RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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No two Premier League seasons are ever exactly alike but as a new one begins this weekend, there is an unusually unpredictable – and exciting – feeling to this one.
Most of the league's 20 teams enter the new campaign in some form of transition, be it through new managers, squad turnover or the task of successfully making the jump from the Championship to the top flight. Naturally, a few constants still hold true. Reigning champions Arsenal remain mostly unchanged from last season's triumphs and, after several years of continuity, look to repeat as title winners. The promoted trio of Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City will also have their work cut out for them, the odds of staying up not exactly in their favor. Everything else, though, is up in the air.
The opening round of games will offer a first real glimpse at the many, many teams who return to play with new plans, while the early weeks of the season will help fill in the gaps as onlookers begin to learn each team's new patterns. That said, several key matchups will be particularly revealing. Manchester City, now without ex-coach Pep Guardiola and midfielder Rodri, will take on a Bournemouth side under new management of their own but eager to build upon last season's results that saw them qualify for European competition for the first time. Chelsea's clash with Fulham, meanwhile, marks a meeting between last season's Real Madrid managers – Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa, each with a different point to prove.
The new season opens on Friday with a battle between England's most recent champions, Arsenal and Championship winners Coventry City.
Here's what you need to know as a new season begins.
Friday, Aug. 21 Arsenal vs. Coventry City, 3 p.m. (USA Network)
Saturday, Aug. 22 Hull City vs. Manchester United, 7:30 a.m. (USA Network) Everton vs. Crystal Palace, 10 a.m. (USA Network) Ipswich Town vs. Sunderland, 10 a.m. (Peacock) Nottingham Forest vs. Leeds United, 10 a.m. (Peacock) Brentford vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 12:30 p.m. (Peacock)
Sunday, Aug. 23 Manchester City vs. Bournemouth, 9 a.m. (USA Network) Brighton and Hove Albion vs. Aston Villa, 9 a.m. (Peacock) Newcastle United vs. Liverpool, 11:30 a.m. (USA Network)
Monday, Aug. 24 Fulham vs. Chelsea, 3 p.m. (USA Network)
Nine teams enter the new season with new managers, while Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur begin the new campaign with coaches who are in their first full seasons in charge. It leaves a lot of entertaining uncertainty in every section of the table, but most intriguing at the top end. The Gunners would have gone in as the favorites to repeat as champions regardless of what their opponents got up to over the summer but at this point of the season, it's hard to know who – if any – will mount a reasonable challenge. The questions facing each of them are meaty, too. Will Enzo Maresca be able to transition smoothly into his new role at City after Pep Guardiola's storied decade in charge? Can Xabi Alonso steer Chelsea in the right direction after years of ups and downs under the new owners – and put the chaos of Real Madrid behind him? Will Andoni Iraola find a way to get Liverpool's high-profile attacking unit going after last summer's spending spree? Are Manchester United normal now?
Even amidst a sea of change in the Premier League, some things always stay the same. That includes the grueling fight for survival for the teams who earned promotion from the Championship, none of which seem well-equipped to stay up. Despite being one of the Championship's worst defensive teams last season, Hull City rode their luck to Wembley Stadium and managed to win the promotion playoff but seem poised for a rude awakening in the Premier League. Ipswich Town have made some signings they hope will turn good and like many other colleagues, have a new manager in Gary O'Neill who has a track record of leading teams to punch above their own weight, but a lot will have to go right for them to survive. The team perhaps best positioned to stay up is Coventry City, though they will miss goalscorer Haji Wright for the start of the season – the U.S. international will miss up to 12 weeks with what manager Frank Lampard described as a "very serious quad injury."
A World Cup on home soil now in the rearview mirror, a batch of U.S. men's national team players return to play with their clubs as the long road to the 2030 tournament officially gets underway. Wright will miss the beginning of the season but a handful of World Cup participants should be ready to go as soon as the opening whistle – starters like Crystal Palace's Chris Richards and Bournemouth's Tyler Adams are expected to play big roles this season again for their clubs, and the same goes for Fulham's Antonee Robinson and Leeds United's Brenden Aaronson. There's a new player to keep an eye on, too – 19-year-old winger Zavier Gozo joins Richards at Palace after beginning his career in MLS with Real Salt Lake, becoming the first of a new and exciting generation of U.S. players to take the next step up in his career.
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