Premier League preview - Ronaldo returns after Man City miss out on Kane

 

▪️ ARSENAL @Arsenal
Last season 8th FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Quarter finals Europa League Semi finals
Last major trophy FA Cup 2020
Ownership Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (USA)
Head coach Mikel Arteta (since December 2019)
New signings Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Painful and embarrassing. That could be the only assessment of last season for Arsenal who finished eighth for a second year in a row. Worse still, this time there was no FA Cup success to secure European football - and the summer has not exactly lifted the mood at the Emirates. Increasingly, it is only the youngsters Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe who provide hope of any progress in this part of north London - and the big signing of centre-back Ben White already looks extremely overpriced at £50m. Mikel Arteta - humiliated by predecessor Unai Emery in the Europa League semi finals - faces an early exit if the Gunners do not start firing on all cylinders soon. 
▪️ Prediction [11th]

▪️ ASTON VILLA @AVFCOfficial
Last season 11th FA Cup Third round League Cup Fourth round
Last major trophy League Cup 1996
Ownership Nasser Sawiris (EGY) and Wes Edens (USA)
Head coach Dean Smith (since October 2018)
New signings Emiliano Buendia, Ashley Young, Danny Ings, Leon Bailey, Axel Tuanzebe*
This is not quite the Team That Jack Built - but honest Aston Villa fans will admit the Birmingham-born 25-year-old will be a massive miss following his British record £100m transfer to Manchester City. If nothing else, the beating heart of this squad has been ripped out - and that is not something which new signing Emi Buendia, as talented as he is, will be able to replace. Ollie Watkins, an England squad member this summer, will still score enough goals without Grealish - and, with the support of John McGinn and new face Danny Ings, Villa should stay clear of trouble. Sadly, for supporters of the Second City club, though, there will be no Grealish-inspired push for Europe in 2021-22.
▪️ Prediction [12th]

▪️ BRENTFORD @BrentfordFC
Last season 3rd in Championship (promoted) FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Semi finals
Last major trophy None
Ownership Matthew Benham (ENG)
Head coach Thomas Frank (since October 2018)
New signings Kristoffer Ajer, Myles Peart-Harris, Frank Onyeka, Yoane Wissa, Alvaro Fernandez
Brentford finally made it to the Premier League following several successive promising Championship seasons - although the Bees still needed to rely on the playoffs for promotion. That is not to take away anything from Brentford, the 50th club to achieve a place in the top division in the Premier League era after decades of toil - and, even recently, several squad rebuilds. Ivan Toney led the line brilliantly last season with 31 goals in the Championship - and, aided by the attacking philosophy of Danish head coach Thomas Frank, the 25-year-old has more than a fair chance of also making an impact on the top division. Nevertheless, the Bees' concern surely must be the lack of experience throughout their squad which collectively had only played 19 minutes of Premier League football before the season.
▪️ Prediction [14th]

▪️ BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION @OfficialBHAFC
Last season 16th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Fourth round
Last major trophy None
Ownership Tony Bloom (ENG)
Head coach Graham Potter (since May 2019)
New signings Enock Mwepu, Kjell Scherpen, Jeremy Sarmiento, Kaoru Mitoma, Marc Cucurella
Neil Maupay was Brighton's top scorer last season with just eight league goals, a statistic which will surprise nobody who saw the Seagulls play. Indeed, the sheer profligacy of Graham Potter's men became something of a running joke as they regularly frustrated the geeks obsessed with XG, i.e. the number of goals which they were expected to score. The problem appeared to reach a critical point in the relegation clash in February against West Brom in which Brighton contrived to miss two spot-kicks - although, eventually, the south coast club did enough to survive and line up for a sixth straight Premier League campaign. None of their summer signings so far is a striker, however - and this oversight certainly points towards another long season at the Amex Stadium.
▪️ Prediction [15th]

▪️ BURNLEY @BurnleyOfficial
Last season 17th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Fourth round
Last major trophy First Division 1959-1960
Ownership ALK Capital (USA)
Head coach Sean Dyche (since October 2012)
New signings Wayne Hennessey, Nathan Collins, Jacob Bedeau, Aaron Lennon, Maxwel Cornet, Connor Roberts
Turf Moor was not a happy place last season. Not only was the tight, old-fashioned ground missing its usual Lancastrian roar due to the coronavirus restrictions, a takeover saga left head coach Sean Dyche less than impressed after he was left in limbo last summer and beyond. Eventually, the change in ownership went through in December and the Clarets' poor early form improved sufficiently for them to line up among the elite of English football again. Still, though, Burnley were terribly shot-shy, scoring a measly 33 league goals on their way to 17th place despite main striker Chris Wood managing to get into double figures with 12. So far, the new owners have not exactly splashed their cash and little has changed from a squad which struggled badly at times year.
▪️ Prediction [16th]

▪️ CHELSEA @ChelseaFC
Last season 4th FA Cup Runners-up League Cup Fourth round Champions League Winners
Last major trophy Champions League 2021
Ownership Roman Abramovich (RUS/ISR)
Head coach Thomas Tuchel (since January 2021)
New signings Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Bettinelli, Saul Niguez*
It all went horribly wrong, quite quickly really, for Frank Lampard in the dugout at Stamford Bridge last season. Club legend Lampard was appointed to great fanfare in the summer of 2019 - and had a solid enough first year, guiding the Blues to fourth position and a place in the FA Cup final. But, with the transfer embargo lifted, far more was expected from Chelsea in 2020-21, especially given the investment in their attack with the arrival of German pair Timo Werner and Kai Havertz. Instead, Werner found it tough to adapt to the Premier League - and, defensively, Chelsea rather fell apart. Thomas Tuchel took over in January and immediately improved the organisation of the team in a half-season burst which culminated in Chelsea achieving European Cup glory for the second time in nine years. Building on from that, the Blues have again strengthened their attacking hand by re-signing Romelu Lukaku for £103m from Internazionale. With the arrival of the Belgian, Tuchel will expect his team to mount a serious challenge to the Manchester clubs and Liverpool.
▪️ Prediction [3rd]

▪️ CRYSTAL PALACE @CPFC
Last season 14th FA Cup Third round League Cup Second round
Last major trophy None
Ownership Steve Parish (ENG)
Head coach Patrick Vieira (since July 2021)
New signings Marc Guehi, Michael Olise, Joachim Andersen, Conor Gallagher*, Jacob Montes, Remi Matthews, Will Hughes, Odsonne Edouard

All change at Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace welcome a new head coach for the start of a season for the first time since 2017 following the rather wonderfully surprising appointment of Patrick Vieira. Of course, we all know what happened then - Frank de Boer turned up in the dugout, lost four games without seeing as much as a goal and was promptly sacked. Roy Hodgson took over his boyhood club and repaired his own reputation somewhat after his spell with the England national team ended dreadfully - with the Eagles never less than steady for the vast majority of his tenure. Vieira has enjoyed some success already in the transfer market, attracting Danish international Joachim Andersen and Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher - but he only needs to ask predecessor de Boer what will happen if Palace cope badly with a change again.
▪️ Prediction [13th]

▪️ EVERTON @Everton
Last season 10th FA Cup Quarter finals League Cup Quarter finals
Last major trophy FA Cup 1995
Ownership Farhad Moshiri (IRN)
Head coach Rafael Benítez (since June 2021)
New signings Andros Townsend, Demarai Gray, Asmir Begovic, Salomon Rondon*
A strange and unsettling pre-season in this part of Merseyside has only increased the pressure on a Toffees team which has underperformed in recent seasons. First, former Liverpool head coach Rafael Benitez received rather less than a hero's welcome at Goodison Park when he was appointed as Carlo Ancelotti's replacement on 30 June - and then, in July, Everton admitted they had suspended a first-team player pending a police investigation over suspected child sex offences. Even the proposed move to a new ground in the Docklands area suffered a reputational blow when the plans were met by stern criticism from UNESCO, which subsequently removed the city of Liverpool from its list of World Heritage Sites. On the pitch, Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be determined to back up the breakthrough campaign which he enjoyed last time out - while Benitez will, as usual, take criticism of his style on the chin if it leads to an improved defensive record.
▪️ Prediction [7th]

▪️ LEEDS UNITED @LUFC
Last season 9th FA Cup Third round League Cup Second round
Last major trophy First Division 1991-92
Ownership Andrea Radrizzani (ITA)
Head coach Marcelo Bielsa (since June 2018)
New signings Jack Harrison, Junior Firpo, Lewis Bate, Amari Miller, Kristoffer Klaesson, Daniel James

Marco Bielsa did not disappoint as he took his forward first approach into the Premier League last season. Better still for Leeds United, it actually worked out well for the Argentine - at least in the primary aim of keeping the Whites in the top flight. Patrick Bamford, in particular, had a cracking campaign up front and scored 17 league goals as the West Yorkshire club recorded a  finish in the top 10 places in the English top division for the first time since 2001-02. In excellent summer news for Leeds supporters, Bamford agreed this week to a new five-year contract - and with his poaching ability, Bielsa's men will bloody a few noses again this season. Indeed, they could easily improve on last season if they even get a little bit better at the back from set-pieces - after all, not including penalties, those situations cost Leeds on 15 occasions during 2020-21, the most in the Premier League.
▪️ Prediction [10th]

▪️ LEICESTER CITY @LCFC
Last season 5th FA Cup Winners League Cup Third round Europa League Last 32
Last major trophy FA Cup 2021
Ownership Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (THA)
Head coach Brendan Rodgers (since February 2019)
New signings Ryan Bertrand, Boubakary Soumare, Patson Daka, Jannik Vestergaard, Ademola Lookman*

Medals count - the Olympics have been ample demonstration of that - so former Stocksbridge Park Steels striker Jamie Vardy must still be pinching himself. After all, the incredible 2015-16 Premier League title win has now been followed up by an FA Cup win at Wembley in May. Conversely, in the league, the Foxes fell out of the Champions League places in the last week of the campaign for the second year in a row so there are reasonable doubts over just how far this current Leicester team can go. Except for Liverpool, the teams who finished above Brendan Rodgers's men have all made big signings - although, at the same time, none of the teams below have made particularly great strides. Consequently, this all points to a strong Leicester outfit holding firm in fifth but still not breaking through.
▪️ Prediction [5th]

▪️ LIVERPOOL @LFC
Last season 3rd FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Fourth round Champions League Quarter finals
Last major trophy Premier League 2019-20
Ownership Fenway Sports Group (USA)
Head coach Jürgen Klopp (since October 2015)
New signings Ibrahima Konate

Liverpool produced a weak title defence and relied on a late season run of form - eight wins and two draws - to rescue a season which appeared to be drifting towards a finish in the Europa League places at best. Instead, the Reds finished third after that late run having spent much of the campaign bemoaning a lack of home fans, injuries and VAR decisions, factors which were not exactly unique to Liverpool during 2020-21. True, the early season injury to Virgil van Dijk was probably decisive enough in itself for Klopp's men to concede the title - but the problems eventually stretched well beyond the injury to their key defender. Beyond Mo Salah, who had another excellent season in front of goal, Liverpool struggled in attack, and full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson were blunted by injuries and patchy form. Surprisingly, there has not been an influx of squad-boosting signings to Anfield this summer - and, as such, it is difficult to see the 2019-20 title winners managing a much closer challenge to the two Manchester clubs this time.
▪️ Prediction [4th]

▪️ MANCHESTER CITY @ManCity
Last season Champions FA Cup Semi finals League Cup Winners Champions League Runners-up
Last major trophy Premier League 2020-21
Ownership Abu Dhabi United Group (UAE)
Head coach Pep Guardiola (since July 2016)
New signings Jack Grealish, Scott Carson, Metinho, Kayky

Manchester City do not miss out on their man often - but, with Harry Kane now confirmed as committed to Tottenham Hotspur for the summer and Cristiano Ronaldo moving to Manchester United, the defending champions find themselves in the bizarre position of being short of options up front. Gabriel Jesus and Ferran Torres have shown plenty of promise already - but neither will ever come anywhere near to the feats of Sergio Aguero at the Etihad Stadium. After all, Man City have made it no secret this summer that they wanted to recruit a top-level striker - but, while the creativity ranks have boosted by the arrival of Jack Grealish from Aston Villa, a long-term implementation of the false nine tactic would be an especially brave tactic in competitions as competitive as the Premier League and the Champions League. Of course, Man City come into this season on the back of a first-ever appearance in the Final of the European Cup - and, while it is impossible to know for sure, the obviously conditional commitment of Kane to Spurs suggests a Champions League-winning team may have had just that bit more of a pull. As it stands, that remains the golden duck for the Abu Dhabi United Group but this looks like Pep Guardiola's most difficult season yet at the Etihad.
▪️ Prediction [2nd]

▪️ MANCHESTER UNITED @ManUtd
Last season 2nd FA Cup Quarter finals League Cup Semi finals Champions League Group stage Europa League Runners-up
Last major trophy Europa League 2017
Ownership Joel Glazer and Avram Glazer (USA)
Head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjær (since December 2018)
New signings Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane, Tom Heaton, Cristiano Ronaldo
Pity poor Manchester United, hamstrung by the Glazers on board and their transfer spend on a couple of players of only £107m this summer, having previously splurged similarly eye-watering amounts on Paul Pogba in August 2016 and Harry Maguire in August 2019. True, there are legitimate concerns about the club being saddled with the external debt of their American owners - but it seems unlikely that, if Man United were still a winning machine like they were under Sir Alex Ferguson, the protests - which, without sanction, caused the Liverpool match on 2 May to be postponed - would have reached anywhere near the same scale. Instead, Red Devils fans are frustrated by the lack of a trophy in four seasons and the lack of a Premier League title since Ferguson retired at the end of 2012-13. His immediate successor David Moyes found the job too big for him before Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho both lacked the attacking style with which to over-power their opponents. Solksjaer has brought back some of that style but has repeatedly failed to deliver tactically so far on big occasions. If the Norwegian fails again this time with this expensively-assembled team, it might well be time for yet another change in the Old Trafford hot-seat.
▪️ Prediction [Champions]

▪️ NEWCASTLE UNITED @NUFC
Last season 12th FA Cup Third round League Cup Quarter finals
Last major trophy UEFA (Fairs) Cup 1969
Ownership Mike Ashley (ENG)
Head coach Steve Bruce (since July 2019)
New signings Joe Willock
Steve Bruce probably survived lockdown more comfortably than most people with the coronavirus restrictions keeping the crowds away from St James Park. In fairness, Newcastle United also survived comfortably enough in the end despite a horrific winter run of just two wins in 21 league and cup games - and, in fact, the Magpies flew up to a finishing position of 12th, having spent only 20 minutes in the bottom three throughout the whole season. Much credit for that deserves to go to January loan signing Joe Willock who closed out the campaign by scoring in seven successive matches to equal a club record held by Alan Shearer - and the 22-year-old Londoner Willock has now signed permanently following a predictably protracted transfer saga. No other major players have arrived on Tyneside, though - and that leaves a thin squad just as vulnerable to injuries and illness as it was in 2020-21.
▪️ Prediction [19th]

▪️ NORWICH CITY @NorwichCityFC
Last season 1st in Championship (promoted) FA Cup Fourth round League Cup First round
Last major trophy League Cup 1985
Ownership Delia Smith (ENG), Michael Wynn-Jones (WAL)
Head coach Daniel Farke (since May 2017)
New signings Billy Gilmour*, Josh Sargent, Pierre Lees-Melou, Kenny Coker, Milot Rashica, Angus Gunn, Flynn Clarke, Ben Gibson, Dimitris Giannoulis, Liam Gibbs, Christos Tzilos, Brandon Williams*, Mathias Normann, Ozan Kabak*
Championship title followed by a rock-bottom relegation followed by another Championship title - it has certainly been eventful at Carrow Road in recent seasons. The Canaries bouncing between the divisions is nothing new, of course - they hold a joint record with West Brom for the most relegations from the top flight in the Premier League era with five - but the most recent instance was the worst of the lot, at least statistically. Head coach Daniel Farke was retained despite Norwich finishing the season by scoring just twice and losing each of their last 10 Premier League matches - and the German deserves some credit for this quick turnaround. But the departure of player of the season, Emi Buendia to Aston Villa, looks a costly loss - and there is big pressure on the young shoulders of incoming loanee from Chelsea, 20-year-old Billy Gilmour.
▪️ Prediction [20th]

▪️ SOUTHAMPTON @SouthamptonFC
Last season 15th FA Cup Semi finals League Cup Second round
Last major trophy FA Cup 1976
Ownership Gao Jisheng (CHN)
Head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl (since December 2018)
New signings Romain Perraud, Theo Walcott, Tino Livramento, Olly Lancashire, Adam Armstrong, Thierry Small, Lyanco
So it happened again. The first 9-0 defeat - against Leicester City in October 2019 - became a source of irritation to Southampton fans because of the number of times that the media mentioned the Foxes' momentous result. Now, of course, the worst way to deal with that sort of thing is to repeat it - and yet that is exactly what Southampton did at Old Trafford against Manchester United in February. Once might be unlucky but twice really is careless - and, while Austrian head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl has somehow survived both defeats, the second was so much worse because the Saints were far slower to recover from it. This summer, Danny Ings, Mario Lemina and Jannik Vestergaard have all departed St Mary's - but, while the squad was in dire need of an overhaul, those names heading for the exit were not the first which sprung to mind if Hasenhüttl's men were to see an improvement this season.
▪️ Prediction [17th]

▪️ TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR @SpursOfficial
Last season 7th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Runners-up Europa League Last 16
Last major trophy League Cup 2008
Ownership ENIC International Limited (ENG)
Head coach Nuno Espírito Santo (since June 2021)
New signings Cristian Romero, Pierluigi Gollini, Bryan Gil, Pape Matar Sarr, Emerson Royal
"He's one of our own," sing the Tottenham Hotspur fans to Harry Kane - but the England striker was ever so close to moving on to Manchester City this summer. During the stand-off, Kane delayed his return to pre-season training until 7 August - and it has all proved a rather unsettling few weeks for new head coach Nuno Espirito Santo. Of course, it will take time for the wounds which have been opened to heal - nevertheless, Kane is still a Tottenham player for now, and he remains a high quality attacker who scored 23 goals and contributed 14 assists in 2020-21. Meanwhile, Nuno is a solid, if unspectacular appointment - or at least that is how his Wolves teams played - and, rather than worry about his attack, the Portuguese will need to work on Spurs' soft underbelly which they regularly demonstrated on their way to an under-par seventh-place finish last season.
▪️ Prediction [6th]

▪️ WATFORD @WatfordFC
Last season 2nd in Championship (promoted) FA Cup Third round League Cup Third round
Last major trophy None
Ownership Gino Pozzo (ITA)
Head coach Xisco Muñoz (since December 2020)
New signings Danny Rose, Kwadwo Baah, Mattie Pollock, Imran Louza, Ashley Fletcher, Emmanuel Dennis, Peter Etebo*, Joshua King, Juraj Kucka*, Ozan Tufan, Moussa Sissoko

In these uncertain times, Watford provide a refreshingly consistent level of erratic decision-making made by the Hornets' Italian owner Gino Pozzo. Even in a campaign which ended in an immediate return to the Premier League, there was a now customary mid-term change of head coach with Vladimir Ivic replaced by Xisco Munoz and, in fact, Javi Gracia is the only Watford coach to have remained at the helm for longer than a single season since the end of 2012-13. Surely, Pozzo must have learned that there is little to be gained from a repeat of 2019-20 when Watford had four different men sit in the dugout - but Xisco already has a difficult task of bedding at least 10 new faces into his squad, and a slow start seems likely to proceed in bringing about only one outcome for the Spaniard.
▪️ Prediction [18th]

▪️ WEST HAM UNITED @WestHam
Last season 6th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Fourth round
Last major trophy FA Cup 1980
Ownership David Sullivan (WAL) and David Gold (ENG)
Head coach David Moyes (since December 2019)
New signings Craig Dawson, Alphonse Areola*, Pierre Ekwah Elimby, Armstrong Oko-Flex, Kurt Zouma, Nikola Vlasic, Alex Kral*
Where did that come from? Following his widely derided return to the London Stadium, and an unconvincing 16th-placed finish in 2019-20, David Moyes caused one of the biggest surprises of last season by leading West Ham United into the top six for the first time since 1998-99. The Scotsman may still have a dour personality but this current Hammers vintage play some delightful football with Saïd Benrahma and Manuel Lanzini ably assisting the main threat provided by Michail Antonio. Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice ensure the skillful play has a gritty underlay - and Rice, in particular, developed well during 2020-21 with the help of regular football. The extra games provided by the Europa League from September will likely stretch this Hammers squad to the maximum - but, for Moyes, it was a welcome return to the right end of the table and a nice problem to have to solve.
▪️ Prediction [8th]

▪️ WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS @Wolves
Last season 13th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Second round
Last major trophy League Cup 1980
Ownership Fosun International (CHN)
Head coach Bruno Lage (since June 2021)
New signings Jose Sa, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Francisco Trincao*, Yersen Mosquera, Bendeguz Bolla, Hwang Hee-chan
Continuity has been the keyword at Molineux this summer despite a change to the head coach which became more and more inevitable as the 2020-21 season wore on. In fairness to Nuno Espirito Santo, Wolverhampton Wanderers were sitting in seventh after beating Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates on 29 November - but, in that game, the Old Gold lost the services of main striker Raul Jiminez for the remainder of the season following a sickening clash of heads. Thereafter, Wolves were never quite the same - but their Mexican main man Jiminez is now back fit and ready to resume his role under new head coach Bruno Lage who has been brought in from Benfica. It is perhaps no surprise that Wolves scouted Portugal for their new man with no fewer than nine men in the current first-team squad sharing that natifonality - and, as such, Lage should have few problems bedding in his football philosophy at the West Midlands club.
▪️ Prediction [9th]

*refers to loan signing