Premier League kicks off: Promising exciting surprises

LIVERPOOL AND THE UNDEFEATED RECORD ON OPENING DAY

The home team in the opening match of this season's Premier League is champions Liverpool. Independently from being the defending champions, Liverpool also holds another record in the Premier League era: the only team to have not tasted defeat in the first round of a league match in the last 12 years.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Compared to when they won the championship last season, Liverpool now seem to be stronger than they are. They spent a record £100 million to strengthen attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz (if the transfer clause becomes a reality, he will be the most expensive player in English football history). Striker Hugo Ekitike and full-back Jeremie Frimpong are two other notable reinforcements. Last season, Liverpool spent only £10 million, bought the only new player, Federico Chiesa, and surprisingly won the championship convincingly. Now, champions Liverpool have invested £265 million to buy 5 new players (only counting important contracts). Not only are they stronger, this season Liverpool will also introduce big differences in their playing style, which is worth waiting to see.

Bournemouth could also be different, but in the opposite direction. For Bournemouth, last season was historic. They finished ninth (the highest ever), earned 56 points (a record), and conceded 46 goals (the fewest in the history of participating in the Premier League). But there were 4 members of Bournemouth's solid defense that left this summer: goalkeeper Kepa (from parent club Chelsea to Arsenal), center-back Dean Huijsen (to Real Madrid), center-back Illia Zabarnyi (to PSG) and especially full-back Milos Kerkez (to... Liverpool). Just look at the new clubs of the above players to know their abilities, and clearly see how much Bournemouth has lost in defense.

The Premier League opener is likely to be a goal-fest, with both sides having defensive weaknesses: Bournemouth have lost all their key players, while Liverpool have conceded regularly in friendlies and the Community Shield last weekend.

MU - A RSENAL war

The most notable match in the first round is the late match (night of August 17) between MU and Arsenal. The away and home teams in this match are also the two teams facing the "toughest" match schedule in the warm-up stage. MU will also meet Man City and Chelsea; Arsenal will also meet Liverpool and Man City in the first 5 rounds. Everyone wants to win. But perhaps the first priority of both sides in the opening match will be caution, aiming for the goal of not losing.

Not only MU fans, but perhaps the entire Premier League is eagerly waiting to see the performance of the new strikers under coach Ruben Amorim, to analyze or find a way to deal with them. Center forward Benjamin Sesko, with Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha on both sides, will make waves and bring MU how many goals this season?

This is definitely a season where MU must show progress, simply because they have nothing left to fall back on, after finishing 15th last season. Arsenal are different. Just one small step forward would be... great: returning to the championship after 22 years (their longest title drought ever). And if they finish second again, as they have in the past 3 consecutive seasons, Arsenal will set a new record: the first team in the homeland of football to finish second in the national championship for 4 consecutive seasons. Like Liverpool and MU, Arsenal have also strongly strengthened their attack this season. Mikel Arteta's team has added top striker Viktor Gyokeres.

Pep Guardiola's Man City are only considered the third favourites to win the Premier League this season (behind Liverpool and Arsenal). They will visit Wolverhampton in their opening match on Saturday night.

Other notable matches in this opening round: Aston Villa - Newcastle, Chelsea - Crystal Palace, Tottenham - Burnley.