After Leicester City shocked everyone and took the trophy last year, it’s hard to imagine what the next season will bring as Leicester, against all odds, really changed the expectations usually tied to the previous several seasons and most fans are eager for the wait to be over so they can watch some great football once again.
Waiting for the next season is not only about not watching the game either. Who can wait for the betting to start again, right? For the time being, all we’re left with is playing pokies and poker, though, of course, nothing can really replace football, even betting-wise. If you’re into that sort of thing though, you can check out this free bonus website to get some free credits and kill some time hitting the spin button while you wait for the next season to start.
And what a season it will be. Even though we can’t expect many surprises from Leicester again, considering that they had plenty of luck last season and that they’ll play other leagues in between, the 2016/2017 Premier League will definitely relit some old flames.
With Leicester City’s odds looking slim for the title next year, the Premier League will once again see the clash of the top teams with Manchester City being one of the strongest contenders after this year’s changes.
The first team we are definitely going to be watching is Arsenal, who didn’t make any serous changes this year, apart from Xhaka, which leaves them pretty much in the same spot as one of the top contenders. However, if they were to win the title for the first time in years they would need to firstly change their mentality, but also find a good scorer and improve their defense with a better centre-back play. One thing is for sure, changes are definitely in the making, we’ll just see how serious they are in spending quality money for good players.
Another top contender for the title would be Manchester United, especially after bringing back Mourinho following their last year disappointing performance and the lowest point in their three-year downward spiral. Bringing Mourinho back was definitely a smart move, though some believe that the team he currently has at his disposal will hardly leave with the cup in their hands next year, unless some serious picks are brought in.
If they are to win the title again, Manchester United need to be wipe the previous three years completely out of their mind and continue with a new motivation and perspective, strongly supported by fresh blood in the team. Mourinho already began his talent quest s talent for the following season and scored three out of his top four picks, Bailly, Mkhitaryan and Ibrahimovic, who might prove to be real game changers for the team.
Ibrahimovic, being a top scorer with proven record will hopefully fulfill the striker gap Manchester have been missing and along with Bailly as a strong centre-back that’s solid at one-on-one encounters and Mkhitaryan in the Midfield, the Red Devils seem to have good chances of taking back their glory. And if the final piece of Mourinho’s puzzle falls into place – Pogba, United will be able to improve their biggest faults during the previous seasons and become, once again, a serious threat to opposes.
Hopes are high for the Manchester Citizens as well, as Guardiola took over from Pellegrini and set to upgrade and improve the team. Guardiola’s largely increased the betting odds for Manchester City, which should be no surprise at all. After all, he’s one of the best, if not the best, football managers and exceptionally gifted in taking players to their full potential.
Manchester City have always had a good foundation, but lacked in one of the key aspects of any great team – the defense. They already have strong forwards, with Silva backed up by Aguero and iheanacho, but what they always needed is a tighter ring around their goalpost.
Well, that is about to change now that Guardiola stepped in and immediately set on filling the gaps. He went after Stones and Laporte first and might still get them, but for the time being he has already reconstructed part of City’s team by getting Zinchenko, Mooy, and Gundogan to secure the midfield. And, if he achieves in getting Stones, Laporte and his latest target ter Stegen, it will significantly improve City’s weakest points and might just lead them to the title.
Another possible contender, especially after holding their ground for so long during last season, are the Tottenham Hotspurs, despite the fact that most agree they had their best chances last year when so many of the big teams were not even close to their full force. But with Pochettino’s knowledge of the team and his steady success in improving the Spurs, we might just see Tottenham coming into the semi-finals once again, especially after securing Wanyama and Jansen and looking for another midfielder. They already have a strong defense and a great coach, and if they just bring in new talent and improve their game even further this year, they might be on to the title itself.
Liverpool is looking good as well, since they signed Klopp to take over the team. Their weakest point during last season was the defense, which proved quite bad when compared to the other contenders. Klopp took on fixing the flaw and went to secure Mainz, Karius, and Matip and bring new energy to the midfield and goalpost. We are yet to see how the final team looks, but given Liverpool’s already solid foundation and Klopp’s reputation, they are definitely going to be among the top four.
And finally, things are looking slightly better for Chelsea as well, as their chances of coming back to the semi-finals were largely improved after Conte was signed on as manager, amidst the explosion of signing big coaching names in the League. Conte’s knack for fierce discipline might turn out to be just what Chelsea needed, and following one of their highest lows last year he is bound to be eliminating any bad blood in his team and doing an overhaul to get their name back to the League. What changes he decides to make we are still to see, but their chances of being a top contender are definitely better, even though the title is still far off.
