The 2024/25 Premier League season is finally upon us. We know the squads. We know the fixtures. We know the favourites, we all have who we believe are the relegation contenders, and we’re well aware of the dark horses capable of having a surprising campaign. Yet there are still a number of things you might not know or simply haven’t thought about.
By Sam McGuire
In the first of what is going to be a weekly feature, here are four things to look out for in gameweek one of the new season.
Old Trafford expects
Old Trafford used to be a fortress.
Away teams were lucky to get a throw-in go their way under Sir Alex Ferguson. Last season, though, it was the Theatre of Dreams for travelling fans.
Manchester United dropped points in nine of their 19 home games in the Premier League. They lost on six occasions and picked up just 33 points in front of their home fans. The Red Devils scored just 31 goals and conceded 28. For context, Everton who finished in 15th last season, had a better goal difference (+4). Erik Ten Hag and his team struggled for goals, performances, and points.
The Dutchman has been backed in the transfer market this summer and INEOS will expect a return on that investment. United have signed Leny Yoro, Joshua Zirkee, Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui. Yoro is ruled out while it is unlikely the latter two will feature on Friday night having only signed this week, but many are still expecting a performance from the hosts in their season opener against Fulham.
This could set the tone for the rest of the season. A poor start could see links to former England manager Gareth Southgate return.
A game of firsts
Ipswich Town, back in the Premier League for the first time in 22 years, welcome Liverpool to Portman Road on Saturday afternoon. Both managers will be taking charge of their first game in the English top-flight.
Kieran McKenna turned down jobs elsewhere to remain with the Tractor Boys this summer. He’ll be hoping to be able to put his stamp on things in the Premier League, just as he did in League One and the Championship. Ipswich finished as the top scorers in the English second tier and finished with an impressive number of clean sheets (15).
As far as opening-day scalps go, getting one over on Liverpool would be difficult to top.
The Reds have been in fine form during pre-season and Arne Slot appears to have managed to change things at Anfield in a short space of time. However, pre-season performances count for very little and if Liverpool don’t get off to a good start here, the noise surrounding the fact they’re the only team in the Premier League not to make a signing will be deafening.
Liverpool had the highest xG in the English top-flight last term but Slot’s style doesn’t necessarily seem well suited to the chaotic Darwin Núñez. It will be fascinating to see how that works out.
The Transfer Window winners face off
West Ham host Aston Villa in what is one of the more intriguing opening day match-ups.
Both teams have had a successful transfer window and both have a strong case to be viewed as the early winners of the off-season.
But with transfers comes intrigue. With transfers comes selection headaches and juggling acts for managers. And this will be the case here with the Villans and the Hammers.
Villa added Amadou Onana, Rossa Barkley, Ian Maatsen, Jaden Philogene, Samuel Iling-Junior, Enzo Barrenechea and Cameron Archer to their ranks but did lose Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby. Still, the signing of Onana has the potential to be one of the best of the summer. Whether Unai Emery can bed all of these players in to replicate what Villa achieved last season, a top-four finish, is the big question.
West Ham have backed new manager Julen Lopetegui. Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo, Crysenscio Summerville, Guido Rodríguez, Niclas Füllkrug, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luis Guilherme have all been brought in. On paper, this has been an unbelievable summer for the Hammers. If it gels, they could be a dark horse. A statement showing against Villa could go a long way.
Another Day One at Chelsea
For the second successive season, Chelsea kick off their campaign at home with a new manager in the dugout. Last time out, they earned an encouraging point against Liverpool in Mauricio Pochettino’s first game in charge of the Blues. This time around they welcome Pep Guardiola and Manchester City for Enzo Marcesca’s debut game as Blues boss.
Interestingly, Maresca used to be Guardiola’s assistant. He was lauded for his exploits with Leicester City last season and many are expecting more of the same now he’s at Chelsea. The Blues took two points off of the champions last term and they could well fancy their chances of springing an opening day surprise, despite their inconsistent pre-season showings.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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