On August 5, the match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal will begin the next season of the English Football Championship.
And again there is enough intrigue:
Haaland in Manchester City, Liverpool without Mane, Chelsea with new owners, the new stage of Manchester United and more.
But the relegation from Real Madrid clearly blurred the impression of the season. Another setback in the Champions League forces City to act. In addition to two major purchases (Holand and Calvin Phillips), the townspeople staged a grand sale: Raheem Sterling left for Chelsea, Alexander Zinchenko and Gaby Jesus for Arsenal. Very high-quality players suffered from Guardiola’s rotation, not getting enough playing time.
But now the Catalan will face a difficult task: for the past two seasons, City have played successfully without a clean striker, and now Pep has got a striker who is used to playing space in a counter-attacking manner. Guardiola has previously worked well with Robert Lewandowski and Sergio Aguero, but these players played in dominant teams before meeting Guardiola, and Haaland will have a lot to learn.Last season, Liverpool competed for all four possible trophies for the first time under Jurgen Klopp.
The League Cup and the FA Cup were taken in the penalty shoot-out against Chelsea, in the Premier League again everything was decided not in favor of the Reds in the last round, and in the Champions League final Liverpool was stopped by Thibaut Courtois.
Klopp is forced to prepare Liverpool for a generational change:
Sadio Mane has already left, Firmino and Salah have passed the 30-year mark, but the Brazilian is clearly not the German coach’s main choice for the position of a central striker. Now his position is likely to be occupied by Darwin Nunez, who joined from Benfica.
Liverpool are clearly inferior to the two Manchesters in terms of resources and financial power, but for many years they have been very competitive at the distance of the season. The Reds got very far last season, having perhaps their best season under Klopp.
The main question is: will the Merseysiders be able to continue to successfully squeeze themselves out by more than 100%?It seemed that under Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea would gradually get closer to the leading city and Liverpool, but the spring sanctions (did not allow to extend the contract with Antonio Ruediger) and the change of ownership set Chelsea back a little.
Now Chelsea will have to solve a different problem:
Not to fight for the Premier League title, and not to be overtaken by well-strengthened neighbors from Tottenham and Arsenal.Chelsea have been very slow in their transfer campaign, having bought only three first-team players in two months. The club’s new owner Todd Bowley lost Marina Granovskaya and Petr Cech this summer, who played a key role in Chelsea’s transfer policy. Until the end of August, Bowley, a newcomer to football, will deal almost independently. He has already unsuccessfully tried to lure Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona, ​​losing the race for Rafinha and Jules Kunde to the Catalans.
Thomas Tuchel openly criticized the owner for the lack of purchases and inconvenience in the American pre-season, so the upcoming season is unlikely to give the fans blue expectations for trophies: first of all, you need to stay in the top 4.
The Italian, in a signature manner that has become legendary, burst into the new club with two legs:
before his arrival, Tottenham were very bad, but after his arrival they sharply improved. The Italian puts on grueling workouts and working out automatisms. That is why he prefers to play with one lineup played (but at the same time he requires a lot of newcomers from the owners, don’t be surprised!).
Last season, Tottenham were undefeated by Manchester City (two wins) and Liverpool (two draws), jumped into the top 4 from the middle of the table and returned to the Champions League for the first time in three seasons.
Antonio Conte’s second season could be his last in north London. His management style is as grueling as his training process. The Italian is constantly demanding to strengthen the squad, constantly develop the team and competitiveness.
While the boss of Tottenham, Daniel Levy, is fulfilling the requests of the coach: Defender Clement Lenglet, lateral Ivan Perisic, defensive midfielder Yves Bissuma, striker Richarlison have come. If last season getting into the Champions League was a miracle, now Conte is obliged to bring Spurs there.Arsenal’s last season was a big drama. For most of the season, the Gunners clearly deserved to be in the top 4, but Mikel Arteta screwed up the end of the season. First, he gave victory to Tottenham, a rival for a place in the Champions League, and then he disgraced himself in Newcastle by putting up an unprincipled bus against the team of the same name.
But the club believes in the coach. For the second season in a row, Arsenal’s transfer campaign has been accurate and consistent. Last year, the Londoners formed a hot four in attack, which consisted of Gaby Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and striker Alex Lacazette.
The Frenchman left the club and was replaced by Gaby Jesus, nicknamed “The Press Machine”. Plus came Fabio Vieira (wing midfielder) and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who can play on the left flank of the defense and in the center of the field.
Last season, Arteta failed in very comfortable conditions, because Arsenal did not play in European competition. Now there will be the Europa League, but it is unlikely that Mikel will be forgiven for another season without the Champions League.
