PREVIEW: Premier League 2020/21 Season

In 4 days the long-awaited return of English football comes back as it will be shaping up to be a belter of a campaign with many teams improving their rosters to try and compete for the title. Last season the champions were Liverpool, which was inevitable seeing as how talented the squad really is. The 3 men on top, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, and Mo Salah which made Liverpool a force of nature. As we dawn upon a new chapter of the Premier League here is what the fans shall except from this season.

COVID-19 Setback

Due to Covid-19 that impacted the whole world in every form and caused for the pause of sports competition for it to return with stadiums with no fans, this new season will stick to the same format of no fans attending games although it was planned for them to reopen for October 1st, due to a spike in the number of cases it was later then denied, current Chief Executive Richard Masters is very hopeful to allow fans back into stadiums by the end of the 2020/21 season because without a doubt that the stadium with no crowds makes them lose a lot of money from people not being able to buy tickets.

The Rise Back to the Premier League

Last season 3 teams were relegated and 3 teams rose from the ashes of The Championship/English Second Division all the way back to the Premier League some of which have not seen top-flight English football in a long time. The 3 teams making their returns back to the PL are Fulham, West Brom, and Leeds United, each team trying to make a case for the reason why they deserve to stay at the top. When it comes to rising from The Championship many teams can rise to promise and solidify a spot in the Premier League like Wolverhampton Wanders and Leicester City who would win their first season on top or they can crack into pressure and fall back down. Both Fulham and Leeds being busy trying to buy talent while West Brom has been a bit silent. Fulham receiving a new keeper on loan Alphonse Areola from PSG with an option to buy at the end of the season and loaning Mario Lemina, the 27-year old midfielder from Southampton, but surprisingly signing the highly-rated fullback Kenny Tete from Lyon and without forgetting the dominant Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic who killed it in his first spell in the PL with Fulham. Leeds United made their marquis signing of Rodrigo Moreno from Valencia a shocker in the football world because with that addition and the young talent in Leeds disposal they are for sure expected to do well.

Writing their History

Many teams in the Premier League want to make a name for themselves and be crowned as champions of England, but for many teams reaching those standards is a very hard task to do. Four teams come to mind when needing to make a name for themselves and those are; Wolverhampton Wanders, Leicester City, Sheffield United, and Everton. Sheffield United is a particular club in the fact that they were dark horses who no one expected to rise to such promise being able to compete against some of the biggest giants in the PL last season, but for many having 1 good season will not be enough to prove their worth so for the season they will have to keep on improving everywhere to seek potential contention in the future. Everton on the other hand has had their fair share of promise in English football, unfortunately, the luck just is never in their favor, but with key midfield signings, they are going to have to shader the glass window that is holding them back from greatness. Wolverhampton Wanders is a very strong team who came up from The Championship not that long ago but now are on the road to achieve greatness. Wolves last season just finished goal differences from playing European football again, although they were not able to seek such effort they have a lot of potential with many youngsters that will have to develop more and it does not affect them in a bad way that Wolves has a taste for Portuguese players who have very promising futures. Lastly, Leicester City has the highest potential to make a name for themselves as they have already been able to lift that coveted Premier League trophy, but many believed that after that season the hype was going to die down, in fact, it was only the beginning as they would do some smart business to stay at the top and with that smart business and very talented group of men that Leicester City will be in this years Europa League and were close to being in the upcoming Champions League.

The Big 6 of the Premier League

The reason why England’s Premier League is so competitive is that the high talent of teams and it is really hard to have a league better than the ones that consist of the ’Big 6 of the Premier League’, comprised of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Chelsea. Some really do live up to being apart of the ’Big 6’ and others have not been what fans should expect when they are apart of a group of other great teams. Liverpool shines out as one of England’s really good teams of recent years finally being able to be on top of the European scene and England scene but will have a big task if they hope to continue their success as a team giant. This team managed by Jürgen Klopp could very much win the Premier League again but with teams on the rise there reign on top could be cut short. One team that for sure should not be counted out is FC Chelsea as this summer they have splurged their wallets and spent a lot on assists basically having 2 transfer windows in one due to their ban that they had about a year ago. Chelsea’s buys include; Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyeck, Thiago Silva, Malang Sarr, and Ben Chilwell busting up Chelsea’s defense and offense, that comes without mentioning all their young talent who are on the rise such as Mason Mount, Reece James, Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham and etc… It is without a question that this PL season they are coming to fight. Alongside Manchester City who never shies away from being the thorn on team backs when it comes to competition, the team managed by Pep Guardiola has been a very successful team but with more teams on the rise will have to be hungrier and prepared for the challenges along their way. This Manchester side will have to stay 100% at all times because if your key man gets injured who knows what this team could become as they do not usually deal well with a man down especially when it comes to Manchester City’s defense who needs a big upgrade being heavily linked to Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli. Lastly, it goes without saying that Tottenham, Arsenal, and Manchester United need to elevate their football tremendously if they hope to enjoy the glory. Manchester United seem to be on their way of that by signing highly-rated Donny Van De Beek to form a strong midfield for the Reds and doing some great business by signing Dean Henderson for a 5-year deal as he was doing fantastic last season with Sheffield United and seems to be in Manchester United’s long term plans. Arsenal on the other hand have to learn discipline as that is one of their crucial problems because they are not able to simmer down when it comes to the game it is not even a question who has been carrying Arsenal, without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Arsenal would have been a lot lower last season because without their captain many goals and goal chances would have not been created but if the team follows Aubameyang and their talented manager, Mikel Arteta, and make smart signings then Arsenal will be on the road back to their prowess moment. Tottenham do not have bad players but one of their big issues is that when it comes to the matches they play lower than what is expected out of them and cannot make a good signing to actually boost the team on top of that underutilize their talent such as Tanguy Ndombele one of the most highly-rated midfielder prospects recently but never gets played. The man who has been carrying Tottenham on his back has been Heung-min Son with key players such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Lo Celso, and Lucas Moura who will have to improve a lot and simply Tottenham just is going to have to stop being cheap and sign top tier players, expectations are high it is up to them to reach them. The ’Big 6’ have a long weighing on them to be great and the illustrious of the top flight of English football so for them to be that they all have to be on top of their game and set the right foundation for the amazing league that is the Premier League.