Welcome to the first ‘what the fans are saying’ article of the season, where I assess the latest thinking of Premier League clubs’ supporters about their team’s chances of success in their next fixture. With lots to mull over during pre-season Gameweek 1’s article is divided into two parts as the fans look at both the next game and the season ahead. Part 2 can be found here.
Arsenal
It’s hard to get anything from the Arsenal forums; it’s the same team, the same formation, the same players and the same transfer news. Do they think they will win the title? Probably not. They would like a striker and if they don’t get one then Olivier Giroud will get 15 goals in the league. They are pleased with new signing Granit Xhaka and that Santi Cazorla is back, although the Spaniard will probably not be available for the first game as he builds up his match fitness. Not much to see here. Arsenal are also very bad on opening days historically.
Outlook: Top 4, Wenger Out
Best Player: Alexis Sanchez
Bournemouth
The defence is the worry for Bournemouth fans. They predict their final position to be anywhere from 10th to 18th. Most are going for around 15th. They are happy with some their signings. They are glad to get Nathan Ake on loan and have added some good attacking options. But it’s the defence that will make them struggle and some are worried. They don’t like playing pressing teams, so remember that when they play the likes of Liverpool and Man City. They think Zlatan Ibrahimovic could have a field day against centreback Steve Cook. They predict a loss mainly by 3-1 o Man Utd.
Outlook: Bad defence, may flirt with relegation
Burnley
The Burnley faithful are content and think they will stay up this season. They say their team isn’t any better than the last time they were in the Premier League, but perhaps the rival teams are worse. It will be two banks of four all season long with Andre Gray getting most of the goals using his pace. The midfield is still lacking creativity but they’ve come to expect that. They’d have liked to replace Joey Barton with someone creative. They still hope for a signing before the end of the transfer window. The midfielders mentioned aren’t what we would class as good but are creative in comparison to what they have. Danny Ings did well for Burnley and they consider Gray to do similarly well, though they laugh at the idea that Gray could play for England. Burnley can keep cleansheets, especially at home so be warned; a trip to Burnley isn’t as easy as it looks for most teams. The home game against Swansea could go either way.
Best Players: Tom Heaton. Ben Mee is their best defender, and Andre Gray is their third best player.
Outlook: Content and quietly confident of staying up
Chelsea
They think they’ll start off with a 4-1-4-1 formation to start things off with N’Golo Kante shielding the defence. They have big reservations about their defence. They need to strengthen it. Chelsea fans are quite pessimistic about their chances of getting into the top four. Most predict a top six finish. They also fear that new manager Antonio Conte may not be able to use his favoured system that is 4-2-4 because of their slow defence. Kante has struggled covering the whole midfield and so Conte may have to use a more defensive minded formation. This is why they are praying to buy Kalidou Koulibaly. Whichever system Conte chooses it will be direct with wide wingers, but this actually gives Eden Hazard a lot of space stuck on the left touchline and he is still their best player. They predict a victory against West Ham perhaps 3-1.
Outlook: Pessimistic about a top four finish and concerned they may ship goals early on.
Best Player: Eden Hazard
Crystal Palace
Palace fans are keeping a close eye on transfer developments with a striker and left back top of their shopping list. With James Tomkins recruited they feel that long term Damien Delaney will be on the bench. They think it will be more of the same this season, with not enough quality in the final third. At home they struggled last season and that looks set to continue, particular when boring sides visit. Nevertheless they think they have enough to defeat West Brom, perhaps by as much as 3-0. Connor Wickham is the man tipped to score, although they note that their strikers rarely do well against the Baggies, indicating that their midfielders could be the ones to prosper in Gameweek 1.
Outlook: A bit unhappy
Everton
It looks like Ronald Koeman will be playing the same 4-2-3-1 formation he used at Southampton. The Everton fans like this and it differs from the same formation that Roberto Martinez had because the wingers are wide. In contrast Martinez would build play up slowly, which bored them to death.
Unfortunately the defence doesn’t look sound, their weakness is allowing too many crosses. Koeman’s Southampton kept many cleansheets because they stopped this altogether. Also, Koeman can set up to keep clean sheets, which is his Feyenoord three at the back formation that he often deploys against big teams. Long term they feel that Ashley Williams, who has been ruled out of the Spurs clash, is the leader on the pitch that Everton has been missing.
Attacking wise Everton have looked extremely fluid in pre-season. The midfielders are running at defenders and they interchange as well. Kevin Miralles should keep his left wing spot; Gerard Deulofeu and Aaron Lennon will compete for the right wing.
Overall though the Everton fans aren’t particularly impressed. They’d like Juan Mata or a similar player to join and offer some class in midfielder. A rich, new owner gave them a lot of hope but they haven’t seen any stellar signings yet, although Williams is seen as a good buy.
Outlook: Eager, wait and see, not overly impressed.
Hull
Tiger’s fans are sure they will go down as everything is going wrong. It’s real doom and gloom on their forums. The only positive is that someone did say they have a decent core of Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore in midfield and that they don’t need that much to be competitive. Things have to get sorted out quickly though. They don’t talk much about their team as a whole so I know very little about the players. I think they may rest goal scoring on the shoulders of Abel Hernandez and wouldn’t mind a striker that can help him. Arouna Kone has been linked and he could be able to hold up play for Hernandez.
The only hope they have is for a new owner to come in. The club is stalling due to the incumbent owners. On average they assume they’ll concede about three to Leicester and lose.
Outlook: Relegation threatened, should stumble out of the blocks and be dead last
Best Player: Abel Hernandez
Leicester
Leicester fans are talking of all the ‘new’ Leicester fans they keep seeing and that the media still write them off. Leicester are 33/1 to win the league that they won last year and are very happy with their first fixture is against Hull – it can’t get any easier. They assume to win about 3-1, conceding an easy goal. They think Jamie Vardy will have a party. Leicester still have a good team and probably a good squad.
Outlook: Enjoy the season, will still be trying.
Best Player: Jamie Vardy
Liverpool
Liverpool fans are hoping for a top four finish and hopefully a domestic cup. They don’t expect to win the title but with no Europe they should have a decent run at the title and see what happens. They hope Roberto Firmino can up his game and if that happens they will have that chance of the title. He may come off for Divock Origi near the end of games though.
Liverpool fans are very impressed by Sadio Mane. They think he can score over ten goals this season easily. He’s direct, quick, fearless and will be a fan favourite.
Liverpool play Arsenal on the opening day and they think they can win. They don’t like playing teams who sit back so their pressing game should work against the Gunners who are decimated by injuries. Alexis Sanchez worries them though and they say their central defenders aren’t very quick. They say Philippe Coutinho, Firmino and Mane are nailed on and it will be a high scoring game against Arsenal.
Outlook: Very excited. Hopefully Top four.
Man City
A lot of the Man City fans haven’t put Kevin DeBruyne in their team to start against Sunderland. They don’t think he’ll be ready, but they have all chosen David Silva to start. Nicolas Otamendi and Gael Clichy are in all guessed teams as well.
But what do they think of the Pep revolution? They think he plays a 4-1-4-1 formation, pressing where the players come back for the ball rather than just occupy space, but it’s not really a formation. They have also played 3-4-3, which again is heavily pressing. Guardiola’s formations are just too complex to explain but they think Man City don’t have the personnel for three at the back, although John Stones may be the missing piece of the jigsaw the former Bayern Munich manager needs. If they play any team that doesn’t like pressing they expect Man City to win big. Pep also tries to buy young players because they listen to him more. That’s could be the nail in the coffin for Yaya Toure then.
Sergio Aguero is predicted to get close to the scoring record for the Premiership if he stays injury free. Nolito could start the first game but the feeling is he will be rotated long term. The fans hope for a decent win here against Sunderland, about 3-0.
Outlook: Revolution, aiming for the title.
Best player: Sergio Aguero
