Premier League clubs have spent an estimated £1 billion ($1.2 billion) in an arms race for new talent ahead of the start of the 2022/23 season on Friday, but there remains a team to beat champions Manchester City.
After winning four league titles in five years, Pep Guardiola’s squad have been boosted by the arrival of the summer’s biggest name, Erling Holland.
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The Norwegian had his pick of Europe’s top clubs after scoring 85 goals in 88 games for Borussia Dortmund, following in the footsteps of his father Alf Inge – the former City captain – to the blues of Manchester.
Haaland may have had his first chance to forget as he missed a glorious chance towards the end of City’s 3-1 Community Shield defeat to Liverpool on Saturday, but Guardiola has his side’s pretenders to the throne. “The targets will come,” he warned.
“There is no reason not to be confident,” added Guardiola. “What these guys have done, not just in the Premier League, but in the cup, the steps we’ve taken in Europe and a lot of things.”
In a window of significant change at the Etihad, Argentina forward Julian Alvarez and England international midfielder Calvin Phillips have also arrived.
But Guardiola has left plenty of experience with Premier League rivals, with Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko heading to Arsenal and Raheem Sterling joining Chelsea.
Liverpool is the perfect place to bounce back from any slippage in city standards.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were denied a historic treble by the best margin last season as they went one point clear of the title and were beaten 1-0 by Real Madrid in the Champions League final after winning the league and FA Cup. were lost to
The Reds have also revamped their front line with Darwin Nunez a strong presence to compensate for the loss of Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich.
Nunez made an immediate impact in the Community Shield, winning a penalty and scoring to turn the game in Liverpool’s favor late on.
Tottenham title challenge?
City and Liverpool have dominated English football for the past five years, but if there is to be a challenge from the chasing pack, it could come from Tottenham.
Ahead of Antonio Conte’s first full season in charge, the Italian has been bolstered by a typically thrifty Spurs board with the signings of Richarlison, Yves Bussouma, Ivan Perisic, David Spence, Clement Lenglet and Fraser Forster.
Importantly, Tottenham have also retained their star pairing of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min as they aim for their first league title in 62 years.
Arsenal have blistered pre-season form with Jesus beating Chelsea and Sevilla.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel described his side as “not competitive” after their 4-0 loss to the Gunners in Orlando and the Blues are a team in transition after Todd Bohly took over.
New Manchester United manager Erik ten Hague also has plenty of work to do, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s uncertain future hanging over the start of a new era for the Red Devils.
New Boys Forest beat Newcastle.
Amid big spending by English clubs, Newcastle have been surprisingly quiet in their first summer window since being taken over by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
The Magpies have dropped just £60million on a permanent deal for Dutch defender Sven Boatman, England goalkeeper Nick Pope and left-back Matt Targett.
New boys Nottingham Forest have raised more than £70m on 12 new signings in the two-time European champions’ first season in the top flight for 23 years.
That amount does not include the £200,000-a-week one-year contract for Jess Lingard after joining on a free transfer from Manchester United.
Aston Villa’s transfer business is a prime example of the widening financial gap between the Premier League and the rest of Europe.
French international midfielder Boubacar Camara and Brazilian centre-back Diego Carlos have turned their backs on Champions League football with Marseille and Sevilla respectively to join Steven Gerrard’s side, who finished 14th in the English top flight last season. were
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