English Premier League 24-25: Team by Team analysis

Welcome to the Punter’s look through the new season of the English Premier League! Every new Premier League season throws up a fresh set of questions that every football fan is eager to have answered. This season is no different, with most questions surrounding some of the biggest teams in the League.

Can Manchester City make it 5 in a row? Is it finally Arsenal’s year? How will Liverpool cope with life after Klopp? How will Chelsea knit together even more players this season? Can Manchester United shake off their injury woes? Let’s look at each side in the 2024/5 season and see how they might be shaping up!

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Arsenal

Another incredibly close run at the title from Arsenal fell short by only 2 points last season. Mikel Arteta’s side was solid once again, getting even closer this time, but just lacked that little bit extra to see off the challenge of City in the end.

There is then little for Arteta to change given how close Arsenal already were. Arsenal are a fairly young side and it could be that the last 2 seasons have given his players the maturity and experience they needed to haul themselves over the line this time. Arsenal have not done much in the transfer market to make big changes to their squad, so it is perhaps a viewpoint that Arteta also shares.

They have made the transfer of goalkeeper David Raya permanent and secured the services of Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori. Arsenal are also reportedly working on a deal for Real Sociedad midfielder Miguel Merino, but it looks like he will not make it in time for the start of the season for them. The question is though, are Arsenal a defender and a midfielder away from beating City?

Arsenal’s shortcomings arguably come down to the lack of a clinical striker who is the difference in big games. Arsenal lost twice to Villa & drew with City & Liverpool. Add that to their various other losses and draws to other London rivals and you can see where they came 2 points short. While competitive in these big games and able to create chances, Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard and especially Gabriel Jesus are nowhere near clinical enough to bag those big wins. Havertz (13), Trossard (12) and Jesus (4) had a combined 29 goals last season. That amount of goals split between 3 men signed specifically to lead the line is nowhere near impressive enough. Having a striker who can notch over 20 goals a season by himself in addition to these men will take Arsenal to the next level.

Arsenal will still be up there this season, there is little doubt of that. Their wins over Wolves and Villa were clinical and they showed they can put away the teams that they are expected to. However, the ability to haul down City will come down to players stepping up in those big games to get the points needed, or by bringing in players who can do that for them. Whether or not Arteta or the higher-ups at the club think that is the case is a different story. In which case, Arteta will need to up his bag of tricks if he wants to, finally, ascend that mountain top over his old mentor.

Aston Villa

Seemingly growing from strength to strength each season under Unai Emery, Villa reaped the rewards for being consistent last season by holding onto a place in the Champions League. Villa’s solidity and ability to give the bigger sides a run on any day are attributes that could see them make up the 14-point gap they had behind 3rd Placed Liverpool last season if they continue to improve.

With the Champions League ahead for Villa though they will have to compete on many fronts this time. The number of extra games has made trouble for many sides who are not prepared, such as Newcastle last season, so Villa will need some good personnel and rotation to ensure they don’t sacrifice one for the other or fail in both.

The loss of Douglas Luiz to Juventus cannot be overlooked though. The Brazilian was a huge engine in midfield for Villa. Something that is not easily replaced in modern football. Villa used the Luiz funds to bring in Amadou Onana from Everton, who managed a goal in his all-action debut. This could lead to some changes in formation and tactics, but Onana is still a great raw talent and should bring something different to this side.

Add to that highly-rated fullback Ian Maatsen and the emerging talent of Jaden Philogene with 5 other players to fill out the squad, and it seems Villa has taken steps to prepare a large squad for all the football ahead. The added competition for places is also positive, with all the new challenges at Villa likely to boost the club’s morale greatly.

Villa will need to work even harder this season if they want to repeat their success though. Their win over West Ham was decent, but they did not hurt Arsenal this time and will regret missing out on points in games like that this season. They need to realise that Spurs, Chelsea, Newcastle and United all had poor seasons for one reason or another and they will all be looking to improve this season, so Villa cannot be resting on their laurels. Villa will be a side that challenges for the top end of the table, but they are still in danger of dropping down if the other sides wake up.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth would have hoped to build on their decent 12th-placed finish from last season, but the transfer market has dented their chances. Losing Dominic Solanke to Spurs after he added 19 goals for them last season is going to be a huge miss, especially when no one else hit double figures for them. Strikers who score that amount of goals are not easy to replace and Bournemouth certainly have not done so as yet.

Bournemouth made permanent the loans of Luis Sinesterra and Enes Unal who will strengthen the team, but are not quite enough to make one look at this Bournemouth side and fear them. Their coach Andoni Iraola did have them playing some decent football last season, but when smaller sides lack a big finisher for all their chances they do tend to struggle.

Without Solanke’s goals and no one to pick up the slack, Bournemouth look to be in some trouble here going into the new season. The team will have to work twice as hard to make up for their shortcomings now, something we saw from Brentford last season when they had to make do without Ivan Toney, placing them 16th.

Bournemouth have shown some grit in the opening games, taking a point off of Newcastke unexpectedly at the weekend. There is still some fight in this team, but wins are necessary to keep themselves up and they will need some desperately in the coming weeks as the more favourable fixtures start turning up. Bournemouth don’t look to be one of the three worst sides at the moment, but if the draws keep rolling in they will find it hard to shake themselves loose of the dogfight at the bottom.

Brentford

This is also likely to be a tough season for Brentford. Riding high not so long ago, their form has begun to deteriorate over time and they found themselves right down the table last time. While they did avoid relegation by a good 13 points, they were 16th and 3 of the 4 teams below them are now gone, automatically putting them in the relegation bracket this season.

Brentford were not helped by having star striker Ivan Toney banned for his betting scandal. Even after his return, he only managed 4 goals for the season in 17 games. His goals were always vital to Brentford’s success so Thomas Frank will need him back to his best to get themselves away from the bottom. Frank is a shrewd coach, so he could still get something out of his team as the season wears on.

Toney’s decline in form and interest from other clubs, including those from Saudi Arabia, has seen Brentford bring in Brazilian forward Igor Thiago and Fabio Carvalho from Liverpool. While neither is a great substitute for a 20-goal-a-season striker, Brentford must do something to ensure regular points keep flowing in.

Much like Bournemouth’s success this season, Brentford will need goals to fuel their survival in the league. The speculation surrounding Toney’s moving or staying at the moment will not help, but Brentford does have able bodies in Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa to pick up the slack in games like the win over Palace. However, the loss to Liverpool highlighted how their not having a clinical threat like Toney will make surprise wins hard to get. That leaves beating the sides around, which they could well do, but it leaves little margin for error in a long season.

Brighton

Once league climbers and Champions League contenders, Brighton’s continued sale of players and loss of coaches saw them settle for a bottom-half finish last season. With Fabian Hürzeler taking over from Roberto de Zerbi, it’s anyone’s guess how Brighton will fare this season.

Brighton has added the usual mix of promising players that aren’t on many club’s radars in this transfer window to make up for the losses of Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister, Robert Sanchez and stalwart Pascal Groß. These exciting young players, such as Yankuba Minteh, have already shown what they can do under the new coach.

Hürzeler is a very young coach, only 31, and does have a big reputation after taking St Pauli into the German Bundesliga last season. His first taste of the Premier League has been one to savour, with a big win over Everton and a last-minute winner over Manchester United. Brighton looks like a side that will take points off many teams this season if they keep up their form.

The Arsenal game at the weekend will be a big test for them, but they should still acquit themselves well. Their style of play is high-intensity and they showed some discipline to play the high line well against United, keeping them offside in many attacks. It’s been an impressive start for them and they could be a side to watch this season.

Chelsea

Just when you thought you might see the end of transfers at Chelsea for a little while, they have brought in even more players in this transfer window. With a few more on the way, if the reports are to be believed. Boasting a squad of over 40 members now, where is Chelsea looking to go from here?

Progress last season was certainly slow, but it was still made through great effort by Mauricio Pochettino and the signs of an upturn in fortunes were there to be seen. Now we come into the new season and new coach Enzo Maresca has the unenviable task of trying to start all that work all over again, and with even more players.

Many pundits have put Maresca at the top of the list to be gone by January and you can understand why when you look at the task at hand for him. With over 40 players in a squad, he’s had to scratch some names off the squad list and send players off to train away from the first team. You can only imagine what effect that might have on the long-term morale of the club with over 20 players instantly out in the cold without having had a game to prove themselves. Something that could leave egg on his face if injuries mount up and he has to call some of them back.

Chelsea have had a mixed start to life in this season. Their loss to Manchester City was expected, but they were poor in front of goal every time they got in. The midweek game in the Conference League against Servette was another slog, but they managed to win. The floodgates opened for them against Wolves though, with 6 goals in a game where the score could have been double that.

It looks to be another roller-coaster season for Chelsea. The big win over Wolves must be tempered with the realisation that Wolves have sold their best players – one of which played for Chelsea in that win – and are likely relegation fighters this season. The form of Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke will be vital for their early success as they set out on their campaign. It will be how Chelsea manages against the bigger sides in the league now that will define their season and if Maresca keeps his job.

Crystal Palace

Last season was bittersweet for Palace. It is more than likely the last time we’ll see Roy Hodgson in any dugout again, with the legendary manager calling time on a career that spanned 48 years of coaching 21 clubs and countries. However, they also got a shot in the arm thanks to new coach Oliver Glasner, who put some new life into the side with his progressive pressing game.

Managing 7 wins & 3 draws in his 13 games in charge, Glasner engineered a revival at Palace that pushed them right up into 10th position at the end. He will need to try and recapture some of that magic now, as Palace have not started as well as anyone would have expected. They were competitive in the games, but they can have little complaints as they showed nowhere near the fight they did last season.

They will have to deal with the loss of Michael Olise to Bayern Munich, with the young winger playing a big part in the creative counterattacking play they did. They spread the money around to make a few signings to strengthen the squad, but Olise will still be missed given how much he did for Palace.

Things will start to look bright for Palace this season if Glasner can halt the regression of his team and get them back to the form of last season. They do still need one or two more signings to cover some of the weaker areas of their team, but this close to the end of the window can bring in panic buys, so they will need to be careful not to settle for just anyone.

Everton

Despite the deduction of 8 points last season, Everton managed to put up a solid showing to avoid any notion of taking the drop. Sean Dyche put together a tough side that avoided relegation by a good 14 points, missing out on a much higher finish only because of the deductions.

This season will need to see some growth from the team from Merseyside, but things are still tight at the club and that will take some doing. Dyche has seen the spine of his midfield in Amadou Onana pulled out after his transfer to Aston Villa. That is only going to make things harder for Everton.

Everton has used that money to bring in a few players, but they will need cover in most areas to ensure no disasters happen. Their stance on the price tag for star defender Jarrad Branthwaite has remained firm despite all the financial issues around the club, which is a huge boon for them. However, it will prevent them from being able to strengthen their squad in any meaningful way. His unfortunate injury has left Everton looking soft in defence.

Everton is rock bottom after seeing 7 goals knocked past them for no reply. Their once rigid style of play which was hard to break down is now leaking at an alarming rate with key players missing. They will need to hold fast and steady the ship if they want to pull themselves out of this rut in a hurry. However, if investment is not made into the squad then there is not much Dyche can do when he can only field the same team week in and week out. Add to that the top sides sniffing around his best players that are effectively keeping Everton up and it will be impossible for Dyche to take this club to the European spots they want to be in.

Fulham

Fulham didn’t improve on their 2022/23 placing of 10th last season, managing to place 13th after a hit-or-miss season. Marco Silva has his work cut out for him this season with so many teams looking to improve, so it’s likely his last crack at it with Fulham having ambitions of being much higher up.

Fulham did not do themselves any favours at the start with the sale of Joao Paulinha to Bayern Munich. The Portuguese midfielder was the steel in the Fulham midfield and will be sorely missed, as his replacement Sander Berge cannot give the kind of quality he did.

The signings of Emil Smith-Rowe and Ryan Sessegnon are more statements of intent that Fulham want to be more attacking, given they have done little to replace Paulinha. Smith-Rowe already looks to have taken to this side well and could be a big help to Fulham’s fortunes if he can reach his potential given more of a chance here than he was at Arsenal.

Fulham played some good football at times last season, having most notably gained a win and a draw out of Arsenal in their 2 games. Their loss to Manchester United was a tough one after holding strong, but they showed much more of what they’re about against Leicester with a good win. It’s likely to be another mixed-bag of a season for Fulham, but securing another midtable finish in the Premier League is nothing to sniff at.

Ipswich Town

Ipswich are the surprise inclusion in the Premier League this season. Very few people would have had them earmarked for promotion last season, so to see them get automatic promotion up was a huge accomplishment. All the plaudits have been rightfully placed on coach Kieran McKenna, who engineered his side’s escape from the Championship.

Ipswich are not a side blessed with well-known names, nor have they signed any in this window. Ipswich instead plays a style of football that is hard to deal with and they have just the right personnel that can make it work. Even their transfers this window have been more about who can add to this side rather than any Premier League stalwarts as crutch buys.

McKenna is extremely adaptive in his approach to football, which should be a big boon to them in the Premier League as they try to go toe-to-toe with the big sides of the league. The main players in his side have stayed with him into the Premier League, so McKenna will have a side that knows exactly what he wants from them.

It hasn’t exactly gone as planned for Ipswich at the start here, but was it ever going to with Liverpool and Manchester City in the first two games? They may yet surprise some teams this season, having had some good passages of play in both those games. However, it will take a lot of hard work and just a bit of luck to ensure they survive this season.

Leicester City

It is a tough situation for Leicester to be in. While they won the Championship and got an automatic promotion, they lost the coach who got them there and some of their best players. Their appointment of Steve Cooper to take over was a highly uninspired move from Leicester, especially given how things went for him at Nottingham Forest. While he does have Premier League experience, it’s generally at the wrong end of the table.

Leicester sold Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea in this window after he was their best player in the season in which they were promoted. They have made other signings to bring in cover, but they will not likely give the side anywhere near what Dewsbury-Hall did.

While Leicester still has some good players in the squad, they were better suited to the Championship than the Premier League. They did show some fight against Spurs in their first game, snatching a draw thanks to Jame Vardy popping up as always for his team. That though is not going to happen too often when they play the better sides of the league, shown by them coming up short to Fulham.

Leicester is still the odds-on favourites to be relegated this season given all that has happened around the team before the season even started, While they have not started particularly badly, you do cast your eye along their team sheet and have to wonder if this is a side that will stay up. A few decent signings would have been needed to reinforce Leicester enough to keep themselves up, but they will have to make due no and hope that they can fight for enough points to make it.

Liverpool

Liverpool begins life after Jurgen Klopp this season, with a tough task ahead of new coach Arne Slot in getting this Liverpool side back to being title contenders. Klopp brought some incredible football to Anfield and, even though his haul of trophies doesn’t match the mythos of the man, he made them a top side for a while now.

Slot seems to have changed quite little in terms of what Liverpool does, which is a smart move given they had the blueprint to success already installed. Their style of play is still recognisable enough that you would think Klopp is still involved, so Slot must get some credit for resisting the temptation to tinker too much.

Liverpool, while still so strong, do need to take a good look at their defence. Virgil van Dijk is 33 now, Andy Robertson is 30, Trent Alexander-Arnold has a bad habit of watching attackers go past, Joel Matip has left, Connor Bradley and Jarell Quansah are still quite young, while Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate and Kostas Tsimikas don’t always look the level that Liverpool require in every game. Even their midfield could do with a good defensive cover which they haven’t had since Fabinho.

Liverpool are doing Slot no favours in that department at the moment though, with only goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili coming in for them. Which is not a department they were really lacking in. While clubs do not always have to spend a fortune every time a new manager comes in, being able to give Slot a few signings that suit his style just to sure up some areas for Liverpool would have been wise to do before we head into the first set of games this weekend. Missing out on Martin Zubamendi was a big blow for Liverpool, as he’s a player who could improve almost any side in the league, especially Liverpool who need a dedicated number 6.

It will be a difficult season to call for Liverpool. They still have some of the best players in the league, but their opening wins were against sides you’d expect them to beat anyway. Even the game against Manchester United this weekend will be hard to judge them by as United are also working through some new tactics and players. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Liverpool finish outside of the top 4, but it also wouldn’t be a surprise to see them in there if they can keep hold of players and strengthen. Liverpool will be a side to watch curiously this season even for neutrals, as there will be much going on there. Whether good or bad.

Manchester City

Experience told for City once again last season, pipping Arsenal to that post with an unbeaten run of games as has become their style now. Pep Guardiola wasn’t necessarily pleased with the season as a whole for City, but the man’s standards are higher than most. They will no doubt be even higher as we come into this new season.

There’s little that City need to do differently this season as they are the champions already, but little cracks are appearing here and there that will need addressing at some stage. Erling Haaland has continued hauling in the goals for City as you would expect, but it’s question marks on the players who surround him that are starting to put a bit of worry in the City camp.

With Jack Grealish’s injury concerns piling up season on season and Julian Alvarez’s big money transfer to Atletico Madrid, City is starting to lose a bit of what made them so strong: variety. Being able to bring on players that add something different to the game has been a trump card for Guardiola for a long time, but the options are slowly decreasing. The arrival of Savinho should help, but he and Doku occupy the same flank, which could prove tricky. İlkay Gündoğan returning is a big plus, but he will not play every game at 33.

The top 3 from last season benefitted from the 5 teams below them being subpar on what is required at the top level of the Premier League. Each of those sides is now looking to improve and invest, which should worry City more, as there will be no easy games against sides that have proved to be soft touches in seasons past. If Villa, Spurs, Chelsea, Newcastle and United return to their old strengths, this league will be much more open-ended.

City are still the favourites to win the league again this season, there is still so much good going for them. They may need to work harder at it this time around though with the other sides adding to their squads and their own losing some good options. Given the new format of the Champions League and how many fronts City compete on, that possible 70-game mark this season could be telling if their squad doesn’t get a few more options.

Manchester United

Coming into the new season, United will no doubt be happy their treatment centre looks much less like a trench hospital in a war movie. United could hardly go a game last season without adding to the list of the walking-wounded at Old Trafford, something that Erik ten Hag will be praying is in the past for them. A repeat of that 8th-place finish will likely be the end of him this time around.

After a promising first season in England, ten Hag endured a disaster last time out with his squad ravaged to the bare bones. Having dealt with that situation, he will be eager to kick on now and show why he was one of the most sought-after coaches in football while at Ajax. The acquisition of the footballing decisions at United has certainly helped him in that regard, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos team doing a front-to-back assessment and revamp of the club in quite short order.

The signings at United haven’t quite flowed as they wanted given the club’s financial situation. However, Ineos has appointed some top minds who have negotiated the kind of deals United were never seen to make. Paying off deals over 3 years after getting great prices on talents like Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt is far removed from the previous windows of slapping down huge sums of cash on big-name players. The move for Lenny Yoro was a coup that United have not done since the Ferguson-era, but it is a huge shame he got injured in their preseason.

United have had a mixed start to the season. The draw with City in the Community Shield would have been encouraging, despite the final result on penalties. Their win over Fulham showed a lot of promise in their style of play, but a bad day at the office against Brighton has the media shouting Armageddon once again. Given that ten Hag now has the assistance of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake to work on this new formation and style of play, one should not read too much into these teething issues for now as the Dutch brain trust tries to troubleshoot their team.

There are shoots of green appearing at United week on week. The addition of Manuel Ugarte could be the steel that United’s midfield has been missing, which will help immeasurably. Ineos is reviving things at the top level while leaving ten Hag to get on with the job he’s supposed to do: coach the team and win trophies. Having delivered 2 already, even in an injury-ravaged season, one can only imagine what he’ll do if he can keep a fully fit squad for the rest of the season.

Newcastle

Last season was meant to be a kicking-off point for Newcastle. After their acquisition by the Saudi-led consortium, a big boost in finances, strengthening of the squad and a 4th-place finish, Newcastle looked nailed on to be one of the certain top 4 sides. Many even believed it after they gave PSG a humbling 4-1 defeat. However, things just seemed to stall after that.

Injuries and players falling off of form for long periods played a big part in Newcastle having a fairly flat season. They got fairly consistent results against the sides lower down in the table, but they came up short regularly against the top sides. They will need to work on this, as the only way to get back into the top 4 is to beat teams at the top end with you.

Eddie Howe is one of the managers being touted as being gone by Christmas, which you can understand given the ambitions of Newcastle under their new ownership. The injection of money and players the consortium put in comes with the expectations of high-level European football, something that they will want delivered above all else.

Their transfers in this window so far have been few and measured, so it seems the powers-that-be are backing the squad they have now and perhaps want to see what they can do with a season of being fully fit. This could be a mistake given the business that the other clubs are doing and Newcastle could find themselves left behind if they don’t get some cover in to prevent what happened last season.

Newcastle have made a subdued start to the season, with a win and a draw in their two games. It hasn’t been much to shout about as yet, so some work is needed to get them back into top gear once again. Newcastle are avoiding the top sides for now, so there is still time to get their form back, but they will need to show they can compete once again or Howe will likely be out the door. There are fine margins for success at Newcastle this season, so the pressure is on and they will have to weather it.

Nottingham Forest

Having just about avoided the drop last season, Forest is a side many are pointing to this time as members of the relegation fight. While firing Steve Cooper was a step in the right direction, bringing in Nuno Espirito Santo was not quite the turnaround in fortune that they would have hoped he would be. There is hope a preseason together will improve things in the squad, but Forest will need to keep results rolling in to beat the drop allegations.

Forest in Cooper’s time made 22 signings to try and strengthen the squad, but none of the players brought in have honestly taken Forest up to the next level. Add another 8 signing this window, including a big money move for Newcastle’s Elliot Anderson, and you have a lot of players that Espirito Santo will have to try and find a winning formula with. The situation is not quite at Chelsea’s level, but Forest also doesn’t have the kind of quality players that Chelsea have signed.

Forest at times put in good performances and caused sides a lot of trouble, but they were often found out in games and their constant quest of getting the ball into Chris Wood is a simple trick to defend. Wood notched 14 times last season, which is great for a side that was down the bottom end, but no other player chipped in to help, which is what kept them down there.

This is a tough season for Forest to go into, as they do seem like a side destined to struggle. Early days may see them up the table, but that is largely thanks to a win over newly promoted Southampton. We will have to see how Forest builds into the season as the bigger fixtures roll in, but it’s hard to see them as convincing candidates to be anywhere higher than the bottom end of the table.

Southampton

Southampton managed a huge upset last season to pip the highly-fancied Leeds in the playoffs to reach the Premier League. While not necessarily a side that many saw as being a top-tier side as yet, if you finish high enough in the Championship to put your name in the hat then you will always have a chance.

Russel Martin has been Southampton’s manager for only one season, but it proved to be an incredible one for him. A relatively young manager at 38, Martin has installed a possession-based style of play at Southampton that saw them go on a 25-game unbeaten run in the Championship that ultimately led them to the playoffs. He has earned praise at MK Dons and Swansea before this, so he is a manager who knows what he is doing.

The issue for Southampton here though is that this is the Premier League. It is all well and good choking teams out of possession in League One and the Championship, but it doesn’t work so much against City, Arsenal and the other top sides. When you come into a league that has some of the best possession sides in the world and sides made to try and counter them, you had better do it extremely well. They have found it hard already with a pair of 1-0 losses against a 10-man Newcastle and Forest, which will only worsen as the teams get sharper into the season.

Southampton has taken some strides to strengthen in the transfer market, but it is more players that complement that possession game. While it is always advised to stick to your strengths, basing your team around possession when you will likely never see the ball against sides like City means you will only really beat the sides lower in the league. That usually leads to a relegation fight when you must beat the sides around you to survive. Southampton could gather just enough points to keep themselves up this season, but it would not be a surprise to see them go down if they don’t adapt after even Forest could best them.

Tottenham

Spurs are always a difficult team to try and predict. No matter who is in charge or what team they have, Spurs are a side that can win 10 games in a row and then not win again for another 10. That is the kind of bad habit that manager Ange Postecoglou is trying to break at this club.

Spurs made a great start to life under him last season, but injuries to key players completely killed their momentum and they found it difficult to get it back after that. At one point they looked nailed on for a top 4 finish, but they had to settle for 5th after just about scraping in towards the final games.

Their recent signings seem to have been made with the future in mind, bringing in 3 18-year-olds, including the talented and highly-rated Archie Gray. They have also made the big signing of Dominic Solanke, clearly with a mind to replace the goals they lost from Harry Kane’s sale. Spurs did lack a focal point last season, so this could be a perfect signing once he gets fit again.

Postecoglou’s high-line defending and pressing saw Spurs get caught with their pants down on many occasions last season. Against the bigger sides, Spurs often got hit for up to 4 goals when the high press was just not working out and they could not adapt. It will take a lot of hard work to iron out the soft touch in the team, but Postecoglou’s job will depend on him getting it right this time.

It’s been a strange start for Spurs, with that draw to Leicester being a result not many would have expected. They handily beat Everton, but looking at the circumstances surrounding Everton, many sides will do the same in this season. Spurs can be a top 6, if not a top 4, side if all can go their way. Breaking the mould of Spurs always coming up short is a huge challenge to surmount and could yet be the downfall of Postecoglou, but he approaches things with a great attitude and should get SPurs up and running at full tilt at some point

West Ham:

West Ham is a club that you just can’t help but look at and wonder just what it is they want. David Moyes had taken West Ham from looking like relegation fodder to a side that won a European trophy in an undefeated Europa Conference League run. While last season wasn’t his best, West Ham still finished in a respectable 9th place, but they still saw fit to let him go. Which begs the question, where does West Ham think they should be finishing?

While they are a London club, they are not one that you find synonymous with with titles or trophies. So to be firing a highly-experienced coach that brought you more success than most would have expected is quite classless. They replaced Moyes with Julien Lopetegui, who did not impress with his debut in English football at Wolves last season. It was his worst stint in management since he was at Real Madrid and only lasted 4 months.

West Ham, to their credit, have made some good signings this window. Max Kilman, Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Füllkrug and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are all solid players to bring into a side like West Ham, which could help them a fair bit. However, many teams are better than West Ham in this league, so expecting to be higher than 9th even after investing that money will lead to disappointment.

This season will hinge hugely on whether Lopetegui can adapt to English football better than he did last season. West Ham did improve their squad somewhat, but he had a decent side to work with at Wolves and couldn’t get a tune out of them. Nor with a fantastic side at Real Madrid. His opening loss to Villa and then the win over Palace highlighted that West Ham has a lot of work to do to get consistent, an aspect that must happen quickly if they are to make something of this season.

Wolves

Wolves are a side that has been crying out for the right manager for some time now. Nuno Espirito Santo did have them way up in the league when they first arrived, having notched two 7th-placed finishes. However, it has all gone downhill since then and they now have in the mid-lower table. There have been good players at the club throughout this time, but no manager has been able yet to knit them into a solid unit.

Gary O’Neill took over from Julien Lopetegui last season and did have some decent success with them. A win over City, their first loss of that season, highlighted how he could get something out of this group of players. While not necessarily appearing to be the perfect manager for them as yet, Wolves seem to be having some patience with him and have still backed him in the transfer market this season.

The problem for Wolves though is that they have lost 2 of their best players in this window. Max Kliman’s move to West Ham has seen them lose their rock in defence, while Pedro Neto moving to Chelsea has seen them lose their main creative player. This is not good at all for a side that already finished 14th last season, as now you have weakened an already weak attack and defence.

If Wolves don’t manage to replace either of these players with some at least passable recruits then they will struggle this season. There are still many players at Wolves who are more than good enough to be at this level, but the challenge here is to find a style of play that suits them. Their losses against Arsenal and Chelsea were expected, but the manner of the loss against Chelsea will be worrying after being completely shredded every time the Blues came forward.  From the looks of it, this will be a long season for Wolves and they will have to hope they can find enough points to stay up.

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