The Premier League promised to Manchester?
The giants United and City, reinforced by an expensive transfer window, advance as the big favorites of the Championship of England which starts Friday, but Chelsea and Liverpool have promised to disturb this party of the neighbors.
To discover
Premier League fixtures and results
Manchester City, attack bonus
Coach Pep Guardiola was very clear, after the defeat against Leicester (1-0) on Saturday during the Community Shield: it will be several weeks, even months, before seeing Manchester City evolve at its best.
Last season, the Citizens took off in January.
Long in the race for a historic quadruple, they “contented themselves” with the Championship and the League Cup.
But the defeat in the final of the Champions League against Chelsea (1-0) left a last bitter taste, to a club which targeted needs in attack in order to cross a European course.
Already counting on Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne, Manchester is building a crazy offensive armada.
He first offered himself for 117 million euros the darling of English fans at the Euro, Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), who became the most expensive rookie in the history of the Championship.
The second cannon shot could concern Tottenham star Harry Kane, whose transfer is blocked by Tottenham.
Solskjaer, the year of truth
Almost three years after taking over from José Mourinho, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer not only broke a longevity record at Old Trafford since the end of the Ferguson era, but also achieved more consistent results.
Manchester City runners-up last season, and Europa League finalists, the Red Devils produced a more convincing attacking game, around Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford.
It remained to consolidate the defense, the most permeable of the Top 4 last season: the recruitment of the captain of the Blues Raphaël Varane comes at the right time.The former Real Madrid player must form with Harry Maguire one of the strongest hinges from the country.
Their complementarity will largely depend on the fate of a club which has not won the Premier League since 2013. Solksjaer is still waiting for a first title as manager of Manchester United.
Chelsea, all-terrain team
Arrived in the middle of last season to replace Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel quickly got the best of the Blues.
The former Paris SG coach has built a reinforced concrete defensive structure to lead Londoners to the Champions League coronation in four months.
But the Russian owner of the club Roman Abramovich wants more: Chelsea, just winner of the European Supercup against Villarreal on Wednesday (1-1, 6-5 tab) must play the leading roles in the Premier League, where he awaits a coronation since 2017.
Almost an eternity in the eyes of the ambitious Russian oligarch, who has multiplied coaches in recent years, without finding the right one.
Tuchel has no excuse, especially as the expected arrival of Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku allows him to have this scorer who could sometimes be missing last season.
Liverpool bets on stability
Like in previous seasons, Liverpool have not been the most active club in the transfer market, with the only notable signing being that of French center-back Ibrahima Konaté, who came from Leipzig, and whose starting place is not guaranteed. to a position where Joe Gomez already appears alongside Virgil Van Dijk.
The Dutch defender is back, after a long injury in the heart of last winter, which completely disrupted the defensive organization of Jürgen Klopp, highlight of the glorious period 2018-2020 (finalist and winner of the Champions League, and champion of England).
The Reds will also have to replace the very precious Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, a free party at Paris Saint-Germain, to really carve out a place in the top 4, ahead of Tottenham, Leicester and Arsenal, other contenders for the places of honor.
