10 questions heading into the new Premier League season

A look at 10 of the big themes as the new season kicks off this weekend.

Is this it for Manchester City?

There are two major questions hanging over City right now: how long more will Pep Guardiola stay in charge, with just one year left on his deal, and what—if any—will the punishment be for the 115 charges that they are levelled with for financial misplay. The thing is, both questions could intertwine once we know more about the investigation, with reports this week suggesting we’ll get a clearer picture by spring of 2025.

Should the hammer drop, it will be interesting to see if Guardiola sees that as his chance to part ways, with a pile of league titles and a Champions League trophy in the mix. He will, of course, should they avoid any major penalties from the league officials, want to add a few more trophies before all is said and done and are obvious favourites to do so this season.

City have had a quiet enough summer as far as incomings are concerned, but saw Julian Alvaraz depart for Atletico Madrid. They are well equipped to replace him though, with Brazilian Savinho arriving from their sister club Troyes, via their other sister club Girona – this all seems very above board, right? – and Oscar Bobb, who looked tremendous in pre-season, but has been dealt a huge blow with a leg fracture that puts him out of action for a couple of months.

Regardless, City do have the frightening thought of a fresh Erling Haaland, who didn’t have the interruption of Euros football in the summer, plus Kevin de Bruyne back fit as well, so I think they’ll be fine. But the medium-term future, beyond this season, is extremely hazy.

Can Slot fill Klopp’s shoes?

Arne Slot comes in to replace Jurgen Klopp, no easy feat, and the pressure is on to pick up where the German left off, having been competing on multiple fronts with a squad that has some holes and weaknesses that the club hierarchy seem slow to address. The latest miscalculation is failing to land Spanish midfielder Martin Zubimendi for their #6 position, leaving a glaring midfield hole for the beginning of the new season.

The thing is, Liverpool haven’t signed anyone this summer, nor have they renewed some big names who have impending contract expirations, like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk. They have been busy selling some of the kids though, which you’d wonder would that fly with Klopp should he still be there.

The early signs is Slot seems to have them playing some tremendous football in pre-season. The squad is still loaded with talent and there should be more than enough to be at the top end of the league and cup contention come the end of the season. It’s going to be a huge change for the club without Klopp’s force of personality, so if things begin slowly for Slot he won’t have nearly as much credit in the bank. It’s a renewed focus at the club however and it felt like a natural ending for Klopp, which may give the players a new head of steam under new leadership this season.

Can Arsenal go again?

Mikel Arteta’s men came agonizingly close to snatching the league title last season, before Man City City’d. Can they go back to the well this season? It won’t be easy, but they’re a strong unit with youth and talent across the pitch, the best defence in the league and possibly the best manager to take on the City machine. So there’s no reason why not.

Arsenal’s squad has been bolstered in defence with the arrival of Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna, but otherwise have had a reasonably quiet summer transfer window. If Kai Havertz can find goals that his talent often belies, Arsenal will be thereabouts come the end of the season. That’s certainly the only iffy point about this team is that they have no truly established goalscorer nor attacking focal point.

Another thing I’m mindful of heading into this season is their extreme reliance on Bakayo Saka, who’s now posted three seasons back-to-back with little to no breaks, starting pretty much every game he’s been available for. They haven’t much by way of backup, something they should probably consider to give him a well earned rest from time to time.

Have United finally turned a corner?

With Ineos now in charge, have United turned a corner from the old Glazer stench? Maybe. Although they hummed over keeping Erik ten Hag or not after their FA Cup victory in May, it does feel like United have more of a structured plan heading this season.

They’ve been busy in the transfer market, adding highly coveted teenager Leny Yoro, who is unfortunately injured already, along with more established talent like Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Noussair Mazraoui. There are still some weaknesses to address, particularly in midfield, but if the likes of Bruno Fernandes can keep up his form and they can extract goals from Rasmus Hojlund, and Marcus Rashford can possibly find some of his old form, United will be in good shape.

The seat is most certainly hot for Ten Hag however. The cup win granted him a reprieve for now, but no progress in the early part of the season could see his new assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy hustled in to save the day.

What the hell are Chelsea doing?

Chelsea ended last season absolutely flying under Mauricio Pochettino, and then he left, is now the new USMNT manager, and Chelsea have just about signed every player under the sun this summer. Their plan seems to be chaos.

New boss Enzo Maresco, who got Leicester City promoted into the Premier League for this season, has the biggest job of his career, a role that has eaten many fine managers alive in the past. Will something be different this time around? It’s hard to know. They are absolutely stacked with talent with some positions having four and five names of depth, but there doesn’t seem to be much cohesion—there is, if anything, too much depth that it’s hard to figure out exactoy how it all pieces together, and it seems like a day doesn’t go by without them being linked with another player. They signed Pedro Neto from Wolves, an excellent player no doubt, but where does he fit into an attacking line-up that already has Cole Palmer, Christopher Nkunku, Mykhailo Mudryk, Nicolas Jackson, Raheem Sterling and Noni Madueke and probably a few other guys lurking in the back that I’m forgetting?

If Maresco can piece everything together, something Pochettino took months to figure out, it’ll be a hell of a job. But until things start to click into place, I’ll just continue to scratch my head and wonder what on earth they’re doing.

Can Villa juggle league and Europe?

Villa were the big success story last season under Unai Emery, landing a Champions League spot. Now the big question will be can they manage the cut and thrust of Premier League football along with their European endeavours?

They do have a stacked squad and have added some decent options to that in Amadou Onana from Everton, but it would be some job to go back and repeat a top four finish in the league whilst also navigating the new Champions League format. Never doubt Emery though, who always proves the doubters wrong and somehow rarely gets his flowers.

Can Newcastle get back into Europe?

Newcastle dropped a bit last year after a top four finish in 2022-23, so they’ll be hoping to reverse that trend and get back into the top four conversation. Their squad is loaded with talent, with in-form striker Alexander Isak fresh from a Euro-less summer, but they haven’t been too busy in the transfer window, their main edition being Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth on a free transfer, clearly hamstrung by financial restrictions.

They’re rumoured to be adding Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace who’d be an excellent defensive addition, but you just know they’d love to break the bank on some attacking options to complement Isak and Anthony Gordon. The top end of the league is so rich and talent-heavy, getting back into that top four or five places will be require a huge effort from Howe and his squad.

What are Tottenham’s targets for this year?

Spurs are always a bit overlooked in these types of previews. Not as fancied as the likes of Liverpool and City, not as renowned as Chelsea or United, but always there somewhere, usually predicted for a 5th placed finish. And it’s boringly typical, so I wonder what will be the target for Ange Postecoglu’s side as the manage Europa League football and trying to keep pace with the rest of the big four challengers.

Dominic Solanke is a significant addition to a pretty strong squad, that was flying under the new manager for the first half of last season before teetering off a little. Are they equipped to go one better this season? Maybe not, but I don’t think they would say no to a Europa League trophy—a club absolutely starved of trophies—and it would seal Ange as a club legend, in just his second season.

Who can rise into the top half?

Last season’s 9th-13th placed teams were West Ham, Crystal Palace, Brighton, Bournemouth and Fulham and you could put a reasonable debate together for any of them to climb a bit higher into the top ten, maybe even competing for Europa League places.

Out of those, I’m very high on Fulham at the moment—I think Marco Silva is a great manager and their squad isn’t looking too bad, with the addition of Emile Smith-Rowe from Arsenal looking a very decent piece of business.

Brighton have a new manager and the first one that’s ever been younger than me, in 31-year-old Fabian Hürzeler, and they’ve been really busy in the transfer window with some flashy signings, adding the depth they lacked last season. If he’s the real deal, maybe they’ll realistically set their sights on that top eight horizon?

West Ham have also added some great talent to the fold, with new manager Julen Lopetegui hoping to have better success than his last stint at Wolves. And Crystal Palace, now under the stewardship of Oliver Glasner, should be great fun to follow, even with the loss of Michael Olise to Bayern Munich.

Will the promoted teams stay the course?

Say hello to Ipswich, Southampton and 2015 champions Leicester City. Which of them will stay the course and avoid relegation straight back to the Championship? Leicester’s return was swift, with many of the familiar faces that got relegated two seasons ago still on the books. They’ll be Premier League ready for sure, but hanging over them—along with other clubs this season—is financial dodginess that has hamstrung their spending ability and left them open for possible points deductions.

Ipswich are the new team on the block, back in the top flight for the first time in over 20 years, replacing the role left by Luton as the plucky underdog. They have a highly coveted boss in Kieran McKenna and were phenomenal last season in the second tier, but still with a very Championship-level squad, it’s no surprise they’re favourites for an immediate relegation.

And then Southampton, another quickly returning to the Premier League, but a squad that, for me, lacks the quality sufficient enough to retain that status for another season.