Below them, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are seeking an immediate response to their worst Premier League seasons while Aston Villa and Newcastle United will consider themselves still well-placed to be better than both. Then comes the overachievers, still requiring reinforcements but keen to rely upon what worked in 2024-25: Brighton, Nottingham Forest, Brentford, Bournemouth.
As The Score returns for another season of Premier League action, Daniel Storey has asked (and attempted to answer) one question that surrounds each club on the eve of a new campaign…
It’s time for Mikel Arteta to deliver the prizes which matter most (Photo: Getty)
The competition and spending power of others once gave Arteta perfectly reasonable reasons to see challenging for the title as sufficient progress. Spending almost £200m on Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi, Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera and Christian Norgaard decrees that the leeway has evaporated. Arsenal must now see second place as a caveated failure, not a reason to celebrate.
Aston Villa – Can enough other players chip in with goals?
Last season, Villa were the joint-lowest goalscorers in the top half of the Premier League. That wasn’t the fault of their best attacking players: Ollie Watkins got 24 goals and assists and Morgan Rogers got 18 (although that counts goals where they were both involved twice).
But the key lies in Unai Emery squeezing more goals out of Donyell Malen and hoping that the dominant centre-backs can contribute from attacking set pieces (the four central defenders managed two goals between them in the league last season). Remember that this squad has also lost Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford from the second half of last season.
Bournemouth flourished last season through the success of their high pressing following losing possession in the opposition half, but that was platformed by a confidence in an elite defence to cope if the press was bypassed (only five teams conceded fewer goals). As it stands, the likely defence at Anfield reads: Adrien Truffert, Marcos Senesi, Bafode Diakite/James Hill and Adam Smith. I don’t see how that copes in the same way, at least over the first two months of the season
Brentford – Can Andrews cope with a slow start?
I deeply admire the Brentford model of appointing from within and they were clearly not totally surprised that Thomas Frank attracted interest from elsewhere. Keith Andrews has at least had the entire pre-season and reports suggest he is very popular with players.
Last season, the first half of Brentford’s season was saved by their prodigious home form. Andrews’ first six home opponents as a manager are Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Newcastle. If he starts slowly, as that run of games suggests is eminently possible, will Brentford avoid panicking and can Andrews turn the tide back round?
But Danny Welbeck turns 35 in November (and has to slow down eventually), Joao Pedro has been sold to Chelsea and Evan Ferguson and Simon Adingra have also left. In Pedro’s place, Brighton have 19-year-old Stefanos Tzimas (returning from loan in Germany) and 18-year-old Charalampos Kostoulas (signed from Olympiakos). Georginio Rutter is 23, but he only scored five times in the league last season.
Burnley – Where are the goals coming from?
This isn’t the only time we will ask this question of a promoted club, but Burnley do currently look the least prepared of the three to score enough goals to stay up. Josh Brownhill leaving means the top goalscorer from last season in this squad is Zian Flemming. That isn’t going to cut it.
As it stands, their most likely answer is Armando Broja, who has eight goals in 76 Premier League matches. It is surely not enough.
Joao Pedro has made a fast start to life at Stamford Bridge (Photo: Getty)
And yet, Cole Palmer aside, it is a squad that still raises more questions than answers. The best way of analysing it is thus: if you take all of Chelsea’s left wingers and combine them, you have one truly elite player. Do the same on the right wing, the same. Do it with the strikers, the same. Do it with the fit central defenders, yep. I’m still not sold on Robert Sanchez and I still don’t know exactly how the central midfielders best combine as a two (or at least without leaving out Enzo Fernandez).
Crystal Palace – Can a small squad deal with Europe?
The European football/Uefa/CAS saga hung over most coverage of Crystal Palace this summer, but underneath that is the growing sense that Oliver Glasner is unhappy at his club’s work in the transfer market.
You can see his point. While Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze continue to be linked with moves away from Selhurst Park, 11 players appeared in more than 40 matches for Palace last season and that workload is only going to increase with European football. None of those 11 players are aged under 24. That shift to Thursday-Sunday football is a new factor and it is tough.
That could now change. The major signings this summer are Thierno Barry, Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, three attacking arrivals that can support the brilliant Iliman Ndiaye, the improved Beto and Dwight McNeil. The creative players are now the strongest element of this squad.
Fulham – Do you actually need new players?
Fulham are setting themselves up as the Premier League’s control experiment club. So far this summer they have allowed two players to leave on free transfers (Carlos Vinicius and Willian) and signed a reserve goalkeeper for less than £500,000.
Is this wildly exciting at a time when ticket prices are astronomical to attract one-time fans? No. Will it keep Fulham up on the cheap and then allow them to spend more next summer (if they choose to)? Quite possibly.
Joel Piroe did score 19 league goals last season, but supporters are less than convinced he can make the step up. The next two highest scorers were Manor Solomon and Daniel James, both of whom have had a crack at the Premier League (including at big clubs) and one of whom has returned to his parent club.
Liverpool – How do you balance the attacking full-backs?
Jeremie Frimpong joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen for £29.5m in July (Photo: Getty)Liverpool’s 2024-25 title was earned through the control that Arne Slot oversaw so soon after joining. Liverpool scored first in 25 games and won 21 of them. Their midfield worked seamlessly to allow the front three to stay high and for Trent Alexander-Arnold to invert with the ball and let a central midfielder push high.
The question is whether this leaves the midfield, and then the two central defenders, a little overloaded. In pre-season and the Community Shield, some of last season’s control looks absent. Their last five results suggest as much: 2-4, 3-1, 4-1, 3-2, 2-2.
Which could all look very silly if Guardiola is able to reconnect the component parts of a team that took 89 or more points in the previous three seasons. City’s early exit from the Club World Cup may have given Guardiola an easier pre-season ride and a lack of major international tournaments afforded greater rest.
Man Utd – Can central midfield protect the defence?
Manchester United have spent big this summer and entirely rebuilt their attacking unit. We will always reserve judgement given United’s record with higher-end signings, but Benjamin Sesko with Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha in behind is undeniably fresh, energetic and exciting.
Premier League games are so often settled by the energy in midfield, both to resist the press and to possess the positional discipline to guard against counter attacks by overcommitting. The thought of Casemiro and Fernandes as a two-man midfield to do all this makes my head hurt.
For all of the doubts of Alexander Isak and the dreadful lack of strategic planning that led to transfer delays this summer, that midfield energy worries me most. Newcastle were brilliant in big games in the second half of last season because they had no European football. They conceded 62 league goals the last time they competed in the Champions League because those nights sapped the energy and the three-man midfield too often looked jaded during the weekend matches that followed.
Nottingham Forest – Will Nuno try to change the style?
In pre-season, Forest scored one goal in seven games as Nuno Espirito Santo tried out a formation with two centre forwards (despite only having three on the books) and often with four central defenders starting. The theory is that, while Forest won’t go with the exact plan in competitive games, the manager wants to teach Forest to play far more with the ball.
It will be fascinating to see how Nuno pulls it off; Forest are probably the hardest Premier League team to predict this season. Most supporters would accept a high bottom-half finish and European run – but is that enough for Evangelos Marinakis?
The response has been swift: 11 new signings and around £140m in fees committed. Granit Xhaka is the flagship signing, also crucial for adding some experience and steel to the youngest team in the Championship in 2024-25.
Tottenham – Is improving current players enough?
The focus amongst many supporters is, again, the lack of speed at which new players have been recruited to support a new manager. Frank has also hinted at slight frustration, intimating that Brentford move quickly whereas Tottenham tend to do a lot of discussing internally first.
That will take some getting used to for supporters, but it has value. After the mania (and eventual European magic) of Postecoglou, Tottenham can be a sensible football team making sensible decisions. Unpredictability can be overrated.
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West Ham have also lost three of their six highest shot takers from last season (Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus and Carlos Soler). They have lost two of their highest chance creators (Kudus and Soler) and Antonio would likely have featured in that list were it not for his serious car accident.
Wolves – Can Wolves keep overperforming their xG?
While the focus has been on Brentford as the Premier League club who have lost the most key players (particularly if Wissa goes too), don’t sleep on Wolves. Of the 16 players who appeared against Palace in May, six have since left the club. That includes the two wing-backs, the most creative player and two wingers.
But three of Wolves’ highest chance creators (Cunha, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Nelso Semedo) have left. The highest chance creator from last season still at the club is Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, with 28. It is asking a huge amount of Jhon Arias (first season in European football) and Fer Lopez (only just 21) to carry that same burden.
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