The Premier league is the most popular league in the world. The exorbitantly high transfer amounts paid, the battle for the Champions league football, the fight for survival and the smaller teams causing huge upsets, this league sees it all. This is what makes it the most eagerly awaited league in the world. So here are the five things to expect from the upcoming Premier League season.
1) The Manchester clubs as front runners for the title :
When Pep Guardiola was announced to take charge of Manchester City, enormous things were expected. It hasn’t quite worked out as spectacularly as many thought as Pep failed to live up to his incredibly high standards.
“In my situation at a big club, I’m sacked. I’m out,” said Guardiola recently. “If it is Barcelona and Bayern and you don’t win, you are out.”
“Here I have a second chance and I will try to do it better next season.”
While Man City flattered to deceive for the first half of the season, towards the end of the season, it really looked as if the team was starting to gel – Guardiola’s system was working. The young forward three of Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, now joined by the 22-year-old Portuguese wonderkid Bernardo Silva, are some of the hottest prospects in world football. A coach like Guardiola is the perfect man to build a framework to play to all of their strengths and bring out their best.
Man City have made a strong start to the summer transfer window and with a few more additions to the weaker parts of their squad, we could see them as pretty serious title contenders.
From one big coach to another, from the blue side of Manchester to the red, Jose Mourinho and Manchester United are no pushovers either.
Mourinho has been dubbed as the “second season master”, and rightly so. Let’s take a look at his second season records at his previous clubs:
(a) Porto – In his 2003/04 season, Mourinho guided Porto to the league title and the biggest prize in European club football, the Champions league
(b) Internazionale – Inter won the treble – the league, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League.
(c) Real Madrid – Real Madrid won the 2011/12 La Liga with a record 109 goals scored.
(d) Chelsea – In Mourinho’s second season of his second stint at Chelsea, they won the league with three games to spare
Though the Red Devils’ Premier League campaign left a lot to be desired, winning both the EFL Cup and the Europa League was a real success – and ensured United will be playing in the Champions League next season.
From what the trend suggests, United are expected to be even better in the upcoming campaign, and fans want to see the club challenge for both domestic and European honours.
2) Youngsters being the key to victory
The following season will see the first instance of having 5 English teams playing in the Champions League. We also have Arsenal playing in the less fancied Europa League. This coupled with the perennially competitive Premier league and the lack of a winter break makes squad depth the need of the hour.
This could be the season we see the young players in every squad step up. Man City have an amazing crop of young players as previously mentioned, Tottenham have Alli, Kane who are already stars while Harry Winks is an upcoming exciting talent, Arsenal have Bellerin and Holding in their defence set up who show maturity beyond their years, while Man United have Paul Pogba, who could finally live up to the record-breaking transfer money paid for him as we glimpses of his very best in the recent friendly matches.
With every passing year in the Premier League, the importance of having a young core becomes more and more important, and this could be the season where that could be the difference between the champions and the challengers.
3) World Cup 2018 keeps everyone on their toes :
There is no greater pride than donning your national colours and representing your country in the FIFA World Cup.
The upcoming Fifa World Cup 2018 shall no doubt give all the players an added incentive to be at their very best throughout the season to make the cut for the final crop making it to Russia in June 2018.
A World Cup in the following year also sees players make radical decisions about their futures at their respective clubs, with every minute spent on the bench reducing their chances of making it to Russia and hence could give rise to interesting transfer sagas.
4) A frantic fight for survival
While the fight for Champions League football is a delight to watch for the premier league fans, the relegation battle never fails to impress.
With multiple clubs vying for the magical 40-point mark, the fight for survival has seen some nail biting finishes in recent years, and we can expect the 2017/18 season to be no different.
Huddersfield town are fresh to the Premier League and with limited resources, should have a difficult season in store for them.
Rafa Benitez-led Newcastle should comfortably steer clear of the drop zone, with just Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Arsène Wenger having more major trophies on their CVs than the Spanish coach.
Another interesting thing this season has in store for us is the return of the Palace-Brighton derby. A derby that plenty of people are unaware exists at all will be played in the Premier League for the first time next season, one that could add another sub-plot to what is bound to be another nail biting fight for survival.
5) Chelsea chasing European glory
Antonio Conte-led Chelsea had the 2016/17 Premier League trophy in the bag with almost quarter of a season left, showing the kind of dominance and consistency the post-Ferguson era in the Premier League has rarely seen.
Conte won three consecutive Serie A titles with Old Lady of Turin and now has won the Premier League in his very first season in England. What has eluded him in all his years of managerial football is the Champions League.
He possesses a fiery passion for the game, which rubs off on his players. With a strong, well-knit squad in his hands and huge potential to improve the squad in the summer, Chelsea’s stand in Europe next year could be stronger than ever.
