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Delight. Ecstasy. Joy. Thrill. Sorrow. Dejection. Agony. Disappointment. Edgy. Nervy. Tense. Anxious. Get set, the emotional roller-coaster is back!
With the 2014-15 Premier League season set to kick-off in just a few days from now and the transfer window heated up with the managers still on the look out to fill the gaping holes within their squads, this seems an ideal time to preview the season ahead and make some (rather useless) predictions which may start looking rather silly come the end of the season, but do hell with it.
Battle for European spots – The Top 4
Just like any of the previous seasons, the top of the table seems the most difficult to predict, with nearly 7-8 clubs in the running for the top honours.
Having signed the Atletico duo of Diego Costa and Filipe Luis and former Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea’s squad suddenly boasts the strongest looking squad on paper. The Blues also have in their ranks two of the best goalkeepers in the world with Thibaut Courtois is back after a 3-year loan spell in Spain to provide competition between the sticks to Petr Cech.
Coming to their London rivals now, Arsenal have perhaps had their most successful transfer window in years. The Gunners fans can now claim to have witnessed Arsene Wenger making 4 signings within a span of 20 odd days (and much more before than deadline day!). They were in for a surprise when Monsieur Wenger followed up his Ozil coup from last season by signing Chile’s World Cup star Alexis Sanchez under the noses of a number of clubs. Mathieu Debuchy is a like-for-like replacement for the departed Bacary Sagna and Columbia’s hero David Ospina is a much needed competition for Wojciech Szczesny.
Last season’s surprise package, Liverpool have been the busiest in the window having to deal with a high profile exit. After narrowly missing out on the title last season, Rodgers is determined not to let the hard work be undone by quickly looking for replacements for the departed Luis Suarez.
Emre Can, Lazar Markovic, Divock Origi (loaned back to Lille), Javier Manquillo, Alberto Moreno and the Southampton trio of Lambert, Lovren and Lallana have so far made their way to Anfield for around a staggering £100mn. But having recouped a major chunk of the spending from Suarez’s sale to Barcelona, there is still enough in the coffers for Rodgers to make those final 1-2 signings that would put their squad on par with Chelsea and Manchester City. Defence seems to have taken care of, if only they could land one top striker before the window closes, they could be considered serious title contenders.
Over to Manchester, where one team is aiming to rebuild while the other looking to continue the dominance. Looking to put the Moyes disappointment behind, the Van Gaal era has certainly begun on a positive front for United, but now begins the real test.
United have done well in shifting the dead-weight from the squad with the likes of Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra, having already made their moves ashore. Enter fresh legs in the form of new signings Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, exciting academy prospects in the form of James Wilson and Will Keane, and a reinvigorated captain Wayne Rooney, and things could soon be bright again at Old Trafford, although they would be hoping that no Champions League burden would come as a boon for them, just like Liverpool last season.
City, meanwhile, have had their share of FFP woes in recent years and have not splurged the cash like their usual self. In fact, if you have a glance on their squad list, they didn’t really need much.
Defence was their biggest concern last season, with a woeful Martin Demichelis being partnered alongside seasoned campaigner Vincent Kompany. Thus came in, Eliaquim Mangala, for a whopping £32m price tag. Another signing from Porto, Fernando Reges has been bought in to strengthen the heart of the midfield, meanwhile Bacary Sagna and Willy Caballero have come in as cheap back-up options to Zabaleta and Hart respectively.
Top 4: Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and… well, I’d refrain from picking the fourth spot because it’s just too close to call and the bias factor may start clicking in.
Battle of Survival – The Relegation Candidates
While a host of clubs will be fighting for the top honours, the battle to avoid relegation will be just as intense. Almost every year the bottom of the table throws up an intriguing catfight for survival with teams trying to scrape their way towards that elusive 40-point mark. Fulham, Norwich and Cardiff were the unfortunate ones last season to fall down a division, but since they blew hot and cold the entire campaign, the relegation was more or less deserved.
As is the norm, two of the three newly promoted teams are heavily favoured by the oddsmakers to go down to the Championship immediately. Going by that criterion, I would choose Burnley and Leicester to get relegated and QPR to survive.
Nigel Pearson has breathed a fresh life into Leicester City since taking over the reins of the club in 2012. Overcoming the disappointment of cruelly missing out on promotion the previous year, Leicester were the worthy winners this time, running away with the Championship having an impressive tally of 102 points. They gained promotion with six games to spare, and won the league with two games in hand, in the process breaking the club’s goal scoring record.
Soon after they gained promotion the Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was quick to earmark the target of European football in three years time. But their transfer window activity this summer seems to suggest otherwise. So far, the Foxes have been in for only free agents rather than making big moves in the market, with Leonardo Ulloa from Brighton & Hove Albion being the only deal they’ve brought out the cash for.
With the exception of goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, left-back Paul Konchesky and free agent signing from Aston Villa, Matthew Upson, experience of top-flight football clearly seems to be lacking and that remains the biggest threat to Leicester’s survival hopes. Add to that a paper-thin squad and potential injury prospects over the long campaign. Should they add no more signings before the transfer window shuts, Leicester’s misery could be complete even before they come to known of it.
Essentially, Burnley’s problems are somewhat similar to Leicester’s. Sean Dyche’s Clarets took the Championship by surprise last season, finishing runners-up in the Championship, having the best defensive record in the league. Sean Dyche has so far added Michael Kightly, Marvin Sordell, Matt Gilks, Matthew Taylor, Steven Reid and Lukas Jutkiewicz for a combined transfer fee of around £4m, whereas Turf Moor has seen a fair share of outgoings as well (I’ll refrain from writing the names due to space constraints).
Burnley have also had bids for West Brom’s Craig Dawson and Watford’s Troy Deeney rejected. With last season’s top scorer Danny ings being linked with a move back to his native Southampton as a replacement for Rickie Lambert, the Clarets might as well have to return with a higher bid for Deeney. Again, with the exception of Michael Kightly top-flight experience seems missing.
QPR, on the other hand, have gone about their transfers very smartly - accumulating the perfect blend of both experience and young promising talent. Harry Redknapp has been in this situation before and is experienced enough to see them out. Hence, the odds are highly stacked against Burnley and Leicester avoiding relegation.
Among the survivors, there are several teams – West Brom, Aston Villa and West Ham – who could be in for a really torrid season ahead.
I’d pick West Brom to go down, simply because they’ve looked clueless ever since Steve Clarke was sacked (Why!?) and they haven’t added the desired quality to their squad, yet. Alan Irvine seemed a strange choice as a manager mid-season due to his lack of experience and if his £10m gamble of Ideye Brown from Dynamo Kiev doesn’t work out as he hopes, the Baggies are surely doomed.
Teams to get relegated: Leicester City, West Brom, Burnley.
Team to watch out for – Southampton
Manager left and the players followed - did Southampton become victims of their own success?
Watching Southampton get dismantled the way did this summer has really been a dispiriting experience. When asked about the uncertainty regarding some players’ future, Les Reed put a brave face in the public, stating that they need not raise money through sales to pay off the debt and that any offer would be rejected.
But, in reality who can refuse when someone becomes willing to pay £16m for a 19-year old right-back with only a handful of league starts to his name? Or a mammoth £32m for an 18-year old left back? Anyone and everyone could be tempted.
You could understand the agitation among the Saints faithful and new manager Ronald Koeman asked for some patience. With the cash available in surplus to spend, it’s the incomings that have started flowing in recent weeks.
Southampton have calmed the supporters’ nerves by signing Dusan Tadic, Graziano Pelle and Fraser foster apart from the loan deals for Ryan Bertrand and Saphir Taider. With more signings imminent, things aren’t half as bad as they are being made to look. Relegation fears are over the mark as the Saints remain in a much better position than most of the clubs.
Not all is lost for Southampton though. New manager Ronald Koeman gets an opportunity to mould the team the way he wants, with all the wholesome incomings and outgoings and give the club a new direction. Although his first priority must be to revoke the slide and make absolutely sure there aren’t any more departures.
On a realistic note, Southampton would almost certainly fail to match last season’s highs and an upper mid-table finish should be an ideal target at this moment considering Koeman’s first season settling in with the rigours and demands of the Premier League.
Manager to watch out for – Louis van Gaal
Following the disastrous David Moyes reign which saw United not only failing to secure a Champions League berth but also finish 7th in the league – their lowest ever finish since the 1989-90 season.
Van Gaal comes to Old Trafford with a high reputation which has sent the fans of the club excited an raring for the season ahead. There is no lack of experience for he has managed several top clubs and national teams throughout, thus managing the expectations at a big club should be no problem for him. Having been in charge of clubs of the stature of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Ajax , pressure comes naturally to him.
United under van Gaal have made a successful start during the pre-season, beating the likes of Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Liverpool. He is a manager known for his tactical flexibility and prefers playing with a 5-3-2 formation, something which the Premier League is not very familiar to.
Van Gaal believes in inculcating strict discipline within a squad, a priority of every manager taking charge of a new club, something which went missing under Moyes.
Player to watch out for – Alexis Sanchez
Arsene Wenger’s trip to Brazil paid off for he was able to persuade Chile’s World Cup hero Alexis Sanchez move to the Emirates. In recent years, Wenger has displayed a reluctance to splash the cash, but following previous season’s £43m coup of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid, Wenger once again showed that he too is not going to back down from spending big wherever needed, purchasing Sanchez from Barcelona for £32m, under the sniff of Liverpool.
Sanchez scored 19 goals and provided 10 assists in La Liga last season. Only three players had more combined goals and assists in La Liga. A clinical player, he stepped on the plate every time Lionel Messi had to sit out due to injuries. Undervalued at Barcelona, Sanchez would be happy to be the top dog at Arsenal and the Gunners would be more than happy to have him.
One of the stars during Chile’s dream run at the World Cup, Sanchez can play on the wings or even as a centre-forward and is particularly dangerous on the break. The Chilean international could form a formidable partnership with Mesut Ozil and cause mayhem among the opposition defences. No doubt why the belief in the Gunners camp is high ahead of the campaign.
