Recap of 2015-2016
Premier League
An Italian manager showed us once again how to win a Premier League trophy in your first season in charge. After a shaky start, a quick switch to the 3-4-3 formation happened and Chelsea never looked back since then finishing on an impressive 93 points far ahead of anyone else.
The addition of KANTE,Alonso and Luiz + Hazard coming back to his top level, Moses finding a new life among other things led Chelsea to their 5th and fairly uncontested Premier League title, finishing 43 points better off than their previous catastrophic season, as well as an FA Cup Final.
Domestic Cups
After spending hundreds of millions during the summer, including £90M on Paul Pogba and switching from Van Gaal's long balls to Mourinho's long balls, Manchester United ended up winning 2 trophies (3 if you believe Jose) first the League Cup followed by the Europa League guaranteeing them Champions League football.
Arsenal managed to bounce back from their catastrophic season which include getting their ass kicked 10-2 against Bayern, finishing 5th in the league and many ArsenalFanTv blowups by winning the FA Cup against Chelsea, to many people's surprise. This may or may have not led Wenger to decide to sign that 2 more years contract which is very promising for all of us subscribed to AFTV
Champions League places
Lads it's Tottenham - 2nd after another impressive season both in terms of results and quality of football played, Spurs managed to finish second in the league behind some excellent coaching and their young brave englishmen confirming they are the real deal. Best attack & best defense in the league.However they remained once again trophyless if we are omitting the net spend trophy.
Manchester City - 3rd Man City had to give back the crown that they were giving to them 5 games into the season and will have to be satisfied with 3rd and no cup runs, a relatively disappointing season. Pep tried all kinds of formation all year but it turns out he may not be the genius he was made of earning himself the title of Fraudiola in the thread and the anger of 8bus during much of the season. A late run of victories saw them earn their CL spot after a rocky season highlighted by a real defensive catastrophe.
Liverpool - 4th Middlesbrough could not pull the miracle on the last day of the season meaning that the Liverpool of Klopp finished 4th and achieved Champions League group qualification. Some very strong performances against the top teams and individual performances from Sane & Coutinho mainly saw them win just enough games to lock that 4th place. We all know it could have been better had external factors not happened.
Relegation
It finally happened! After one of the worst seasons of all-time (behind Burnley 2016-2017), this was finally the year Sunderland got relegated despite Moyes' efforts.
They will be playing in the championship with Middlesbrough and Hull City who just did not have enough talent to maintain themselves in the Premier League.
Promotion
We are welcoming back, previously Real Madrid manager, Rafael Benitez in the premier league! Newcastle was crowned Champions and will be followed by 2nd place Reading as well as Huddersfield who won the lottery penalty shootout.
The 2017-2018 Season
With the Leicester crazyness finally buried, I think it's fair to say we have 6 main candidates for the title this season.
Chelsea (Last season :
1st, Odds :
4.0)
We all know what happened the season after last time Chelsea won the league. With Champions League football, it is yet to see how they are going to manage their season and if they will be able to reciprocate their fantastic season. Diego Costa, their top scorer last season has made it clear he will leave the club and there are hot rumors of Lukaku joining back the club.
They are not the favorites as per the bookies but their main core and coaching staying at the club makes them a very strong candidate.
Man City (Last season :
3rd, Odds :
3.0)
The bookies favorite. They remain on a strong end of the season run, highlighted by a more stable defense (KOMPANY) and the arrival of Gabriel Jesus who you certainly will hear a lot about courtesy of our friend 8bus.
And of course, in true Man City fashion, they have already reached for the money check paying ludicrous fees for Ederson and Bernardo Silva. Expect them to remain active on the transfer market as Pep overhauls his squad with an incredible amount of talent. This may be the year the 3-6-1 finally pays off.
Manchester United (Last season :
6th, Odds :
4.5)
Ibra has officially been released by the club following his horrific injury but RASHFORD is looking to keep making an impression. With the toilet paper money, there is no doubt they will once again spends loads on players and it's yet to see who that will be.
There has been a lot of debate among posters as to whether or not last season was a successful season but Man Utd fans are expecting better quality football this year to finally be competitive in the league again.
Tottenham Hotspurs (Last season :
2nd, Odds :
9.0)
After an excellent display last season which saw Harry Kane finish top scorer once again but more importantly winning the finish above trophy, Spurs are looking to keep their impressive development. Obviously keeping both Alli and Kane this season is going to be paramount. Hopefully Levy can find better value than Janssen and Sissoki and Spurs may finally have what it takes to win the league. However, many people mention Wembley already as an excuse to why this is very unlikely.
Liverpool (Last season :
4th, Odds :
10.0)
Is this year finally their year? Right now, according to the
chart , we are approaching peak boom phase. Plop fans and Klopp will be happy to have Sane and Coutinho actually healthy this season but let's be honest they remain Plop and it's not going to happen. They are obviously hoping to qualify for the CL first.
Arsenal (Last season :
5th, Odds :
13.0)
The big question here is what is going to happen to both Alexis and Ozil. Their potential departure is going to matter a lot in Arsenal's quest for success. Bookies seem to think it's a long shot though and the EL fixtures certainly aren't going to help.
Having already signed Kolasinac on a free and some 15 years old kid from France, it is yet to see how many moves Arsenal are going to make on the market, keep in mind that there are 600 club employees to pay at the end of the month. That being said it likely won't be worse than last season which brought us our share of delight from Arsenal Fan Tv.
For what is worth
•
Fixtures list has been released
•If you're looking to do vig-free bets on football games don't forget to check LO's handy
tool to calculate vig-free odds
•Looking for streams? Chances that reddit.com/footballstreams has what you're looking for.
•Arsenal Fan Tv youtube
channel (very active around February/March)
•Don't forget to check the English Football Betting Thread if you're looking to make/write down bets.
•Don't forget to join mic_check_12 Fantasy Football leagues as well, always fun! Anybody who has solved the game is invited obviously.
•Check
here for list of clubs supported by posters
Golden rules of the thread (to be updated with your suggestions) :
•Don't talk about spend, talk about net spend
•Do not post about scottish football (really)
•Do not engage with RITS
•Do not escrow if you happen to be super busy
Have a great community experience everyone and let us Premier League!