Eight talking points ahead of the Premier League weekend | OneFootball

We’re back with our weekend talking points as we preview the opening weekend of the 2024/25 Premier League season.

Eight talking points ahead of the Premier League weekend:

Ten Hag needs a strong start to maintain optimism – and position

For the first time in some time, there’s cautious optimism at Manchester United. Positive changes on and off the pitch, fresh investment, and new signings that indicate long-term strategy are welcome moves at Old Trafford.

Last season’s eighth-place finish was the club’s lowest of the Premier League era and the toxicity around Ten Hag’s tenure looked irreparable. However, success in the FA Cup breathed new life into the Dutchman’s reign, with new co-owners Ineos backing the 54-year-old to lead the new era despite the disappointment of their Premier League campaign.

Joshua Zirzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui look sensible signings, with the latter trio to be tasked with tightening an all-too-often exposed defence. United appear in a solid place from which to build, and a home clash with Fulham to open the season represents a chance to kick-start the campaign with three points. However, Ten Hag’s pre-season status as the favourite to be the first manager sacked indicates that he has a point to prove.

What will Slot bring to Liverpool?

Arne Slot faces the unenviable task of replacing Liverpool’s best manager of the modern era. Others have stepped into sizeable shoes before and found it difficult, with David Moyes and Unai Emery among those to have struggled in the Premier League after replacing long-serving legends.

The Dutchman was appointed due to his stylistic fit. Slot’s Feyenoord side were relentless regainers of possession with just two teams in Europe – one of which was Liverpool – recording more shot-ending high turnovers than the Rotterdam outfit during his time at De Kuip. Slot, however, has suggested he is keen to implement change.

While he wants to retain the hallmarks of Klopp’s ‘Heavy Metal’ football, there’s a desire for greater control when required. He has spoken openly about wanting his team to pick and choose when to incite ‘chaos’ and his demands for a more patient approach. Against newly-promoted Ipswich, in the 12:30 kick-off time his predecessor so often derided, we’ll get a first look at Slot-ball.

Is this Arsenal’s year?

For some, Arsenal’s consecutive runners-up finishes suggest an elusive Premier League title is close. However, football does not always work that way. Newcastle’s mid-nineties ‘Entertainers’ are an example of a team that came agonisingly close before fading away, while Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool and Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham also took title races close but never got across the line.

Arsenal must go to the well once more after missing out on the final weekend last season, a tough task but one Mikel Arteta will be confident his team can achieve. The numbers defensively and from set-pieces are league-leading, while the Arsenal squad is perhaps the perfect profile for title success as Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, William Saliba and Bukayo Saka develop towards their peaks.

This is a big season for the Gunners.

Can the promoted teams plug the growing gap?

The gap between the Premier League and the Championship has arguably never been bigger. The finances in the top division have meant teams coming up have struggled to compete. Last season, for just the second time in the Premier League era, all three promoted teams were relegated back to the second tier.

A plucky Luton aside, they did not put up much of a fight. Sheffield United conceded a record-breaking 104 goals and their combined total of 66 points was the lowest-ever for three relegated teams.

Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich will hope to do much better than that.

Brighton’s ‘Baby Boss’ gets to work

Fabian Hürzeler will break a Premier League record this weekend as the youngest-ever permanent manager in the league’s history. Brighton have often placed their faith in emerging talent on the pitch and have now done so in the dugout, appointing the former St Pauli coach as Roberto De Zerbi’s replacement.

Hürzeler led St Pauli to promotion to the Bundesliga last season and he arrives with a growing reputation, where he inherits a talented young squad set to be added to with the eye-catching additions of Georginio Rutter and Ferdi Kadioglu.

It represents a step into the unknown for Brighton and their youthful head coach and it will be fascinating to see how the German adapts. For context, Hürzeler was just nine years old when Brighton midfielder James Milner made his Premier League debut.

West Ham have sights set on gatecrashing the elite

In successive seasons, a non-Big Six side has upset the status quo of the Premier League to secure Champions League qualification. After Newcastle reached Europe’s elite in 2022/23, Aston Villa matched that feat to finish fourth last season. With top teams in transition and more money than ever before exchanging hands between those lower down the league, it is a trend that has encouraged the chasing pack.

West Ham are one side that will be confident of pushing towards Europe this season. The Irons are without European commitments for the first time in four seasons and a combination of their lighter workload and recruitment has increased optimism around the capital.

Julen Lopetegui has replaced David Moyes in the dugout and the Hammers have completed coups for Niclas Fullkrug, Jean-Clair Todibo and Guido Rodriguez, all of whom had admirers among Europe’s top clubs. Elsewhere, Crysencio Summerville is full of potential and Max Kilman and Aaron Wan-Bissaka will shore up a backline that was uncharacteristically vulnerable last season.

Aston Villa, preparing for a campaign in the Champions League, are the first visitors of the Premier League season. It’s a perfect gauge for a new-look West Ham and their ambitions.

Mid-table sides must move on from big names

It’s the unfortunate nature of the Premier League food chain that top talent only sticks around for so long at teams outside the financial elite. A run of quality performances is followed by predictable transfer interest and the inevitable move up the football ladder. The cycle is unlikely to change.

This summer, several of the Premier League’s mid-table teams face moving on from the departures of key men. Of the teams that finished between 10th and 15th last season only Brighton (who’ve had more than their fair share of losses) have not had a big name leave.

Crystal Palace parted with Michael Olise, Joao Palhinha bid farewell to Fulham, Bournemouth banked £65m for Dominic Solanke, Wolves waved goodbye to Max Kilman and Pedro Neto, and Everton sanctioned the sale of Amadou Onana to Aston Villa.

How each replaces and reinvents will be crucial to their campaigns.

Haaland licking lips at facing Chelsea once again

Pre-season performances should be taken with a pinch of salt but there will no doubt be some alarm bells sounding at Chelsea. The club’s pre-season tour of the USA was disastrous as the West Londoners lost three times and drew with third-tier Wrexham. Chelsea kept just one clean sheet in six games and shipped four goals each to Celtic and this weekend’s opponents – Manchester City.

Erling Haaland feasted on Chelsea’s struggle to play out from the back, netting twice inside the opening five minutes and completing his hat-trick after the break. Teething issues are to be expected as Enzo Maresca implements his ideas on a disjointed squad, but the Premier League champions – and particularly Haaland – will take no mercy this weekend.

Read – Ranking the five favourites to win the 2024/25 Premier League

See more – Six Premier League players who have impressed in pre-season

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