Fighting for the title and survival: Premier League preview

On the eve of the Premier League season, here’s a look at what we can expect from the new campaign.

The challengers
It’s a testament to Chelsea’s quality that they’re clear favourites to defend their title, despite a quiet summer of transfers.

Asmir Begovic has been brought in as back up to Thibaut Courtois and Radamel Falcao up front in place of Didier Drogba.

The revolving loan window is ever present, with the likes of Patrick Bamford (Crystal Palace) and Marco van Ginkel (Stoke) loaned out for the season, while promising talents Cristian Cuevas and Lucas Piazon are also expected to be handed an opportunity at playing time elsewhere, despite the latter featuring for Chelsea’s under-21s earlier this week.

Jose Mourinho will expect Falcao to be far more influential than he was at Old Trafford last season, but will take solace in having two proven goalscorers already in the ranks. Diego Costa bagged 20 goals last season, while Eden Hazard’s 14 – adding to his nine assists – fired him to the player of the year crown.

Hazard’s influence was apparent in the Community Shield at the weekend. The Belgian was kept quiet by Arsenal’s defence and Chelsea were noticeably duller in attack as a result. Of course, Cesc Fabregas was just as damaging as Hazard, with a league-high 18 assists last season. If those two are back on song, it’s a safe bet to side with Mourinho’s men again.

Though they had the title wrapped up comfortably, Chelsea can expect to be pushed a little harder this time around. Louis van Gaal may still be hunting his ‘surprise’ signing, but the Manchester United boss has already made a fair impact in the transfer window. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian, Memphis Depay and Sergio Romero have all been brought in to undoubtedly send some worry through the Chelsea camp.

Van Gaal wrote off last season as an opportunity to steady the ship, but he’ll certainly be expected to challenge for the title with the depth in his squad.

Across town, Manchester City were disappointing as they finished second last season. A six-match winning run to close out the campaign proved their potential, but four losses from six across March and April brought their defence to a halt.

Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph are the key additions for Manuel Pellegrini, who came under severe criticism earlier this year. None of the player exits will make a dramatic change to the line-up, with goals likely to be aplenty. A consistent season will see City at least in the mix during the final stages of the season.

Arsenal have been thereabouts over the last decade without ever seriously looking a threat. That’s why Gunners fans would be scratching their heads after director Lord Harris claimed last month that there is over 200 million pounds in the bank for Arsene Wenger to toy with.

You wouldn’t know it considering Petr Cech will be the only new name in the fold this weekend. It seemed a no-brainer that Wenger would fight for a world-class striker, but for now at least, the burden will fall to Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman largely defied his critics last season, but is still not seen as the player Arsenal need to fight for their first title since 2004.

Regardless of Wenger’s thrift, Arsenal’s pre-season has at least shown encouraging signs of improvement. Everything looks to be clicking in the front third and this could be a big season for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott. Arsenal have got the potential, and will take the next step if Wenger turns to the market.

European chasers
Liverpool appear to have recruited shrewdly, but have work to do to escape from the periphery of the top four. Given they came so close to ending the title drought just last year, Reds fans will be expecting more, but they might need another season to be ready for Champions League football.

Christian Benteke seems an expensive buy at 32 million pounds, but he’s a proven goal-scorer against the top teams and provides solid cover at least until Daniel Sturridge recovers from his latest injury setback. Playing in Europe perhaps stunted Liverpool last season, and they’ll be hoping to manage their Europa League commitments a bit better this campaign.

They’ll join Tottenham, Southampton, Everton, Stoke and Swansea as the likely challengers for Europe’s second-tier competition. It’s a quality crop that may be a step away from the top four, but looks streets ahead of the bottom half of the table on their day.

Stoke boss Mark Hughes has done some brilliant business over the last month – Marko van Ginkel brought in on loan and Barcelona duo Moha El Ouriachi and Ibrahim Afellay signed, along with Spaniard Joselu. Very little has been spent, but the Potters now have quality cover in all areas.

Everton were lacklustre in 2014-15 – having even flirted with the relegation zone – but look settled ahead of the new season, while Southampton’s impressive efforts in the wake of a dressing-room raid provides promise that they can move on from more big-name exits.

Middle of the pack
The usual suspects will loiter around the middle of the table. Crystal Palace were immense under Alan Pardew during the tail end of last season and have some worthy additions that promise to at least match the 10th place finish. Patrick Bamford, Yohan Cabaye and Connor Wickham all look brilliant assets to a team that very much over-achieved.

West Ham have looked shaky as they attempt to move into the Europa League group stage. They scraped past Maltese side Birkirkara on penalties in the second round of qualifying, and head to Romania for the second leg of their third-round match this week with the tie poised at 2-2.

If they do make it into Europe, Slaven Bilic has a difficult task ahead of him.

Add West Bromwich Albion to the mix, with Rickie Lambert hoping to recover from a low-key season at Anfield.

The new boys
Bournemouth are ready for the Premier League – they looked ready halfway through last season’s Championship. Eddie Howe has them playing some exciting football and at times they looked too good for the second tier.

As expected, they’ve made some necessary additions as they look to replicate that form in the top flight. Much of Howe’s recruitment has focused on defence, with Tyrone Mings brought in from Ipswich, veteran Sylain Distin bolstering the centre of defence, and Artur Boruc and Adam Federici battling it out for the No. 1 spot.

Winger/attacking midfielder Christian Atsu has been loaned from Chelsea, but Howe has largely relied on last season’s star players successfully making the step up.

Norwich have returned to the Premier League at the first time of asking, albeit through the play-offs. They’ve brought in players with top-flight experience – including West Brom duo Graham Dorrans and Youssuf Mulumbu, as well as Liverpool’s Andre Wisdom on loan and Robbie Brady from Hull. Manager Alex Neil likely isn’t done there; he’ll look to strengthen further before the end of the transfer window to avoid a repeat of 2013-14, when they finished three points away from safety.

Watford have also pulled out all stops to ensure this stay is longer than their one-season trip back to the Premier League in 2007-08. The introductions of Etienne Capoue, Matej Vydra and Valon Behrami will give them every chance of survival.

The strugglers
With Chelsea wrapping up the title comfortably, the Premier League relied on the relegation battle for excitement at the tail end of last season. It was incredibly open until a number of teams made a push up the table in the final few weeks.

It’s difficult to see much change in those fighting to stay up, with Aston Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle coming close to disaster.

The exits of Benteke and Delph leave Villa in a precarious situation, though they’ll be buoyed by the raft of summer signings, which includes the talented Jordan Ayew.

Newcastle’s off-field woes seemed to take a toll on the field last season, but they’ve spent a combined 36 million pounds on the signings of Chancel Mbemba, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Georginio Wijnaldum. They’ll need to make all the improvements they can to steer clear of the drop.

Leicester were the story of last season, with an impressive run to maintain their Premier League status. It won’t be easy to back that up, but with the likes of Robert Huth, Shinji Okazaki and Christian Fuchs brought in, they’ll surely give it another crack.