Premier League is back!!!!

Ever since Manchester United retained the premiership in 2009, no other club has been able to win the trophy back to back.

Since then, only four clubs have won the league (Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd and Leicester) but strangely, none of them has been able to retain it. This may change this season. Manchester City were miles ahead of the rest as they strolled to the title, last season. If activities in the transfer market are anything to go by, apart from Liverpool, none of the others have managed to close the gap on City. To make matters worse, Pep Guardiola has promised that his players are going to be even better this season!!!

As the new season begins today, the question now is “who can stop Pep Guardiola and his boys?” If you ask me as of today, I will tell you only Liverpool can get near them. However, this is football, this is the start of the season, anything can still happen.

Manchester United v Leicester

Perhaps the most interesting part of this matchup is which side Harry Maguire will be playing for by kick off time. At the time of this article, he was still a Leicester player with United planning a final day take it or leave it offer. Manchester United’s transfer moves during this window have been appalling to say the least. They had targeted Maguire for instance ever since his last minute equaliser against Mourinho’s side at Old Trafford. They were aware City was going for Mahrez, Jamie Vardy, the club’s main star was going to the world cup with England, with the main ambition of using the tournament to sell himself to the big boys.

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Usually, Manchester United do their business very early in the transfer window, but this time, they decided to wait until after the world cup to see how Maguire would perform . He did a decent job and to make matters worse, City bought Mahrez. Luckily, Vardy didn’t get the opportunity to shine. If Vardy had had a great time at the competition and the big boys had come calling, it would have been impossible for United or any other club to get Maguire. Vardy strikes me as a player who would rather hand in a transfer request than sit in one corner twitching his toes. So now, Leicester won’t want to be seen as a selling club. They can’t afford to lose two key players in one transfer window. That’s why it is unlikely Harry Maguire will be joining United.

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I have a feeling this will be Mourinho’s last season at Old Trafford and the bad results may start happening from the first game. I won’t be surprised if Leicester win this.

Liverpool v West Ham

This is a clash between the big spenders. Between them, Liverpool and West Ham have spent close to 300 million pounds in this window. However, spending big and winning matches are two different things. The players need to gel and also adapt to the premiership especially if they are signed from abroad. Klopp has started well and this season appears to be his best chance of winning the league. What better time to start his onslaught than the first game of the season?

Newcastle v Spurs

From the biggest spenders to the smallest ones. Newcastle have been working on a very small budget, but it appears Spurs are on an even worse one.

Spurs have not bought any players this window. Their only target appears to be Jack Grealish. The good thing though is that they have managed to keep all their key players. They have a tight unit and the players can only get better. Spurs should be able to beat Newcastle, at worst, they will get a draw.

Arsenal v Man City

This will be Arsenal new manager’s first competitive game in charge. What a game to start your shift. If the Gooners are able to defeat City, it will be a big boost to their confidence and they may kick off their campaign on a high. But if they lose, especially by a big margin, it will take all the management skills of Unai Emery to lift the boys up. Emery is an experienced manager and he is used to big game situations. This should be fun. It is anybody’s game.

Huddersfield v Chelsea

Ordinarily, this should be an easy one for Chelsea, however, they have a new manager just getting used to his players and the premiership. Chelsea is a big club with big time players, if Maurizio Sarri can get his boys playing the way we know they are capable of, they should be able to see off a determined Huddersfield.

This will be Chelsea new goalkeeper, £71.6m rated Kepa’s baptism of fire in the Premiership. Huddersfield players are expected to push him to the limit especially through set pieces. Goalkeepers get more protection in Spain than they do over here. Just like his compatriot Manchester United’s David de Gea found out the hard way, Kepa too is sure to discover playing in the Premiership is a totally different ball game.