With the 2024/25 Premier League starting on Friday, football writer Alex Keble highlights the key talking points of the new campaign.
The new Premier League season is finally here, and there is every reason to believe it will be one of the most absorbing in years.
Manchester City’s four-year spell of dominance could finally end; new managers arrive at a quarter of clubs; at least half of the league's teams are eyeing European qualification; and all three promoted teams have quality.
Here are 10 big questions ahead of the start of the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Can Arsenal go one step further?
The reason nobody had ever previously won four titles in a row, before Man City, is that winning takes a psychological toll - and all eras have a shelf life.
That should encourage Arsenal supporters hoping their team can finally usurp City, who could begin to fade away in what might be Pep Guardiola's final season at the club, given he is now in the last year of his contract.
What’s more, the champions haven’t strengthened significantly in the summer and have lost Julian Alvarez, while Arsenal have once again taken positive steps.
Riccardo Calafiori is a good signing to strengthen the Gunners' left side of defence, their only weak spot last season, meaning Mikel Arteta’s side – now battle-hardened from a title challenge that went the distance – can close the two-point gap to Man City.
Arsenal won 84 points in 2022/23 and 89 points in 2023/24. They might only have to climb by two or three points to finally end City’s period of domination.
How quickly can Slot implement his style?
Jurgen Klopp left Liverpool in a very good state. They were top of the Premier League in early April, only for exhaustion – and a little too much chaos – to catch up with them, which is why hiring a more measured possession-based tactician like Arne Slot was a smart move.
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In many ways he will carry on the Klopp legacy, merely finessing and fine-tuning things as Liverpool continue with an aggressive high-pressing game. Only Bayern Munich and Liverpool recorded more shot-ending high turnovers than Feyenoord, with 259, during the four seasons Slot was in charge.
But as a self-proclaimed Guardiola fan, Slot is implementing calmer football when in possession, with greater positional and structural precision than some of the free-flowing heavy-metal football we saw under Klopp.
That could stop Liverpool from being sucked into end-to-end encounters quite so often, and bring the order required to prevent another season of slow starts. After all, they went 1-0 down 17 times in the Premier League last season.
But football isn’t as simple as that. You can’t simply take the best bits of the predecessor and add it to your own ideas.
It may be a while before Slot’s football takes hold, especially considering he is applying his tactics to a team outside of the Netherlands for the very first time.
Can a new-look defence revitalise Ten Hag's project?
It took a while for Manchester United’s first summer window under INEOS part-ownership to get going, but by the time they host Fulham in the Premier League opener on Friday evening Erik ten Hag will have a new-look defence available to him.
An injury to Leny Yoro has set them back, but once he returns to potentially play alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, Man Utd will have an almost entirely different back four.
That could make all the difference. Last season Ten Hag’s biggest problem was coping with an astonishing injury crisis in defence, which led to slower centre-backs needing to drop deep even as the forwards pressed high.
It led to a decompressed shape and gaping holes in central midfield. With three new defenders in the team, Man Utd can play a higher defensive line, squeeze the pitch and dominate matches.
That’s the theory, at least. But this time last year we were also expecting a solid season of progress under Ten Hag.
Is Maresca the man to end turbulence at Chelsea?
Chelsea are on their fourth permanent manager since the BlueCo takeover and, in keeping with the last couple of seasons, chairman Todd Boehly has changed his approach with his latest appointment.
There are no guarantees here.
Enzo Maresca won 97 points playing sophisticated possession football with Leicester City in the Championship last season, and the former Man City assistant is very highly regarded by his old boss Guardiola.
However, Maresca only has one season at Leicester and a 14-match spell at Parma under his belt, which isn’t a lot of experience before taking on one of the more challenging jobs in football.
In pre-season, Chelsea’s high line has been badly exposed, while defenders tasked with playing out from the back have made numerous errors leading to goals.
But mistakes from the start were likely to happen, and we shouldn’t read too much into pre-season performances.
Can Spurs challenge at the top in Postecoglou's second season?
Tottenham Hotspur began the 2023/24 season with eight wins and two draws from the first 10 matches, prompting some to declare they were in the title race.
Things went downhill from there, and year two of the Ange Postecoglou project is all about qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, a task made harder now that they have Thursday night European football to contend with in the UEFA Europa League.
However, the arrival of forward Dominic Solanke from AFC Bournemouth is a big moment. His penalty-box prowess is exactly what Spurs need for those meticulously planned attacking moves to end in fruition. We should not downplay how tough it was for Spurs to lose Harry Kane last summer to Bayern Munich and fail to replace him.
Aston Villa could be weaker this season juggling at least eight Champions League matches, which may hand Spurs an opportunity to close the two-point gap to fourth (although fifth place could be enough for qualification this season).
But what makes Spurs particularly interesting from a neutrals’ perspective is that they won just 40 points from the 28 matches after that initial burst of 10 games. Are they going to kick on with Solanke in their ranks, or was that under-par two-thirds of a season a sign of things to come?
Can Newcastle return to top four with lighter schedule?
There are two obvious reasons why Newcastle United fell from fourth and 71 points in 2022/23 to seventh and 60 points in 2023/24: the exhausting impact of Champions League football and an unbelievable injury list.
They should be without both hindrances this season. Newcastle dealt with 41 separate injuries last season, which often meant they were playing a second-string team, so better luck (or better injury management) should see them roar back.
Just as big is the return of free midweeks, something that was often cited as an advantage during their successful 2022/23 campaign.
However, the departure of director Amanda Staveley and a change in the boardroom means a new environment for head coach Eddie Howe.
“There’s no point in me saying I’m happy staying at Newcastle if the dynamic isn’t right,” Howe said recently. “As a new team coming together we have to set our boundaries.”
Howe has also made it clear he is happy at Newcastle but, with the England job only temporarily filled, supporters might be concerned about what the future holds.
Is goal record safe after influx of possession managers?
There were 1,246 goals in the Premier League last season, breaking the record set in 1992/93 when there were 22 teams and therefore 82 more matches than the 380 we have had since 1995/96.
That record was broken partly because there was more stoppage time, with an average of 11 minutes and 39 seconds per match across both halves, up from eight minutes 27 seconds the season before. But mostly it was down to tactical changes.
The Premier League has increasingly embraced fast and direct football, with high pressing and fast transitions leading to open end-to-end matches.
We might be due for a slight regression.
Whereas in 2023/24 Oliver Glasner, Andoni Iraola and Mauricio Pochettino joined the likes of Klopp and Roberto De Zerbi to play fast and furious football, this summer we have seen a trend back towards coaches who favour patient possession.
Fabian Hurzeler, Slot, Maresca and Julen Lopetegui are all relatively similar to Guardiola, while Klopp, De Zerbi and Pochettino – who are vertically inclined – have departed.
Hurzeler is a good fit for Brighton in that his football includes the same press-baiting actions as De Zerbi, but he should bring greater control and order, getting rid of those erratic results.
Meanwhile at West Ham, it will be interesting to see how supporters view Lopetegui’s low-scoring possession football.
How will mid-table clubs handle loss of star players?
Apart from Brighton, the Premier League’s mid-table clubs – 10th to 14th – have all lost one of their star players this summer.
Injury restricted Pedro Neto to just 18 starts last season so at least Wolves are used to playing without him, although Neto did contribute 11 Premier League goals and assists. Gary O’Neil will surely want to sign a replacement.
Crystal Palace’s upturn in form under Glasner coincided with Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise returning from injury, so Olise’s sale to Bayern Munich is a test of whether their renaissance was tactical or technical.
Palace's pre-season form – 14 goals in five matches – suggests the latter, while the arrival of Ismaila Sarr from Marseille is more good news for Palace supporters hoping for a top-10 finish.
AFC Bournemouth face a similar problem. Was it Andoni Iraola who got the best out of Solanke, or was it Solanke’s 19 league goals that drove Iraola’s project?
We are about to find out if Iraola’s transition-centric football will work as effectively without a penalty-box poacher to finish off those attacking moves.
New signing Emile Smith Rowe has stolen the headlines at Fulham, but there are concerns they will drop down the table without Joao Palhinha, who topped the Premier League charts for combined tackles and interceptions in each of the last two seasons.
Can McKenna's Ipswich hit the ground running again?
A rapid ascent to the Premier League means one of two things.
Still relying on some of the players who took them out of League One, Ipswich Town will either be out of their depth or their previous experience of keeping up promotion momentum will make them this season’s surprise package.
Kieran McKenna is a very talented coach, but more importantly he is a flexible one, suggesting Ipswich will adapt quickly and show the humility required to sit in and play as the underdogs.
Are Forest, Brentford and Everton prepared for stronger promoted clubs?
The three clubs relegated last season, all of whom were promoted, had a combined points tally of 66, making them statistically the worst in Premier League history. The previous record low was 76.
This season’s promoted teams will surely be better. Alongside Ipswich are Southampton and Leicester, both of whom have talented squads and good managers.
That could be a worry for supporters of the three clubs who avoided a long relegation battle in 2023/24.
Nottingham Forest set a record for the lowest ever points tally for a team that stayed up, on 32 – although it should be noted that they were deducted four points following a breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Meanwhile Brentford, who were sub-40 points, are without new signing Igor Thiago until the end of the year after suffering a knee injury.
Everton’s recent difficulties towards the bottom of the table have been compounded by the loss of Amadou Onana to Aston Villa, while there is still reported interest in Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
All of which suggests we could be in for a particularly engaging relegation battle this season.
