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Have you recently decided to start following the Premier League or are you a seasoned fan? Let’s make sense of the latest signings and results.
The fifth round of Premier League fixtures was concluded on Sunday evening with Tottenham Hotspur just edging out a resilient Sunderland side courtesy of a Harry Kane goal reaffirming a promising start to the 2016/2017 Premier League season. Let’s take a look at this seasons title challengers.
What a start it has been for Manchester City, with four wins from four games life under new boss Pep Guardiola looks promising going forward into the new season. The great start to the 2016/2017 season was helped with some new arrivals to bolster an already talented group of City players. A few of City’s new players include John Stones (£47.5m), Claudio Bravo (£14m) and Ikey Gündogn (£20m).
Chelsea have also put in some encouraging performances by managing to get results right at the death in three of their opening four matches. The signings of N’golo Kante (£30m) and David Luiz (£32m) have looked to reinforce an unconvincing defence which led to Chelsea’s worst finish in the Premier League for 20 seasons. However, Chelsea fans can be optimistic with new boss Antonio Conte taking the reigns with the hope that he can bring Eden Hazard back to the blistering form he has previously shown in the Premier League.
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte celebrates his first win as their new manager.
Manchester United have had a mixed bag of results so far, with the derby day defeat still a fresh wound their luck did not improve as they were beaten 3 – 1 away at Watford. The old Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has a lot to ponder if he wants to avoid replicating the nightmare he had last season which saw him depart the club in early December. The Jurgen Klopp philosophy seems to be working as Liverpool have dispatched both Arsenal and Chelsea in their opening five games with the reds playing some impressive attacking football, they will need to have the defending to match if they are to turn this season into a memorable one.
Arsenal sit in the familiar spot of fourth with their most recent victory coming away at Hull City. A fan base of divided opinions with regard to their manager Arsene Wenger, where many believe it is time for a change. This season could be his last chance at Premier League glory. The dark horses of this seasons Premier League are Everton, they look a brand new side under Ronald Koeman who joined at the end of last season from Southampton. I definitely think that they are ones to watch this season.
Lukaku celebrates his hat-trick against Sunderland.
My prediction for the top four:
1. Manchester City
2. Liverpool
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
The 2015/2016 champions Leicester City find themselves with only two wins from five while last seasons high flyers West Ham have found life without their talisman Dimitri Payet tough going having already suffered four defeats. New boys Hull City and Middlesbrough have got off to an ideal start with 7 and 5 points respectively while Burnley got their first win of the campaign over Liverpool in matchweek 2. The foot of the table sees West Ham United, Sunderland and Stoke occupying the bottom three positions although this is likely to change over the course of the remaining 33 games.
My prediction for the bottom three:
18. Hull
19. Burnley
20. Sunderland
With a new season comes new signings and the end of the summer transfer window saw the £1b mark in total spending surpassed for the first time. Most notably was Manchester United breaking the world record transfer fee spending a cool £89.9m for Paul Pogba, it still remains to be seen whether he is worth all that money. Other selected purchases included Sadio Mane to Liverpool from Southampton for £30m, Vincent Janssen to Tottenham from AZ Alkmaar for £17m and Michy Batshuayi to Chelsea from Marseille for £33m.
Sadio Mane signs for Liverpool.
The 2016/2017 Premier League season promises to live up to its hype as the most competitive league in the world with the best managers combining with the best footballers to do battle for the coveted top spot. So make sure you’re ready to support your favourite club and players as this promises to be one of the biggest seasons in Premier League history.
After all the new signings made and latest kits released it’s now more important than ever to keep up to date with your favourite club. With over 650 items of the latest football apparel you are bound to find something from your favourite club’s selection. Explore our range of items related to Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and West Ham United and many more.