Welcome back to EveryManSport’s Premier League Preview, where we’ll give our take on how each Premier League team is shaping up with a week remaining until the start of the season. This is the second of five installments, which will feature Burnley, Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Everton.
BURNLEY
Dychey. Barnsey. Woody. Tarky. Mee-ey? Ok, Ben Mee doesn’t quite fit but even still, I think Burnley will be just the same this season. They’ll play granite hard Brexit football, be a good bunch of lads and work hard for every little thing. Enough of the cliches, on a serious note since their second promotion under Dyche, Burnley have been fairly consistent. They’ve been hard to beat, they’ve won some games and they’ve lost some games too. It’s hard to argue they’ll be any different this year.
It goes without saying that Burnley’s defence is solid. Nick Pope is a good young pair of gloves, and the full back areas are well covered in Matt Lowton and Charlie Taylor. The centre back area is slightly more complicated. I don’t know who the centre back pairing will be this year, although I do have faith they’ll get it right. Ben Mee and James Tarkowski have a great partnership, just as Ben Mee did with Michael Keane and even Jason Shackell before that. Each time it’s been Mee’s partner that gets the plaudits and eventually moves on. If that were to happen with James Tarkowski (who has been linked with Leicester as Harry Maguire’s replacement), I’m sure Dyche and his staff would again find an adequate right sided centre half. They’ve been linked with Gary Cahill, who I think still has a season or two at a good level, while Ben Gibson is already at the club and at Boro looked to be a good player. The Burnley defence will be just fine.
The midfield also has a lot of positives coming out of the second half of last season. Jack Cork has proved to be a really good addition since moving from Swansea, whilst Ashley Westwood had a really impressive 18-19 campaign picking up Burnley’s Player of the Season award. That pair can control the game from the centre of the park, and probably more importantly for Burnley get the ball wide in attacking areas. The reason that’s so important for Burnley is the emergence of young Dwight McNeil. He offers something different that hasn’t been seen much in Sean Dyche’s reign. I must say I think he’s slightly overrated and could do with bulking up (hopefully he’s been in the gym over the summer), but there’s no doubt he offers a significant threat. The midfield may be bulstered further with links in the papers to Leeds United’s Mateusz Klich. He’s a real Burnley player; a warrior, a fighter, a hard Brexit shithouse. But besides his shithousery Klich is also a really good player and would offer some much-needed threat in the final third.
Up front I expect Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood to score perhaps 7-12 goals each. They’re good if not great strikers. Sturdy, if not spectacular. In the nicest way possible, proper Burnley players. More surprisingly, there have been murmurs of Camarasa, who was on loan at Cardiff last season. He’s a very different player and along with McNeil may signal a slight change in style for Dyche’s men. That being said for now it’s paper talk and i’ll believe it when I see it.
I do slightly worry that this Burnley side has an expiry date. I look at the Stokes and West Broms of this world; solid, consistently mid table Premier League sides but playing let’s say, not exactly fluid football. In both cases the fans eventually got restless, demanded a ‘better’ style of play and forced their managers out, only for it to backfire and those same fans to find themselves watching highlights on Quest. I really hope that doesn’t happen with Burnley, because quite frankly I love Sean Dyche and Burnley. I love Turfmoor and the fact they play propa’ football. Also, and I’d guess more notably for Clarets fans is that I can’t see Dyche’s men ever going down under his stewardship. That rule applies not least this season – they’ll be absolutely fine.
CHELSEA
The key question here is where do you stand on Frank Lampard? If you think he did well last season, only 90 minutes away from the Premier League despite not having the best squad then you may well think he’ll succeed at Chelsea. If you’re more inclined to point out that despite Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Harry Wilson shaped handouts from his mates, they still only snuck into the playoffs, due to Bristol City and Boro’s failures more than anything Derby did, and then once they were there played just 45 good minutes in 270 minutes of Playoff football, then you may be more skeptical about this year for Chelsea. The reality is probably somewhere in between. Derby weren’t a special side last season and Lampard was often shown up in big games, his naivety to always go gung-ho being exposed in multiple heavy defeats at the hands of Leeds, West Brom and Villa among others. However, they did play a very attractive style of play, and you can’t ignore that Lampard, and the perhaps slightly overlooked Jody Morris, improved their young players immensely. Bogle, Mount and Tomori especially excelled for the Rams; a very promising sign for Chelsea. It should also be noted that Lampard improved as the season went on. He showed a level of maturity in the latter part of the season, being more inclined to have an extra sitter in a 4-2-3-1 rather than a 4-3-3 when playing sides with attacking prowess. This showed successful in wins late in the season against Bristol City and West Brom, and perhaps more notably in the Playoffs. Despite not having the best showings, they certainly had better showings than in reverse fixtures against Leeds and Villa, two sides who had ripped Derby apart in all four games during the regular season. That being said, Chelsea FC is a very different beast to Derby, and despite improving throughout the season, that by no means guarantees success.
It’s no secret that Chelsea’s squad isn’t what it used to be. Up front the striking options are wafer thin. Tammy Abraham has bags of potential. He showed last season at Aston Villa that he has everything that’s required of a Premier League striker. Pace. Power. Hold up play. Heading. And most importantly goals. And plenty of them. But that being said, he’s still a young player who’s unproven at this level. Michy Batshuayi can score goals, but I’d say he’s a mid-table striker. He’s done well in loan spells, but he’s never consistently scored goals at Stamford Bridge. Will that change if given a run of games? I’m not sure. And then there’s perhaps the only known factor in Olivier Giroud. I really like Giroud and think he’s criminally underrated by the general public. As by far the most proven and experienced at this level I’d guess he’ll be Lampard’s main man this season, but when you consider the way Lampard’s front line is so fluid with movement left to right will he be too limited to play this role? We’ll see.
The backline will be unchanged from last season, with the exception of the returning Kurt Zouma. I think it’s a decent group of players if not spectacular. “Dave” Azpilicueta remains class as a defender, as well as a leader. Toni Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma and David Luiz can all play with the ball at their feet, so should be well suited in Lampard’s system. I’d imagine Emerson will play ahead of Alonso; I think Emerson showed some good signs last season and similarly to Bogle for Derby last season, I’d expect him to kick on massively as a young full back under Lampard and Morris. In the defensive front a man who’s often overlooked is Kepa. Perhaps more noteworthy for his League Cup final antics than his performances, he had a solid season last year and I think he’ll kick on further now he’s settled into English football.
The midfield is the key area for Chelsea this season. With Derby the play all came through the midfield, be it a middle 3 and two wide men, or the 2 in a double pivot and 3 behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1. Jorginho seemingly suits Lampard to a tee and I expect to see him excel this season, dictating the play from the middle of the park. A major question will be who will play alongside him. I’d say the obvious choice under Lampard would be Mateo Kovacic, but where does that leave N’golo Kante? Could this season be similar to last in that Kante is left playing an unnatural role and thus underutilised? The more forward-thinking players are also intriguing. Lampard demands direct, pacey players who can be fluid in their movement, providing goals and assists. In the wider areas, big money signing Christian Pulisic will play, as will Callum Hudson-Odoi when back fit. As the more central-orientated player (the Mason Mount role for Derby so to speak), Ruben Loftus-Cheek would be the favourite when fit, but it could also be Ross Barkley who has impressed in pre-season, or even Mason Mount himself. And that’s not even to mention new number 10 Willian or the experienced Pedro. I think there’s plenty of talent for Lampard to play with in this midfield, but he will have to get the right balance as to play the attacking style he likes without being too defensively exposed in the Premier League.
An important note about Chelsea is that while it might be too soon for Frank Lampard, it doesn’t change the fact that it may be the best possible circumstances he could have. The combination of the fans’ undying love for Lampard and the fact they’re under a transfer embargo should afford him more time than most Chelsea managers are given. Add to that that due to the embargo a large chunk of the squad will be youngsters, the type of player where Morris and Lampard excelled most of all last season. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Reece James will all expect to see a lot of game time next season, and I expect them to develop significantly. I do think long term Lampard will be a success. The way he developed over the course of last season excites me. If he can get over troubles he’ll undoubtedly face next season and continue that trajectory over the next few seasons, with the crop of young players he has at his disposal, the future is bright at Stamford Bridge.
CRYSTAL PALACE
How much of this season rests on Wilfried Zaha? Last season he was 1st in key passes, dribbles and times fouled for the club. Perhaps more importantly he was 2nd in goals and assists. The Ivorian has attracted heavy interest from both Arsenal and Everton, but it would seem that as yet no one has come close to his sky-high valuation. With only a few days left of the season, you’d think it would be tough to replace him, so it’s impossible to stress highly enough just how important it is for the Eagles to keep hold of their talisman.
On the subject of high value players Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s name certainly needs a mention. He is an excellent young one-on-one defender, but I’d guess most Palace fans will wish him well with fifty million pounds in the bank. No doubt he needs replacing; it was a blow that target Max Aarons recently signed a new contract, but there will be other options. Even Joel Ward who remains in the squad has been a perfectly adequate bottom half Premier League right back, if not the young, athletic, attacking type that Aarons would suggest they are targeting. Whilst we’re on the defensive unit, a word for Mamadou Sakho, Patrick Van Aanholt and Vicente Guaita, all of whom I think are vastly underrated and will offer a lot this season.
The midfield also has some talent. Skipper Luka Milivojević has been a standout over the last two seasons, offering a real anchor in the centre of the park, whilst James McArthur alongside him seems to get better with age; he has a bit of everything you want in a solid box to box central midfielder. There’s also creativity there. It goes without saying Wilfried Zaha will be the main man in this regard. His pace, power, trickery and end product have seen him become potentially the best player outside the top 6. As already discussed, he is huge for this side. He’s not the only player however. Andros Townsend will continue to be Andros Townsend, offering pace and a goal or two, if not being prime Arjen Robben. In the creative areas a wildcard is Max Meyer. A big name, the former wonderkid failed to produce last season, but there seems to be much optimism in SE19 around the German going into 19/20; will he finally reach his potential this year?
The big issue for Palace comes up front. Last season goals were almost exclusively from midfield, with Milivojević (almost exclusively through penalties), Zaha and Townsend scoring over half of Palace’s goals. With Michy Batshuayi who had a very good loan spell from January returning to Chelsea, the highest scoring striker left at the club is Christian Benteke, who scored once last season. I hope for the big Belgian’s sake that the man who was so immense for Aston Villa, as well as one season at Palace, is still in there somewhere, but surely Hodgson can’t bank on him coming out this season? There’s also Jordan Ayew, who has joined permanently and Jeffrey Schlupp, who has impressed in pre-season playing as a striker, but they certainly need more.
This season for Palace is so reliant on the next 5 days. If they can keep hold of Zaha and sign a striker who will score them double digits goals there’s a chance that they could build on the foundations in place and have a really successful season, perhaps reminiscent of Hodgson’s glory days at Fulham. If they don’t, I think they’ll struggle. Quite frankly if they start the season with their attacking options limited to Townsend, Schlupp, Benteke and Ayew, I think they may even struggle to score enough goals to stay in the division. One of the biggest weeks in Crystal Palace’s history is coming up.
EVERTON
Everton are a really interesting side to me. Before 2016, you would probably be suggesting that Everton can finally break into the top 6. After the last few years the top 6 seems so set in stone that I wonder if it’s even possible? If it is, this could be the biggest chance a club will have. With the respective unknown quantities of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United this season, there may well be one spot open in the top four, let alone the top six. And why the reason for optimism at Goodison? Well I think last season they had a good manager and a good squad, but just struggled to get it going. They’ve now made some really shroud signings and with another year to settle in under Silva, they may be able to step on.
The defensive unit is pretty solid and slightly under the radar had the 5th best defensive record in the league last season. Pickford is a good keeper, despite some flaws being exposed in the last season or so. Coleman and Digne are up there for the best full back duo in the league, whilst Michael Keane had a better season last year. They’ll need to replace Kurt Zouma, be that with Yery Mina, who is still in the squad, or someone else to come in over the next five days. A question mark was the defensive midfield position, where Idrissa Gueye has been excellent for the Toffees. However, they’ve moved quickly to replace him and if the younger Jean-Philippe Gbamin can live up to his hefty billing, it will be a really good bit of business.
The rest of the midfield is also in good stead. Sigurdsson continued to be a huge threat going forward last season, scoring goals and getting assists. Andre Gomes was a good addition and getting his signature on a permanent deal could be pivotal. His impressive 84.8% passing accuracy demonstrates exactly what he brought to the side. Bernard also brought some flair and trickery in the opposition’s final third. The likes of new signing Fabian Delph and young Tom Davies are also good options in the middle of the park.
Up front is perhaps where this side have the biggest question mark. Richarlison showed signs of brilliance at the start of last season, but faded dramatically after Christmas, as he had done at Watford. They’ll need to find a way to get him to perform throughout the duration of the season. Will having big money signing Moise Kean for company push him towards this? The Azzurri front man had a really promising breakthrough season last year, scoring 6 goals in only 13 league games for Juve. I think the entire footballing world was surprised when news started coming out that Juve would let him leave the Old Lady. From the outside he has all the traits of a modern striker. He’s fast, strong and clearly has an eye for goal. Add on top of that, that at just 19 years old, he has many years to grow into the role and I would’ve thought he would be eyed as Cristiano’s successor; clearly Sarri disagreed. Evertonians will hope that Kean will be able to compliment Richarlison, be that alongside him or in support of him. They have potential to be one of the most lethal strike forces in the division, but for now it is just potential. .
This is no doubt an exciting season for Everton. As I mentioned earlier the top 6 may be the weakest it’s been for many years this season, whilst the squad and manager seemed to capture the imagination last season; six wins and three draws in the last eleven games were particularly promising. Add in Moise Kean, perhaps the biggest prospect at Goodison since a teenage Wayne Rooney emerged, and this season could be thrilling. But I stress could be. I also see a path by which for example Gbamin fails to settle, they don’t replace Kurt Zouma or Richarlison and Kean don’t fire as Silva hoped, and the team struggles to another underwhelming mid table finish. A fascinating season ahead on the blue side of Merseyside.
Make sure to stay tuned for parts 3-5 coming over the next few days.
Every Man Sport 