The world’s most popular league; the English Premier League resumes for the 2019-2020 season today.
Clubs from England’s top flight have finished their shopping for the summer ahead of the season opener for the first time in a long while. They were involved in business totalling £1.79b.
Manchester United (£148m), Aston Villa (£144.5m) and Arsenal (£138m) were the top spenders in the league while Norwich City (£1.1m), Liverpool (£4.4m) and Crystal Palace (£11m) were the lowest spenders.
It promises to be a season filled with action, drama (with the introduction of VAR), excitement and lots of goals.
What to Expect from the teams
It is a consensus amongst fans and watchers of the league that last season’s top two; champions, Manchester City and Liverpool will continue to be the top dogs in the division.
Tottenham Hotspurs have strengthened and will be pushing the top two closely. The final UEFA Champions League spot is expected to be fought for by Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.
Big things are expected from the quartet of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton, Leicester City and West Ham. All four teams had decent runs last season and have recruited smartly, Its the general opinion that they will be the teams to push the struggling members of the Big Six all the way.
The newly-promoted teams have had taken different routes in the transfer window. After clearing out the old guard which had gotten them promoted via the playoffs, Aston Villa were the most active of the trio; 21 players were let go (released and sent on loan) while 13 new faces arrived (some like Tyrone Mings and Anwar El-Ghazi were loanees from last season who signed permanent deals).
Sheffield United was also very active in the market as manager, Chris Wilder looks to avoid an instant return to the Championship. The Blades broke their transfer record four times with £18m striker, Oli McBurnie the new record holder.
Norwich City has chosen to go the loan route, bringing in a few decent options on loan. Daniel Farke’s Canaries are expected to struggle with some pundits already tipping them as relegation certainties.
Week 1 Preview of the 2019-2020 Premier League
The first match of the 2019-2020 season will see UCL champions, Liverpool welcome Norwich City to Anfield with Sadio Mane still a doubt due to his AFCON exertions.
On Saturday, a new-look West Ham will host champions Manchester City as Crystal Palace take on Everton at Selhurst Park.
Burnley will take on Southampton at Turf Moot while at Vicarage Road, the Hornets of Watford will be eager to sting the Seagulls of Brighton.
Bournemouth takes on Sheffield United and Saturday’s action will conclude at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Spurs welcome Aston Villa.
Sunday sees Leicester City take on Wolves at the King Power Stadium as Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United play Arsenal at St James’ Park.
Gameweek 1’s last game is also the star match of the weekend. It goes down at Old Trafford as Manchester United parading the world’s most expensive defender in Harry Maguire takes on a new-look Chelsea team led by Frank Lampard.
Gameweek 1 Predictions
Liverpool FC Vs Norwich City (1; Liverpool Wins)
West Ham United Vs Manchester City (BTTS: Both Teams to Score)
Crystal Palace Vs Everton (Over 1.5 Goals)
Burnley Vs Southampton (1X; Double Chance Burnley)
Watford Vs Brighton (BTTS: Both Teams to Score)
Bournemouth Vs Sheffield United (Over 1.5 Goals)
Tottenham Hotspurs Vs Aston Villa (1; Spurs to Win)
Leicester City Vs Wolves (Over 1.5 Goals)
Newcastle United Vs Arsenal FC (X2; Double Chance Arsenal)
Manchester United Vs Chelsea (Over 1.5 Goals)
