August 11, 2022
United shock, Jesus to flourish under Arteta
The opening Gameweek fixtures kicked off on August 5 and will run until May 28, 2023. It sees the best teams in the country compete against one another for the title and creates an atmosphere like no other.
It stages the ‘most competitive and compelling league’ with world-class players watched by around three billion people across all the whole season (in the 2021/22 campaign).
Championship
Manchester City
This one was a no-brainer, the signing of Haaland and Kelvin Phillips has already strengthened this superteam. Last season, they only lost a staggering three games, managing to score 99 goals with just 26 goals conceded across all 38 matches.
Top 4
Liverpool
For the past six years now, Liverpool have successfully reached the top four. With the signing of wonderkid Darwin Nunez, Jurgen Klopp hopes to win the Premier League title as done during his 2019/20 campaign. Last season, they narrowly lost the title by just one point.
Tottenham
Tottenham are fully confident in Antonio Conte’s vision for the future. Their business this window has been good with the signings of Richarlison (Everton), Yves Bissouma (Brighton), Djed Spence (Middlesbrough), and Ivan Perisic (Inter).
Fans should be excited with this season, especially with Champions League football in store and the addition of these new signings.
Chelsea
Last season, Chelsea were facing huge economic sanctions due to the situation with Roman Abramovich and many thought that they would go into administration. Now, the Blues are backed by American billionaire Todd Boehly, who owns shares in both the Dodgers and LA Lakers.
They made great signings with Raheem Sterling (Man City), Marc Cucurella (Brighton), Kalidou Koulibably (Napoli), and one of the most promising wonderkids in Europe, Carney Chukwuemeka (Aston Villa).
Chelsea fans should be optimistic in this upcoming season, Boehly hopes to build more success just like his predecessor Roman Abramovich.
Relegation odds:
Bournemouth: 8/13
Nottingham Forest: 11/10
Fulham: 7/4
Southampton: 2/1
Leeds United: 11/4
Brentford: 11/4
Everton: 11/4
Wolves:7/2
Crystal Palace:5/1
Relegations
Nottingham Forest, Fulham, and Bournemouth
The three newly promoted clubs from the Championship are favourites to get relegated. Clubs from the Championship must invest heavily in quality players in order to stay up and avoid relegation.
The Premier League is a massive step up from the championship, although these clubs have made signings, many experts and pundits believe it won’t be enough for them to remain. Moreover, the teams who just survived the drop, such as Leeds have backed their managers heavily in contrast to the new teams.
Player of the Season
Mohammed Salah
Salah has simply been outstanding since he’s been at Liverpool. He’s scored 44 goals between 2017/18 since joining Jurgen Klopp’s side, and last year was both joint top scorer and assists provider for the league.
With Sadio Mane gone, there is now even more emphasis on Salah.
Given his track record, and with Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, and Roberto Firminio as a supporting cast, not to mention his seemingly already good chemistry with star signing Darwin Nuñez, few would put it past Salah to excel this season.
Young Player of the Season
Bukayo Saka
Last season, Saka had a very solid campaign with 11 goals and 7 assists, he recovered well from his penalty miss against Italy in the Euros 2020 final (was held in 2021 due to COVID-19 delay).
With the new signings, Saka can definitely step up along with the likes of Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus to get Arsenal Champions League football.
Golden boot
Mohammed Salah
As mentioned above, Salah is a goal machine. With Nuñez coming into the side and occupying defenders, this will only give Salah more time and space to keep on scoring.
Best signing
Erling Haaland
City managed to activate his release clause of 51 million (however, this added up to much more with agent fees and signing bonuses calculated behind the scenes). This is an absolute bargain as during his time in Dortmund, he managed to score 62 goals and 19 assists in just 67 games.
Take in consideration that he is not even in his prime, he is only 22 years old and has so much more to offer in the future. Premier League fans, and especially City fans, should be excited for what he can bring in the next few years.
Most assists
Kevin De Bruyne
The signing of Erling Haaland will hugely benefit the Belgium player for assists as he is a very tall (193cm), explosive, and an extremely fast striker. De Bruyne reads the game exceptionally, as of writing this, he has 87 assists and 57 goals across 211 appearances in the Premier League.
One to Watch (Player + Team)
Gabriel Jesus; West Ham
Gabriel Jesus is a great addition to an already strong Arsenal team. Before his time at Arsenal as head coach, Michel Arteta worked with the Brazilian in his Manchester City days. Many are confident that Jesus will fit well in the system and hopefully rebuild his career.
Not to mention, he broke the record for the most picked player in Fantasy Premier League.
Although suffering a 2-0 defeat at home against current Premier League champions Man City, West Ham have been very busy in the transfer window as they plan on signing even more players.
Fans are very excited and satisfied with their newly improved team, with the current signings of Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo), Maxwell Cornet (Burnley), Nayef Aguerd (Rennais), Alphonse Areola (PSG), and prospect Flynn Downes (Swansea), they can expect big results ahead of this season and for the following years.
First manager to get sacked
Brendan Rodgers
At the time of writing this, Leicester City are still yet to sign a new player. What is more worrying is that their star players are linked with other premier league clubs and could see them depart before the summer 2022 window.
Wesley Fofana is heavily linked with Chelsea, James Maddison is rumoured to be one of Eddie Howe’s targets, and Youri Tielemans is uncertain about his future with the Foxes. While, club veteran and ex-captain, Kasper Schmeichel, has already left the club during this transfer window to join Nice.
Because they still haven’t signed a replacement, last season’s second-choice goalkeeper, Daniel Ward, is expected to take over as goalkeeper for Leicester.
Biggest disappointment
Manchester United
With the appointment of Erik Ten Hag, United fans are hopeful that he will be the man to resurrect United back to their glory days under Sir Alex.
They have been busy in the transfer market, signing Lisandro Martinez (Ajax), Tyrell Malacia (Feyenoord) and Christian Eriksen (Brentford).
We have to take note how dreadful United were last season with the majority of experts, pundits, and premier league fans in agreement. The Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo, will definitely try to move away from Manchester (most likely via a loan deal) because of the club’s terrible run of results, poor management, and how they didn’t qualify for the Champions League.
