Four reasons why this season’s English Premier League is worth it

With the first week of EPL done, we are already settling into a nice usual rhythm that may make a few pundits already calling the early contenders and the to-be-relegation-battlers, but it’s only the beginning. Here are four reasons why this particular edition of the English Premier League is going to be more exciting than ever before.

1. TV rights windfall: Money for all EPL clubs

Thanks to a bidding war between broadcasters, a lucrative phase has ushered in for Britain’s top-flight clubs. Although Sky Sports will still be showing a major share of matches, newly launched BT Sports outbid the incumbent for 38 games, raising the value of the deal by more than 70 per cent in the process. The result is a record £3bn price tag for the next three years’ television rights and a bonanza for EPL clubs, every one of which will receive an extra £14m per year. We all know where that money went for a lot of clubs – transfers, where else. This kind of capital influx has been especially helpful to the lower rung teams who don’t have the financial muscle to buy top talent. Expect an increase in the general competitiveness.

2. New faces all around: Three new managers in the top four

With Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, Mancini’s sacking and Rafa Benitez’s end of tenure, three of the top 4 clubs from last season find themselves under the management of unfamiliar faces (not exactly – Mourinho?). Other than that, Liverpool and Tottenham are finally getting used to the particular style of game that Brendan Rodgers and Andre Villas-Boas want them to play, respectively. And we have the ever-present Arsene Wenger at the helm of Arsenal completing the top six, where the matches would be harder to predict.

3. A paradigm shift in tactics: Stoke playing passes?

With the ever-changing modern game, EPL managers have had to change their general strategy. Gone are the days of a static two-man midfield, with two wingers hugging the outside-line and two strikers playing for second balls. The mantra of the modern game is high intensity pressing combined with a more possession based football, either that or a quick Dortmund-like transitional football. Swansea have done it, Liverpool have done it, even Chelsea are doing it well at the centre, but what about the teams who are known for their tall and burly men who take on their opponents even without the ball at their feet? Shockingly, even the lower ranked teams are changing their approach, not to imitate a playing style but rather to be more pragmatic in approach. In their first match under new manager Mark Hughes, Stoke City fans were heard chanting, “We’re Stoke City, we’re passing the ball.” If Stoke City are changing, then certainly the EPL is undergoing a real shift in general strategy.

4. Champions League revival: Mourinho and Pellegrini

Last year witnessed the elimination of all the English teams in the UEFA Champions League right at the initial stages. Chelsea and Manchester City bowing out at the group stage, with Manchester United following them soon enough at the next round and Arsenal falling at the same stage as well, losing to the eventual winners, Bayern Munich. The good news for EPL fans this season is that, Chelsea and Man City are under very experienced hands, managers who have been there and know what it takes to win at the highest level. Moyes’s men would also be no pushovers either with Moyes ready to prove his credentials as the right successor to the legendary Alex Ferguson.

So, sit back and enjoy this season’s Premier League action, which promises to be more dramatic than a soap opera, more exciting than a fantasy adventure and a thriller overall. The beautiful game just got better.