In 124 seasons, going back to the first in 1888-89, no team has won English football’s top-tier title – the English Premier League replaced the old Division 1 in 1992-93 – four times in succession. With last season’s incredible treble of league, FA Cup and European Champions League, Pep Guardiola and Manchester City joined a select group of clubs that had won the top-division title three years in a row – Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United (twice) are the others. Now, the challenge is to push on and go where no team has gone before.
Can City do it? Of course they can, if the season follows footballing logic. They may have lost Ilkay Gundogan to Barcelona and Riyad Mahrez to the Saudi exodus, but Mateo Kovacic has come from Chelsea to fill a central-midfield position, and an already formidable defence has been strengthened by the acquisition of Josko Gvardiol, the 21-year-old Croatian who is probably the best young centre-back on the planet.
Factor in that Erling Haaland – who smashed all Premier-League-era records on his way to the Golden Boot last season – will be even more fearsome after a year of getting used to Guardiola’s methods. Phil Foden is even more mature, John Stones has been reinvented as an auxiliary midfielder, and there is an endless conveyer belt of talent coming through the academy. The odds of City slipping up, especially with Guardiola never taking his foot off the pedal, are slim to say the least.
So, who could push them? Arsenal led for 90m of a 100m race last season, only to stumble over the final strides. Mikel Arteta, once Guardiola’s assistant at City, has spoken of how the experience of losing the title nearly broke him, but a summer of excellent recruitment has put them in a great position to challenge again.
Declan Rice, signed for £105m from West Ham United, will be the shield in front of the defence, while Kai Havertz will add another attacking option to an already thrilling forward line. It’s almost a given that Arteta will get more out of him than a merry-go-round of Chelsea coaches did. But perhaps the most interesting addition is Jurrien Timber from Ajax, someone capable of playing across the back line and even in defensive midfield. Timber gives Arteta the sort of tactical flexibility that Guardiola gets from Stones, and Arsenal look well equipped to take the title race to the wire.
Manchester United, who finished a distant third last season, have replaced David de Gea with Andre Onana in goal. Onana, the Cameroon goalkeeper, should much better suit Eric ten Hag’s style of play, and the duo already know each other from their Ajax days. As for Mason Mount, signed from Chelsea, he gives them a goal-scoring midfield option that Fred and Scott McTominay could never provide. But much of the pre-season buzz surrounds Rasmus Højlund, the 20-year-old Danish forward signed from Atalanta for a whopping £72m.
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Though he has only played a single season in the big leagues, United hope that his impact will be similar to what Haaland has had at City. Højlund has blistering pace, and is a good finisher with his left foot. It may take him a while to settle in, but the ceiling for improvement is extremely high. With Marcus Rashford having rediscovered his scoring touch last season, United shouldn’t be short of goals this campaign.
Liverpool acted smartly to sign two midfielders for the present and future in Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, but were then stung when both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, fulcrums of the midfield for the past half-decade, opted to move to Saudi Arabia. A late push to try and sign Brighton’s Moises Caicedo seems doomed to failure with the player preferring Chelsea, and it remains to be seen if they can convince relegated Southampton to sell Romeo Lavia. Without a conventional No. 6 to shield the back four, a title challenge will disappear, no matter the embarrassment of attacking riches at Jurgen Klopp’s disposal.
Newcastle will improve steadily under Eddie Howe, having signed Sandro Tonali from AC Milan, and Aston Villa fans will have high hopes that Unai Emery can maintain the form with which they finished the last campaign. As for Chelsea, Caicedo or not, no one really knows what to expect. Mauricio Pochettino worked wonders across the city at Tottenham Hotspur, but Chelsea have so many players on inflated, long-term contracts that it’s hard to see how he can create a harmonious dressing room. Add in the interference from Toddy Boehly, and you potentially have the recipe for another season of frustration and underachievement. If, on the other hand, the owners accept that they know nothing and leave the football side of things to Pochettino, then Chelsea will be dangerous floaters capable of beating anyone.
Spurs, who Pochettino took to a Champions League final just over four years ago, are a mess, and will likely lose Harry Kane to Bayern Munich this weekend. Without his goals and that telepathic understanding with Son Heung-min, it’s hard to see them anywhere near the top four.
RevSportz’s Prediction for the top four: 1. Manchester City 2. Arsenal 3. Manchester United 4. Liverpool
Relegated: Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sheffield United, Luton Town.
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