With a new campaign set to kick off in the Premier League, it’s a good time to assess the top contenders for the upcoming season’s title. When doing this, it’s important to examine how this summer’s transfers will influence English football. After all, a lot of money has been spent across the league in hopes to improve each club’s roster.
Manchester City Lost Key Personnel
A look at the top football betting sites UK has Manchester City as the overwhelming favourite to win big again. This won’t surprise anyone – City became only the second English team in history to win a treble consisting of the Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.
However, at the time of writing, beyond Mateo Kovacic, City have made no significant additions to their squad in the off-season. Rather, they’ve said goodbye to Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez, two players who had big roles in their success in 2022/23.
While the arrival of defender Joško Gvardiol has been agreed upon with RB Leipzig, the Croatian won’t replace the creativity that City lost when the two aforementioned midfield dynamos walked out the door.
Having said that, City remain the league’s strongest team despite those departures. Erling Haaland took to English football like a duck to water, and there’s reason to believe he could better his 52-goal haul in this campaign.
Arsenal Spends Big to Strengthen Challenge
Given the whimpering fashion in which the Gunners finished the season, it’s easy to forget that Arsenal dominated English football for much of last season. Few people backed Arsenal to run City so close, and their securement of Champions League qualification marked last season as a success.
Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta, clearly has no intention of last campaign’s title challenge being a blip, and the Arsenal board have backed their manager in the transfer market during the summer, funding spectacular transfers for Kai Havertz and Declan Rice, the latter breaking the British record. The club has already spent £200m this summer.
Far from being deflated by last season’s near-miss, football experts expect Arsenal’s young squad to feel emboldened by what they achieved last season. That experience will prove invaluable, and the big-game opportunities that European football presents will only enhance their pedigree to take on super-squads like that of City.
Much will depend on how their new signings settle in, but given that both big-money arrivals have Premier League experience, it would be a surprise if it took long. Rice, in particular, should relish the bigger stage to showcase his ability. Whatever happens, it will be fascinating to see how this Arsenal team continues to develop.
