The Premier League season started Saturday with a few surprises. The first, of course, is that Manchester United still looks average, Manchester City still finishes well, as long as Martin Skrtel is in the lineup Liverpool’s defense will be shaky and Arsenal were once again nervy winners.
To recap last year: Manchester City won the title for the second time in three years. City edged Liverpool, which lost its chance with two bad results at the end of the season. Chelsea finished third and Arsenal, which was on top of the table early in the season, finished fourth.
Who will win this year and which teams will take the other three coveted spots in the Champions League?
The 2014-15 Premier League winner will be…
Chelsea. It's amazing that the Blues finished as high as they did last year considering their trio of strikers (Demba Ba, Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto'o) couldn't put the ball in the net. Jose Mourinho has attempted to solve that issue by letting Eto'o go, selling Ba and bringing in Diego Costa, who had a sterling season in leading Atletico Madrid to the La Liga title and spot in the finals of the Champions League.
Manchester City. The Sky Blues, as they usually do, continued to spend, spend, spend in bringing in goalie Willy Caballero and midfielders Fernando and Bruno Zuculini, among others to join a squad that already features David Silva, Kun Aguero, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta.
Liverpool. The Reds sold Luis Suarez, the best goal-scorer in England, and brought in reinforcements at every position, led by center half Dejan Lovren, attacking midfielder Adam Lallana (who is injured), defensive midfielder Emre Can, forward Rickie Lambert, winger Lazar Markovic and fullbacks Alberto Moreno and Javier Manquillo. If Daniel Sturridge can stay on the field — and perhaps Skrtel comes off — Liverpool should challenge for one of the top spots.
Arsenal. The Gunners made arguably the biggest splash in the offseason with the signing of Alexis Sanchez, who was mostly stagnant at Barcelona. Pairing him with Mesut Ozil, last year's big-money signing, was a nice move by manager Arsene Wenger. However, Arsenal's central defense remains a bit of a question mark with the signing of Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona. There isn't much depth at forward either.
Where is Manchester United on the list?
I’m not drinking the Louis Van Gaal Kool-Aid yet, and that sentence was written before his team looked in Saturday’s loss a lot like last year’s team under David Moyes. The new 3-5-2 formation will take some getting used to the and backline combination of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and (fill in the blank) doesn’t inspire confidence. There is still the glut of midfielders that must be sorted through and wingers that, with the exception of Antonio Valencia, aren’t all-around players. If Van Gaal can find a dependable central defender, they may pip Arsenal for the fourth spot.
Which teams will be relegated?
Burnley, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.
The Eagles went and dumped manager Tony Pulis on Thursday. Pulis was only the man who took the relegation-bound team and turned them into a tough team to get a point from last year. It seems Pulis wasn’t happy that so few pounds had been spent in the transfer market. Club’s ownership said he wasn’t “committed.” Committed to what? Not spending money.
Burnley was one of the clubs who were promoted, but they still don’t have the strength to survive in the Premier League.
Aston Villa struggled last year and the club, owned by American Randy Lerner and put up for sale, didn’t add much quality in the offseason to assuage any concerns.
Yedlin saga just beginning
DeAndre Yedlin has gone from a player that few wanted on the World Cup squad to the most-coveted U.S. player.
After what seemed like weeks of speculation, Yedlin is headed to Ted Lasso-favorite Tottenham Hotspur for $3.5 million.
He will stay with Seattle until the 2015 Premier League season.
So the saga is finally over, right?
Wrong.
This move is a huge gamble for Yedlin.
There is a fairly lengthy list of young (re: not established) Americans who have gone to Europe seeking glory and fame only to find out that playing against the world’s best means they don’t often play.
Brek Shea has disappeared after heading to Stoke City. Juan Agudelo couldn’t secure a work permit, also for Stoke city.
It took Clint Dempsey years to break in with Fulham, and then when he played well enough to secure a move to Spurs he left within an inconsistent year for Seattle.
Did Yedlin need to test himself in Europe? Yes. The U.S. needs more players to do so.
Is it a smart move? We shall see.
Silverbacks
The Silverbacks’ hopes of making the NASL playoffs continue to slip away.
Though the team tied Fort Lauderdale 1-1 on Saturday, they need the three points that comes with wins, not the one point that comes with ties.
They have just eight points in the fall season and trail co-leaders Minnesota and San Antonio by eight points with 12 games remaining. It’s not insurmountable, but it is difficult.
Because they scratched out just 10 points in the spring season, it will also be difficult to try to earn one of the two wildcard spots that are given to the two teams other than the spring and fall champs who earned the most combined points.
Atlanta will travel to San Antonio on Saturday.
Great video
MLS and Atlanta
How MLS players with ties to the metro Atlanta area did this week:
Joe Bendik, Toronto, GK, Kennesaw
Played 90 minutes in team’s 4-1 loss to Sporting KC on Saturday.
Next game: Will host Chicago on Saturday.
Mark Bloom, Toronto, D, Marietta
Didn’t make the 18 for team’s 4-1 loss to Sporting KC on Saturday.
Next game: Will host Chicago on Saturday.
Alex Caskey, D.C. United, M, Dunwoody
Came on as a sub and played three minutes in team’s 4-2 win over Colorado on Sunday.
Next game: Will host Waterhouse on Wednesday and is at Sporting KC on Saturday.
Ricardo Clark, Houston, M, Jonesboro
Played 90 minutes in team’s 2-0 win over Philadelphia on Friday.
Next game: At Columbus on Saturday.
Warren Creavalle, Toronto, D, Acworth
Didn’t make the 18 for team’s 4-1 loss to Sporting KC on Saturday.
Next game: Will host Chicago on Saturday.
Sean Johnson, Chicago, GK, Snellville
Played 90 minutes and made one save in team’s 1-0 loss to Montreal on Saturday.
Next game: At Toronto on Saturday.
Alec Kann, Chicago, GK, Decatur
Did not make the 18 for team’s 1-0 loss to Montreal on Saturday.
Next game: At Toronto on Saturday.
Steven Kinney, Chicago, D, Norcross
Did not make the 18 for team’s 1-0 loss to Montreal on Saturday.
Next game: At Toronto on Saturday.
Chris Klute, Colorado, D, Silverbacks, Clayton State
Played 90 minutes in team’s 4-2 loss to D.C United on Sunday.
Next game: Will host Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Jack McInerney, Montreal, F, Alpharetta
Made the 18 but didn’t play in team’s 1-0 loss to Montreal on Saturday.
Next game: At FAS on Wednesday and at New York on Saturday.
Joe Nasco, Colorado, G, Silverbacks
Made the 18 but didn’t play in team’s 4-2 loss to D.C. United on Sunday.
Next game: Will host Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Michael Nwiloh, Chivas USA, D, Conyers
Didn’t make the 18 for team’s 0-0 tie with Vancouver on Saturday.
Next game: At New England on Saturday.
Walker Zimmerman, Dallas, D, Lawrenceville
Didn’t make the 18 for team’s 5-0 win over San Jose on Saturday.
Next game: Will host Real Salt Lake on Friday.
About the Author
