The season so far: EPL review part 2
With the EPL season
starting to gather pace and the transfer window now closed, let’s have a quick
look at the teams taking part and how they’ve started the new season.
Everton
Last seasons sixth
placed finishers have paid for their fine form, losing long serving manager
David Moyes to Manchester United, who took midfield enforcer Marouane Fellaini
with him to bolster his squad.
Everton responded by
appointing Roberto Martinez to the helm, as well as smart moves in the transfer
market, completing loan deals for Gareth Barry and Romelu Lukaku. Barry will
help to fill the void left by Fellaini’s departure and Lukaku is a proven
goalscorer in the Premiership.
The Blues sit at 15th
in the league, but have yet to lose a game in their opening three games,
instead collecting a trio of draws.
Fulham
The ownership of
Fulham passed hands earlier this year to Shahid Khan in a smooth transition,
but on the pitch results have been anything but.
Defeat against Arsenal
and Newcastle in their last two games has undone much of the great work
achieved in their opening day win against Sunderland, but loan deals for Darren
Bent and Adel Taarabt should help Fulham to find that creative spark needed to
win games.
Hull City
The Tigers have lost
the games they were expected to, falling to both Man City and Chelsea, but won
the game they had to against Norwich, giving the team a good, fighting chance
to survive in the league.
Hull secured promotion
to the Premiership through a second played finish in the Championship and have
added to the squad with several signings, including former Tottenham midfielder
Tom Huddlestone and Curtis Davies, who will add grit and experience to the
squad.
Liverpool
Liverpool are top of
the table and for the first time in a long time, look as though they may
contend for the title properly. Brendan Rodgers has been given time to stamp
his mark on the team and they seem to be responding to his methods, as they lie
at the top of the summit, undefeated in three.
The combination of
Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez will be tough for any team to contend with and
the squad have further improved defensively with the signings of Mamadou Sakho,
Simon Mignolet and Kolo Toure.
The recent win against
Manchester United was a statement of intent, Liverpool are in good form at the
moment and if they continue in this vein, there’s no reason why they can’t win
the title this year.
Manchester City
City are somewhat of a
conundrum. Having replaced manager Roberto Mancini with Manuel Pellegrini, they
destroyed Newcastle in their opening game, but then lost to Cardiff in a match
most expected them to win.
City are third in the
league at the moment, but they must be disappointed that they aren’t in a
higher position. Having spent over £56m on three new players, including the
highly rated Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo from Seville, the team have to get
used to the new manager and the loss of Gareth Barry and Carlos Tevez.
They’ve started
reasonably well, although much is expected of the star-studded squad. Simply
put, they can’t afford to lose against teams like Cardiff, although there’s no
such thing as an easy game in the EPL.
Continue to PART THREE HERE::
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