By David An
1. Manchester City
2. Manchester United
3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal
5. Chelsea
6. Tottenham
Manchester City have been strengthening their squad significantly in the transfer window. Defenders Danilo, Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker will add pace and youth to the full back positions. Midfielder Bernardo Silva has a touch of class and goalkeeper Ederson will look to be the ball playing shot stopper Guardiola craves.
The squad that lines up for the 2017/2018 is more in the mould of Pep Guardiola's than the one he inherited. This will give him more options and a team that plays to his footballing philosophy. It will also mean added pressure to perform and a return on investment in the form of trophies for the wealthy owners of the club.
Although these new additions will add great strength to the squad it's another young man already at the club that the destiny of the title rests with. The last time Pep Guardiola decided to unleash a raw young South American talent to Europe, it marked the start of a dynasty at Barcelona with Leo Messi as the crown jewel. At first glance Gabriel Jesus has all the talent to become football's next great thing. With great instincts for the game and a cool head an explosion of his talent in England backed up by a cast of brilliant footballers will surely bring the Premier League to the light blue side of Manchester. The only question will Pep be able to time the transition from Aguero to Jesus perfectly? History will suggest yes, just ask Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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The red devils have added significant talent and physicality to their squad in Romelu Lukaku, Victor Lindelof and Nemanja Matic. They will definitely have a significant height advantage against most of their opponents this season. With Real Madrid not taking David De Gea away and the squad cutting off a Wayne Rooney past his prime Manchester United look ready for a title push. With bright youngster Marcus Rashford and a Zlatan waiting to make a cameo appearance towards the back end of the season there will be enough fire power for men in red.
The achilles heel for Mourinho's men last season was beating opponents at home. They were unable to breakdown deep defending teams and were left with frustrating draws that ultimately cost them a place in the top 4 let alone the title. Although they've made good signings it does leave the question do any of the current players have the creativity to break down stubborn opposition? Rather than weave through the opposition Jose might be planning to go over the top of the opposition. You could hardly blame him but it might get a tad predictable and ironically may see them fall short of the mark.
Liverpool are serious when they say they are not a selling club. With a reported offer of 100million Euro’s turned down for Phil Coutinho they mean business. They’ve added Mohammed Salah in the window and are trying to keep hold of their main man. The club was unconvincing towards the tail end of the season as injuries and loss of form saw them limp towards fourth spot. Injury to Sadio Mane was a huge loss as a lack of pace and width limited the approach play. With another African paceman in Salah those issues look to have been remedied.
They will have more firepower up front also. Dominic Solanke seems to be a future star in the making and pre-season indicates Daniel Sturridge will provide more competition for Roberto Firmino this season. Not replacing to the error prone centre backs could be the reason Liverpool miss out on top honours again this season.
However, the big boost to Liverpool could be the rescheduling of the African Nation’s Cup. With the competition now moved out of the regular season there will be no conflicts for Mane, Salah and Matip. This bodes well for a competitive season for the Reds both domestically and in Europe.
The last 2 seasons of the Premier League the winners were teams not participating in the Champions League. It’s no secret that it’s a big task to juggle the demands of the English league season and Europe’s biggest competition. The fact that England remains without a winter break out of the major leagues in Europe is an all too familiar talking point. This does not guarantee Arsenal will win the league but they should do better this season.
With Alexandre Lacazette joining the Gunners and Alexi Sanchez still an Arsenal player the North Londoners have reason to be optimistic. Though the Community Shield win is no major piece of silverware the fact the Wenger has bested Conte twice in a row at Wembley show he’s not the spent force many people believe him to be. Without a morale sapping mid-season spanking from Bayern and a more focused fixture list the Gunners will feel confident of returning to the Champions League Wenger has had them participating in.
Whether the soft centre of Arsenal and perennial mental collapse towards the home stretch can be avoided remains uncertain.
The problem with Chelsea this season is that Antonio Conte’s first season was so perfect the only way he can go is down. They were virtually unchallenged in their title push and capped his maiden season with a Championship.
This season they need to manage more competitions such as the Champions League and heightened expectations. To deal with that Conte has turned to one Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid to push the club to a new level. The young Spaniard certainly has a lot of potential and showed glimpses at Real Madrid. Is he ready for the Premiership and can he replace Diego Costa? Perhaps and perhaps not, there are some bad omens for the lad. The last time a Spanish striker was brought to Stamford Bridge one Fernando Torres looked a shadow of his former self. The last time a Real Madrid forward came to England Fernando Morientes struggled.
That’s not to say he will follow former strikers into oblivion. Boasting a great goal to minutes ratio the lad certainly knows where the back of the net is. However, the Premier League takes a lot of getting used to. The defenders will also not be distracted by marking Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric as was the case at Madrid. It’s a different game when you are the primary target for burly premier league defenders. Perhaps a reason why Lukaku was the first target for Chelsea, Conte will be hoping the lad is more Drogba than Shevchenko.
Tottenham played arguably the most attractive football last season and fell just short of being Champions. However, the summer has seen them make no signings and lose Kyle Walker to Man City. There are grumblings amongst other players with another fullback Danny Rose angling for a move elsewhere.
You feel that if they do fall down the table it will be due to the financial constraints imposed by the club hierarchy. With a 100k pound per week ceiling on wages this is a fraction of what the big names at other clubs are getting paid. To put it in contrast a jaded Wayne Rooney was making 300k at Manchester United.
The team on the pitch haven’t become a bad team overnight and their young team will only continue to improve. In Harry Kane they have arguably the finest forward in Europe and a great support cast in Eriksen, Alli and Son.
Not investing in the squad seems to do one of two things. Instil belief in the squad that the manager has complete faith in their ability. Or make players question the ambition of the club and start to look elsewhere. The reaction of the squad will go a long way in determining their ambitions this season.
Do you agree or disagree? Leave comments and submit your own predictions for the season ahead.
