With the new Premier League campaign kicking off Friday, we peer into our crystal ball to predict what will happen in the top flight of English football this season.
Title winners
Daniel Rouse: Liverpool. The 2021-22 season’s conclusion would’ve left the Reds with – as my late grandma used to say – a “bee in their bonnet.” Last season’s FA Cup and League Cup successes and the recent Community Shield triumph aren’t enough to tend to their Premier League and Champions League wounds. This team is angry, and that’s the perfect way to be when carrying out Jurgen Klopp’s furious game plan.
Gianluca Nesci: Manchester City. The Community Shield defeat to chief title rivals Liverpool showed that Pep Guardiola’s side has some work to do if it hopes to enhance its dynasty with a fifth league crown in six seasons. There’s little reason to doubt that Guardiola and his staff will figure out how to best utilize Erling Haaland, ensure Kalvin Phillips plays a key role, and work Julian Alvarez into the mix. The high-profile summer exits won’t stop the City juggernaut from eking out another trophy at Liverpool’s expense.
Champions League places
Rouse: Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal. The recruitment at both north London clubs has been impressive this summer, while there’s still plenty of work to be done at Chelsea and Manchester United to address their glaring weaknesses.
Nesci: Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea. The gulf between the two title contenders and everyone else is significant, which means there are, realistically, four sides battling for two coveted Champions League places. Tottenham have given Antonio Conte the desired reinforcements this summer, while Chelsea, despite a somewhat chaotic summer, have a more established squad than Arsenal, who will fall just short of fourth place. Manchester United, meanwhile, are well off the pace.
Relegated clubs
Rouse: Bournemouth, Fulham, Wolverhampton Wanderers. There are a lot of unimpressive sides in the league this term, so we could be set for a fascinating relegation battle. Bournemouth and Fulham are fairly straightforward picks. Wolves sneak in as the third-worst team due to their awful end to the 2021-22 season and over-reliance on Raul Jimenez.
Nesci: Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Everton. The Cherries, unfortunately, seem to be a lock here. Forest have been extremely active in the summer, but such significant squad upheaval could end up having an adverse impact – just ask Fulham. Everton, inches away from relegation last term, have lost their top scorer and most dynamic player, and they’re already being forced to contend with an injury to Dominic Calvert-Lewin before the new season even begins. The disjointed Toffees are going backward right now and will need another miracle to escape relegation.
Full predicted table
We’re leaving ourselves open to ridicule here. Check back in May to see just how wrong we were.
ROUSE
POSITION
NESCI
Liverpool
1
Manchester City
Manchester City
2
Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur
3
Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal
4
Chelsea
Manchester United
5
Arsenal
Chelsea
6
Manchester United
West Ham United
7
West Ham United
Newcastle United
8
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace
9
Newcastle United
Aston Villa
10
Aston Villa
Brighton & Hove Albion
11
Leicester City
Leicester City
12
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brentford
13
Brentford
Leeds United
14
Leeds United
Nottingham Forest
15
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Everton
16
Southampton
Southampton
17
Fulham
Wolverhampton Wanderers
18
Everton
Fulham
19
Nottingham Forest
Bournemouth
20
Bournemouth
PFA Player of the Year
Rouse: Mohamed Salah. The World Cup will give the Liverpool forward time to recuperate following Egypt’s failure to reach Qatar. He’ll also be mindful of the extra work required to fill the void left by Sadio Mane’s departure to Bayern Munich. Salah would be the first player to collect the coveted PFA award on three separate occasions.
Nesci: Jack Grealish. Let’s get wild. The enormous fee Manchester City paid to acquire the Englishman obscured many pundits’ vision. Grealish, whose Expected Goals Assisted (xA) per 90 minutes ranked fourth-best in the league last season, performed much better than his raw numbers suggested. With Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus gone, he’ll play a more pivotal role for Guardiola and gets the benefit of teeing up one of the game’s most feared finishers. The 26-year-old is going to have an explosive campaign.
Golden Boot winner
Rouse: Harry Kane. Kane started the 2021-22 campaign distracted and disgruntled by his transfer request failing to force a move to Manchester City. This summer, there are no such issues at a club where morale is high. Tottenham’s supply lines to the attackers have also been upgraded in the transfer window.
Nesci: Salah. With his future no longer a possible distraction, the prolific Egyptian can focus exclusively on doing what he does best: Being one of the most dominant attacking footballers on the planet. Unlike some other contenders for the Golden Boot, he doesn’t need time to acclimate and, crucially for this category, has sole ownership of penalty-taking duties.
Best signing
Rouse: Haaland. The Community Shield defeat to Liverpool indicated it’ll take a while for the Norwegian hotshot to settle at City, but around €60 million for the player everybody wanted is excellent business. The Norwegian could be banging in goals at an alarming rate for at least the next 10 years.
Nesci: Sven Botman. As always, there are almost too many options here. Haaland and Darwin Nunez will thrive at their respective clubs, while Sterling and Jesus will love their new digs. But, for the relatively modest fee of £35 million, Newcastle United snapped up a 22-year-old capable of anchoring their backline for years to come. Considering some of the opulent spending on defenders elsewhere in Europe, acquiring the coveted Dutchman – and beating stiff competition in the process – was a masterful move.
Worst signing
Rouse: Andreas Pereira. Manchester United fans mockingly dubbed the midfielder the “preseason Pirlo” for his tendency to flourish in friendlies and provide little else afterward. Given the mild impression he left at United over 11 years, continued question marks over his best position, and a costly error in the 2021 Copa Libertadores final, it’s surprising that Fulham decided he was worth a £10-million punt.
Nesci: Diego Carlos. Expectations are rising in Birmingham heading into the new campaign, and there’s certainly reason for optimism at Villa Park. But amid some other exciting signings – hello, Boubacar Kamara – there’s reason to be skeptical of the £26-million addition of Carlos. The 29-year-old Brazilian center-back has a tendency to be too rash, resulting in some glaring errors. Those mistakes will be exposed and magnified in England.
Breakout star
Rouse: Moises Caicedo. The midfielder already showed a glimpse of how good he is during the second half of Brighton’s 2021-22 campaign, and he’s now ready to kick on as the engine in Graham Potter’s side. Caicedo’s anticipation and physicality make him excellent at breaking up play, and he’s a decisive player when he has the ball at his feet. He’s an exceptional talent.
Nesci: Brenden Aaronson. Jesse Marsch is putting a lot of faith in his compatriot, asking the 21-year-old American to fill the creative void left by Raphinha’s departure. The clever attacking midfielder, signed by Leeds United for just over £22 million, is more than capable, though. He’s an intelligent player with a great feel for finding space on the pitch and has excellent technique that allows him to make something happen when he infiltrates those dangerous areas. Aaronson’s stock will only continue to rise.
Biggest surprise
Rouse: Wing-back trend returns. It hasn’t been that long since Conte’s back-three foundation at Chelsea during the 2016-17 campaign sparked a wave of copycat formations across English football, and it could happen again. Conte’s use of Ivan Perisic, Djed Spence, and others in Tottenham’s wing-back positions will turn heads, while the likes of Marc Cucurella and Reece James were excellent last season.
Nesci: Anthony Martial shines. The uncertainty around Cristiano Ronaldo is clearly a factor here, but the French forward has seemingly won over Erik ten Hag during preseason after previously being considered a shoo-in to be sold. At his very best, the 26-year-old is a dynamic presence up front, and he has a manager in Ten Hag who will put him in a position to succeed. That hasn’t always been the case during his disappointing spell in Manchester. Reinvigorated and realizing this is realistically his final chance to dazzle at Old Trafford, Martial will be reborn in 2022-23.
Most excited about …
Rouse: Arsenal’s attacking. The players brought aboard – namely Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Fabio Vieira – offer more tactical versatility to Mikel Arteta’s side and promise to help forge one of the Premier League’s most unpredictable and watchable attacks. Martin Odegaard will relish creating chances behind the Gunners’ fluid frontline.
Nesci: The impending Manchester City-Liverpool tussle. This is the most absorbing duel in club football at the moment. Arguably the two best teams in the world – at the very least, two of the top three or four – going back-and-forth, trying to keep pace with one another as the preeminent tacticians in the game conjure up new and exciting ways to evolve. And that’s saying nothing of their direct meetings, which are, simply, must-see viewing. One point decided last season’s title race. What will these juggernauts do for an encore?
Breaking down thrilling EPL title race with 10 games left
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One of the most intoxicating title races in Premier League history is, mercifully, ready to resume.
The quirks of the calendar – an FA Cup weekend succeeded by an agonizing international window – means the titanic tussle between Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City will have been on hiatus for a full three weeks before it gets back underway on Sunday.
But there are no more impending interruptions. With 10 matches remaining for each title contender, we’re barreling toward a resolution to the type of three-way battle that’s exceedingly rare in England’s top flight. There’s never been a season in the Premier League era where three teams went into the final day with a chance to hoist the trophy. This could be it. The last time it happened was the 1971-72 campaign, when Derby County won an incredible four-team fight, narrowly beating Leeds United and, ominously, Liverpool and Man City to the crown. We’re overdue for that kind of drama.
That three sides have converged this way at all is, frankly, remarkable.
These are the three best teams in the country by an enormous margin. They’re the only ones with an expected goal difference per game of plus-1.0 or greater this season. The next best mark, surprisingly, belongs to Mauricio Pochettino’s erratic Chelsea team at plus-0.36. So, yeah, it’s not close.
The three of them are also on a tear and show no signs of slowing down. Arsenal have won all eight of their league games in 2024, scoring 33 goals in the process; Liverpool have collected 22 of a possible 27 points in that time; reigning champions Manchester City have racked up 23 of 27 points. They’ve combined for just one loss since the calendar flipped – Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat against Arsenal in early February.
The only sides that look capable of halting their progress are each other, which makes this weekend’s clash between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Etihad all the more significant.
Euro 2024 playoffs: Miraculous Ukraine comeback, big result for Wales
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Wales, Greece, and Poland registered statement wins Thursday, joining three other teams in next Tuesday’s playoff finals for the three remaining places at Euro 2024.
Ukraine staged an incredible late comeback against Bosnia and Herzegovina in its semifinal to keep its Euro dream alive.
The highest-placed team in FIFA’s rankings that’s no longer in contention to reach the tournament in Germany is 60th-placed Finland.
Here’s how the playoff semifinals across Path A, B, and C played out.
Path A
Mateusz Slodkowski / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Poland 5-1 Estonia
Estonia barely stood a chance. Down to 10 men as early as the 27th minute, the northern Europeans could only muster a consolation goal in a 5-1 loss to Poland. The Polish achieved the rout without Robert Lewandowski getting on the scoresheet and remain unbeaten in 21 Euro qualifiers at home, a magnificent run dating back to September 2006. Poland is trying to make up for a poor qualifying campaign in which it finished third in Group E, four points behind the Czech Republic and Albania. The country hasn’t missed the Euros since 2004.
Wales 4-1 Finland
The Red Wall might descend on Germany this summer. Wales’ raucous supporters have legitimate hopes of traveling to another major tournament after the Dragons scorched Finland without the retired Gareth Bale and with Aaron Ramsey, 33, on the bench after more injury problems. Teemu Pukki gave the visiting team some hope just before halftime following well-taken finishes from David Brooks and Neco Williams. But Wales needed just 73 seconds of the second period to restore its two-goal cushion via Brennan Johnson’s tap-in. Daniel James took advantage of a defensive error before rounding the goalkeeper in the 86th minute to give the host a resounding victory.
Playoff final: Wales vs. Poland, Tuesday 3:45 p.m. ET
Path B
David Balogh – UEFA / UEFA / Getty
Israel 1-4 Iceland
Iceland’s Albert Gudmundsson stole the show with an emphatic hat-trick against Israel on Thursday. His stunning free-kick into the top right corner canceled out Eran Zahavi’s opening goal for Israel, and he created a nice cushion for his country with a pair of markers in the final 10 minutes. Just before that, Zahavi blew an incredible opportunity to equalize the match at 2-2, missing a penalty awarded for handball against Iceland’s Gudmundur Thorarinsson. A red card to Israel’s Haim Revivo didn’t help the trailing side. Iceland is now a game away from making only its second-ever appearance at the Euros following its quarterfinal run in 2016.
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-2 Ukraine
Ukraine scored twice with just minutes remaining in regulation to snatch what seemed to be a sure victory from Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday. Bosnia controlled play for most of the match and took the lead in the 56th minute when Mykola Matviyenko turned in Amar Dedic’s shot into his own net. But a colossal defensive lapse cost the Bosnians a chance to make it a record four countries from the former Yugoslavia at Euro 2024. Roman Yaremchuk came off the bench to equalize in the 85th minute and teed up Artem Dovbyk’s sensational winning header three minutes later to turn the playoff semifinal on its head. Ukraine now faces Iceland with a third consecutive Euro appearance at stake.
Playoff final: Ukraine vs. Iceland, Tuesday 3:45 p.m. ET
Path C
GIORGI ARJEVANIDZE / AFP / Getty
Georgia 2-0 Luxembourg
Two clever finishes from Budu Zivzivadze in Tbilisi assured Georgia of a place in Path C’s final – and all without the help of suspended talisman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. But it wasn’t that simple for the host. Luxembourg thought it equalized during the second half, only for the goal to be eventually snatched away due to Maxime Chanot’s apparent foul 45 seconds earlier. Luxembourg’s Chanot was controversially sent off for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity, and Zivzivadze effectively ended the match six minutes later with his second strike. Kvaratskhelia is available for the final.
Greece 5-0 Kazakhstan
Anastasios Bakasetas lashed home a penalty, Dimitrios Pelkas headed into the net’s roof, Fotis Ioannidis tapped in from close range, and Dimitrios Kourbelis added another header. And that was all before halftime. Kazakhstan’s impressive 2022-23 Nations League campaign and notable Euro 2024 qualifying wins over Denmark, Northern Ireland (twice), and Finland suddenly seemed ages ago, as Greece recorded its biggest halftime lead since October 1978 (5-0 against Finland). Aleksandr Marochkin’s embarrassing own goal in the 85th minute made Kazakhstan’s day even worse.
Playoff final: Georgia vs. Greece, Tuesday 1:00 p.m. ET
Look: Nike unveils beautiful kit selection for Euro 2024, Copa America
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Nike released a stunning batch of threads ahead of Euro 2024 and Copa America on Monday.
Days after Adidas launched its lineup for the summer’s top two tournaments, Nike followed suit with an array of colorful designs.
The U.S. manufacturer also announced redesigns for Canada and Poland, even though they’ve yet to qualify for their respective tournaments. The Canucks face Trinidad and Tobago in a one-off Copa America qualifier on Saturday, while Poland must navigate a four-team playoff to reach Euro 2024.
(All images courtesy of Nike)
Euro 2024
Croatia
Home
The square-shaped design that gives Croatia its unique look gets a slight upgrade. The home shirt features larger squares than ever before.
Away
Croatia’s away shirt plays on the national flag, with the traditional checkered pattern now on a slant.
England
Home
Influenced by England’s 1966 training gear, the home shirt has a classic feel with a rich blue collar and gorgeous trim along the cuffs.
Away
England embraces a deep purple hue for its away selection. The crest stands out with a contrasting off-white tint that makes the three lions pop.
France
Home
France’s home shirt may have the biggest crest of all of Nike’s offerings. The oversized rooster defines this shirt as much as the royal blue that’s made France’s kits a crowd-pleaser.
Away
The pinstripes mirror the colors of France’s national flag and span the width of the shirt in a simple, yet elegant design.
Netherlands
Home
Nike could’ve offered anything orange here, and it would’ve been perfect. But the Netherlands has something bolder and better to wear. The zig-zag pattern adds edge.
Away
The orange collar and cuffs pop alongside the three shades of blue Nike has chosen to create the abstract design on this work of art.
Poland
Home
Poland dedicates premium real estate on the country’s home shirt to its imposing crest.
Away
Poland’s away shirt is a daring choice. The graphic treatment adds texture, giving it a rugged feel while separating from the red tones of years past.
Portugal
Home
With possibly the best home shirt in Nike’s collection, Portugal leans heavily into its traditional red-and-green motif with a polo collar and thick cuffs. The logo sits prominently as well. A smash hit.
Away
Here’s another winner. Portugal’s away strip has a stunning textile imprint that gives off a cool summer vibe.
Turkey
Home
This is a menacing look. Turkey will look like a whirring red army with these imposing shirts.
Away
The classic red band returns to Turkey’s away uniform. Like the others, it features an oversized crest in the middle of the shirt.
Copa America
Brazil
Home
Nike goes big with Brazil’s crest and adds an intricate design to the same yellow hue the Selecao have used for decades.
Away
Brazil’s secondary strip feels like the beach. A horizontal wavy pattern covering the entire shirt mimics the country’s picturesque coastline.
Canada
Home
The only blemish in Nike’s lineup. Why is there a circle around the swoosh? And why are the shoulders so much darker than the body? None of it makes sense.
Away
The 13 pinstripes are supposed to represent the 10 provinces and three territories that make up Canada. Unfortunately, the rest of the shirt looks incomplete.
United States
Home
The United States men’s national team gets a classic home shirt with patriotic detailing along the color and sleeves.
Away
The gradient works perfectly with the red shorts the U.S. will wear at the Copa America.