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The English Premier league is known for a transition of managers throughout the course of a season especially in the last 3-5 years. The expectations on managers now is stronger than it has ever been as each club having different aims and goals to challenge for. However the majority of the league now looks to get to the 40-point mark to stave the risk of relegation to the championship and set their aims after that.
The financial benefit of staying in the Premier League forces the hierarchies at clubs to make a decision in terms of the position of the manager if the team is not quite producing the results needed. The top bracket of the leagues generally do not make drastic decisions over the manager position at the club, however, the last two defending champions have both felt they needed to replace their respective managers in Claudio Ranieiri at Leicester last time out and Jose Mourinho with his title winners the season before.
One of the interesting debates is who will be the first manager to leave, whether it is a sacking or to walk away? Who will be in the firing line this season?
#6 Arsene Wenger (believe it or not)
The current longest serving manager in the Premier League now splits opinion amongst the Arsenal supporters and amongst the millions who watch the game. The 67-year old Frenchman goes into every campaign with high optimism and somehow there is generally a good feeling at the club around this time of the year.
However, after the disaster of last season, that feel good feeling might not last too long at the club. The on-going discussion of whether Wenger should stay or go will no doubt carry onto this campaign following on from the uncertainty of last season that derailed their season.
No Champions League football might give the Gunners the opportunity to put all their efforts into launching a full assault towards the title this season, but whether they have the quality throughout the team to challenge is still a big question mark.
Many Arsenal fans will be baffled as to how Wenger and their club officials have allowed their two major assets enter the last year of their respective contracts in Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. Adding Alexandre Lacazette to the frontline will add goals, there is no doubt about that. However, with the club's only other signing being Sead Kolašinac, it looks the like the same old Arsene Wenger not willing to splash the cash to add real quality to this team.
The future of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez looks like it will determine whether Wenger spends further this summer. The fear for Arsenal fans is that they deserve so much more than they are getting from the club and there might not be further investment. Wenger will need to start strong and stay close to the frontrunners in the Premier League or his position might very well just be in massive jeopardy this season, the board can’t keep staying loyal to Wenger if the club is not progressing.
The opening game result against Leicester will have Gunners fans happy to start with a win, but conceding the three goals will obviously be a concern. Will be interesting to see how the atmosphere continues at the Emirates.
#5 Tony Pulis – West Bromwich Albion
Pulis should be fine with West Brom; they generally do back him and are one of the clubs that continue with their business right up until the final hours of the deadline days. But if the team gets off to a poor start and don’t show any further signs of investing, Pulis is the sort of character who knows when to get out.
Losing influential captain Darren Fletcher leaves a gap in the team not only from his footballing brain but his experience within the side. The signing of former Southampton frontman Jay Rodriguez is a decent acquisition for the club, but much more is needed.
Pulis should see this out with West Brom but should the club lack investment, don’t be surprised to see him exit The Hawthorns.
The Baggies had a good season last time, and that in turn raises the bar a little. The opening day home win against Bournemouth will settle down the West Brom faithful, though.
#4 Mark Hughes – Stoke City
Not a name that many would consider to be under serious pressure but there is an opinion that Stoke have stalled with their progress in recent seasons. ‘Sparky’ is the third longest manager in the Premier League at the moment and after an extremely average season last time, he might just be looking over his shoulder.
What would really concern the Stoke fans and maybe even Mark Hughes is the form of the Potters against the clubs that perhaps they should be really be beating. We all know how hard that Stoke can be to play against in terms of physically and how direct they can play especially against the bigger clubs. But against the ‘smaller’ teams, they seem to switch off more often than not and do not produce the standard expected.
Expect Stoke to be safe and the position of their Welsh manager Mark Hughes to be fairly comfortable but the club cannot stall this season. The loan signing of Kurt Zouma and the expected permanent signing of Bruno Martins Indi will be huge for the team and Hughes will be delighted have such quality in front of the fully fit future England number one goalkeeper Jack Butland.
The sales of Glenn Whelan, Jon Walters and Phil Bardsley represents that Hughes is looking to bring a more vibrant feel to the club. Losing Arnautovic might also help as we only seen his quality in bits last season. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting joining the club on a free transfer might turn out to one of the signings of the summer.
The narrow defeat away to Everton on the opening day will not be a huge surprise for Stoke and the players. Perennially slow starters, they need to buck up after the opening day loss and reverse the trend.
#3 Frank De Boer – Crystal Palace
The squad needs quality added especially defensively. Not acquiring the services of the popular loan signing Mamadou Sakho has left a massive gap in the centre of their defence and whether Jairo Riedewald can prove himself capable of stepping up from his move from Ajax will be a major factor, though the loan singing of Manchester United’s versatile defender Fosu-Mensah looks really promising business.
De Boer needs to add to this team to give him and his group every opportunity, expect the popular Dutchman to be under serious pressure this season.
The opening day hammering at home to newly promoted Huddersfield will certainly not help De Boer settle into his new surroundings. The Dutchman will need results to improve straight away to get the fans on his side.
#2 Rafa Benitez – Newcastle United
The Spaniard has not had his own way this summer when it comes to his transfer recruitment and looks to be the favourite for the first manager to go this season. However, the possibility of Benitez walking out of St. James Park looks more likely.
After s spending spree last summer that saw the club signing proven Championship players who helped the club to get back their top flight status, this summer has been rather dry for the Magpies. However, the squad might not necessarily be Premier League quality.
The Newcastle fans are known to be some of the most passionate in England so the high demands certainly come from them, so the owners need to back Benitez and give him the support and backing he feels he needs to not only maintain their Premier League status but perhaps even push them closer to the mid-table region of the table rather than skirting around the bottom end of the table. But, that seems unlikely after Mike Ashley's latest comments.
The transfer business Benitez and Newcastle have done so far has been so so. Adding Jacob Murphy from Norwich brings pace to the Newcastle attack, Florian Lejeune from La Liga club Eibar is a top class signing with other clubs circulating around gaining the services of the central defender.
Acquiring a striker has been the top aim for former Liverpool manager, and losing out on the loan of Chelsea’s highly rated Tammy Abraham knocked the club back with the deal looking likely. The club needs a prolific goal-scorer Arsenal’s Lucas Perez has been strongly linked with a move if this deal goes through, Benitez might just be more at ease at St. James Park.
If the club does not move forward with Rafa Benitez expect the Spaniard to walk and perhaps back him now to leave the club going into September.
#1 Slaven Bilic – West Ham United
One name to watch out for is Slaven Bilic at West Ham. The general consensus is how well West Ham have invested, but there should also be doubts. Last season, West Ham were very much average in terms of the season before that as the neither Bilic's tactics not his new signings clicked.
Javier Hernandez should be the solution to a goal-scoring striker the club has lacked for years. Marco Arnautovic and Joe Hart have also joined the club two guys who have seen a decline to their careers in the last two seasons, so as much as yes these are good signings for West Ham but it adds now to the pressure on Croatian manager Bilic.
If the team does not have a good first half of the season and are under perform, Bilic’s position will under massive scrutiny. The opening day hammering at the hands of Manchester United won't help as the morale will be pretty low now.
