And who will have a cause for concern?
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Sunderland Team News: The Black Cats arrive at the Etihad looking for their first ever win at City’s new home, and quite a few important players will not play, especially in midfield: Lee Cattermole, Jan Kirchoff and Seb Larsson all miss out through injury, and new signings Paddy McNair, Donald Love and Adnan Januzaj (all of them came from Manchester United) might be forced into early action thanks to the injuries.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola cast doubt on goalkeeper Joe Hart’s future at the club on Friday after indicating that his place in the squad was up for discussion. Leicester’s superior attacking power should give them a comfortable victory in this one. “Today is the day before the start of the Premier League”.
Crystal Palace endured a frustrating end to last season after a great 2015.
United will be more unsafe with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, while Mourinho is often a quick starter at clubs.
This season, the arrival of some of the game’s finest managerial minds and some serious player recruitment have raised the tantalizing prospect of a six or seven-horse title race and another unpredictable campaign.
“But now the big teams will come back, I am sure”. However, long-serving manager Steve Bruce has since resigned, three weeks before the start of the 2016/17 season, following an argument with owner Assem Allam over transfer targets. They are now the hunted rather than being the hunter, and although nobody will be expecting them to repeat last season’s success, there will be pressure on them to retain a good position.
Another summer, and another exodus at Southampton, who have lost some of their best players and their manager in the transfer window. I’ve got a lot of experience. Watford haven’t really strengthened too well, and could well be set for a tough season under Walter Mazzarri.
His Bayern team produced a scintillating performance to beat City 3-1 in a Champions League group game in October 2013, which then club president Uli Hoeness said was “the best football I’ve seen in my life”.
Manchester United and Manchester City have each spent around 150 million pounds ($194.4 million, 174 million euros) on new players.
Bournemouth had a great first season in the Premier League a year ago, but they have lost their captain Matt Ritchie in the summer.
The big game of the weekend sees Arsenal take on rivals Liverpool at the Emirates stadium. Hull will be more defensive minded and will invite Leicester on to them instead of allowing them to play on the counter.
But, of course, this could just end up being another season where the so-called big clubs show us that they are ready to reassert their authority upon the league.
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Probably the most interesting game of the opening round is going to be the duel between Arsenal and Liverpool this Sunday, while the only match on Monday is the London derby between Chelsea and West Ham. Both sides may be happy to ease into the season with a draw.
