Now a days, those who follow football thoroughly they know winning the Premier League is the hardest among Europe’s Top 5 Football League, EPL, La Liga, Seria A, Bundesliga and Ligue One. Lets admit the truth, leaving EPL from the above mentioned 5 every league is either a one horse or two horse race. EPL on the other hand is a 6 horse race, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. And then there are the minnows like Leicester City, Southampton, Everton, Stoke among many others. They are not title contenders but can any day stun the table toppers. So this makes EPL the hardest as well as the most entertaining league as well.
Take a critical analysis and see who are actually capable of mounting a title challenge and dethrone Chelsea or if they can defend their crown. No dark horses, but a Leicester fairy tale can happen any season with any team and its too early to predict some. So lets go logically and see who has the better chances.
- Chelsea – The defending champions will be looking forward to a strong campaign with the core of the team intact. Kante, Hazard, Courtois, Luiz, Azpi, Pedro, Alonso all will retain their position in the starting 11 for next seasosn. Conte will continue with his 3–4–3 formation. Chelsea are yet to sign a new player but that doesn’t mean they wont. Conte will reinforce his defence as well as bring players to compete with Moses and Alonso for their places as wing backs. The only thing that I think will hurt their campaign is the departure of Diego Costa. Costa has been prolific for the Blues and will leave a huge hole in the team. Lukaku is tipped to succeed Costa at Bridge, but I feel Costa is one level higher than Lukaku.
- Manchester United – Yes they finished sixth. But Mourinho’s men went on a 25game unbeaten run, again too many draws. Mourinho, in the penultimate stages of the season, gave up a top4 charge to focus on Europa League, a risky step which ultimately paid off. Mourinho is the Proven One among all the current EPL managers in every corner and competition of Europe. And for the record he has won the league with every team in second year of charge. With De Gea, Pogba, Herrera, Rashford, Bailly, Valencia, Mkhi, Lingard, Mata the team is well equipped with stars and young talents. And United has already completed the first signing with Lindelof, and as Mourinho said more 4 to 5 big names are expected. What can hurt United’s title challenge are the lack of goals. With Zlatan out of contract they are in much need of a No.9
- Manchester City– Pep finished last season with his lowest position ever on in a league table, 3rd. Wth City he faces the toughest task in his managerial career yet. His philosophy of playig the ball from the back back fired on him many time. Pep’s non approval of Hart’s passing ability led to Bravo’s hasty signing, result non satisfactory. Also Pep seems to trust more on Jesus than Aguero, who in my eyes has been the best striker since his arrival in EPL. City is a team in transition and more than a handful of signings are expected with 2 already confirmed. Aguero, Fernandinho, Sane, Sterling are some of the big names to miss out a probable spot on the starting 11. And this is where I think city will fail to charge a title challenge. With a new core of players it will be hard to get on strong start and how good is Pep’s philosophy we will all come to know by the end of 2017–18 season.
- Tottenham Hotspur – Pochettino has been a success so far in the Premier League. Yes, although no silver ware in his cabinet but he has earned a name for himself and is always rumored for a move away from North East of London to Madrid, Catalonia, Turin, Bavaria. He has led Spurs from being a mid table team to being serious title contenders. Spurs can be a serious title contenders next season if they can retain the core group of players. Walker, Rose, Eriksen, Dier are all tipped with a move away from Spurs. These transfers will bring in a huge stack of cash no doubt but their activity on the transfer market has been always minimal. Should they want to win the league for the first time, since 1961, they should reatain the core group of palyers at any cost.
- Liverpool – Liverpool has played some exciting football since Klopp’s arrival and they had the best head to head record with in the Top 6. It is their inconsistency againt the minnows that proved fatal in their title challenge last season. Liverpool have to spend a substantial amount of money on the transfer market to strengthen certain positions if they are to improve on their overall form. I don’t see them getting any marquee signing and so I think with UCL games Liverpool will struggle in EPL too. But Klopp is a charismatic manager, won the Bundesliga back to back with a young group of players, so nothing is certain. In my view Liverpool as EPL champions – 30%.
- Arsenal – Lets face it, with Kroenka at the helm Arsenal will never be champions. And with no UCL this season at the Emirates Arsenal will struggle to keep a hold of their marquee players, Sanchez, Ozil, Bellerin. With Arsene claiming only 2–3 signings are expected this summer, Arsenal’s title challenge this season is bleak. Sanchez situation is the most complicated one, as he wants to play among the elites in UCL. But in the previous two seasons we have seen how absence of European games have benifited Leicester City and Chelse in their title winning campaigns. The absence of mid week games keeps the core group of players fresh and this could prove to be a boon for the Gunners and help them end their EPL drough
