad.
The title race promises to be thrilling, but there is a lot more to watch out for as Erik ten Hag looks to improve on last season at Manchester United, where Sir Jim Radcliffe looks to be imposing some kind of coherent thinking on the club.Leny Yoro, Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui should give Ten Hag more all-round options, with De Ligt a long-term target for Ten Hag.Liverpool contemplate life without the reassuring and inspiring figure of Jurgen Klopp in their dugout and Arne Slot knows that he has a big task ahead of him, especially without any major transfers so far over the summer.
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery faces the challenge of repeating last season’s impressive fourth place, and the club has been active in backing him up, while Tottenham’s Ange Postecoglou also needs his side to push for a top-four place, while there are doubts that rivals may work out their high-pressure.Meanwhile, Chelsea continue to search for stability: something that isn’t easy to find when you change coach every season, while signing a host of young players, who were just starting to look like a team before Mauricio Pochettino left at the end of last season.Another summer of change means that Enzo Maresca is one of the favourites in the ‘sack race’ to see which coach is the first to lose their job this season.
Newcastle United coach Eddie Howe will be hoping that he has better luck with injuries this season as he relies on a squad that hasn’t had any major changes. Brentford also needs to avoid a repeat of last season’s injury nightmares, with the south-west London club signing Fabio Carvalho from Liverpool. Keeping Ivan Toney should also help coach Thomas Frank in his task.
Things are very different at West Ham where Julen Lopetegui replaces David Moyes, with the club digging deeply to give the former Spain boss their support. Max Kilman and Jean Clair Todibo offer options in defense and Niclas Fullkrug could become a big hero at the London Stadium.
Elsewhere, Everton will be keeping their collective fingers crossed that off-the-pitch issues don’t complicate matters as they did last season, as the club prepares for the last campaign at Goodison Park. Sean Dyche did a good job in difficult circumstances to keep Everton up last season and you can expect them to keep things tight in defense.
Andoni Iraola also did a good job at Bournemouth last time around and the club has again backed him in the transfer market, with several squad-strengthening arrivals to compensate for the loss of Dominic Solanke to Tottenham.
Meanwhile, the promoted trio of Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton all have tough tasks – to avoid relegation and fans off. The trio will need no reminding of what happened to Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town last season as their top-flight stay lasted precisely one season. (IANS)
